The meeting was called to order at 6:05 p.m. by Julie Woodworth.

BOD Present: Fred Lau    Ingrid Avril

Lorna Olson    Wendy Lefton    Ron Alderfer

Excused: Julie Derry    Steve VanWagoner

Rick Eckert    Kellie Blue

SAB Present: Julie Woodworth    Julie Welch    LeRoy Gannaway    Jackie Dentz

Angelo Hillas    Jay Kennelty

Excused: Dave Evans     David Green

Absent: Karen Berg-Forrester

Also Present: Charles Franz, CEO

Charlie Button, CFO

Rene Alvarez, MD

Robbie Coffey, RN Acute Care

Paul Seaton, State Representative Candidate

Marsha Kinney, Homer Secretarial Services

Mr. Franz said Mr. Alderfer notified him he was across the bay on business and would be at the meeting by 7:00 p.m.

Ms. Woodworth recommended moving the presentation by Dr. Alvarez to be after APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES since he had not yet arrived.

Mr. Franz requested adding Recognition of Board Members as Item C under NEW BUSINESS.

There were no comments of the audience.

Ms. Dentz said on page eight, the last sentence in the third paragraph where it read, "Ms. Dentz said this man’s life was saved and she was very impressed with the hospital", it should read, "...this man’s life was saved by the use of the CAT scan machine and she was very impressed with the hospital."

Mr. Hillas and Mr. Gannaway accepted the amendment.

Mr. Woodworth said they would move on with the agenda since Dr. Alvarez had not arrived.

Mr. Franz said one of the goals in the Strategic Plan was to consider establishing a Foundation to do more active fund raising for the hospital. He felt in order to make this work the Board members must become involved and decide how they would like to approach fund raising and if they would like to establish a Foundation or participate with the Homer Foundation. Mr. Franz said he has resources and several reference materials available and would gladly work with those interested. He added because of their current workload he could not ask his staff to assist with this at this point in time.

Ms. Woodworth suggested the first step would be to create an entity before getting into fund raising plans or possibly consider support from the Homer Foundation. Mr. Lau felt a group of people should get together and look at what type of fund raising they would like to have, and if they do form a foundation, what type of foundation this will be. Normally a foundation is set up with parameters and when soliciting money from individuals they specifically say how the money will be used. Ms. Welch asked for volunteers to meet as a group and do some brainstorming. Ms. Dentz, Ms. Avril and Ms. Olson volunteered.

Dr. Alvarez apologized for being late and explained the Stretta procedure for Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD) patients. He said the culprit is where the esophagus goes into the stomach and complications from this disease can include asthma, pneumonia and sudden death. Dr. Alvarez added this is an elective procedure and would like to provide the community with information on the problem and procedure. He said he would very much like the hospital to purchase the machine necessary to do the procedure, which has a cost of approximately $25,000, in order to keep the individuals needing this type of help in Homer.

Dr. Alvarez then explained a different procedure, called Trivex, to treat varicose veins. He said the machine needed for this procedure is not as expensive as the other one, can be used in other types of surgeries, and also recommended purchasing this equipment. The time involved for this procedure is 40 minutes, compared to a full day, and is much less painful. Dr. Alvarez said most insurance companies cover these surgeries.

HIPAA

Mr. Button presented an overview of what the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) is and the hospital’s preparation to be in compliance with HIPAA regulations. He said it is set up to protect the rights of consumers, insure the privacy and security of health information, reduce administrative costs through standardization, and improve efficiency and effectiveness in the health care system. HIPAA has three components:

Insurance Portability - ability to move from one insurance company to another.

Accountability - ability to investigate fraud/abuse and make organizations more accountable.

Administrative Simplification - provides security and privacy regarding Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), which also has three components:

Transactions

Code Sets

Identifiers

Mr. Button said to become compliant they must do a gap assessment, identify a privacy officer, gather HIPAA resources, and have Executive and Board commitment, and this all presents a costly process. Because HIPAA requires employees to be aware of their regulations, and follow them, there will be annual training for employees. Mr. Button said he has been appointed the HIPAA point person, they have created a committee, appointed the Director of Information Services as the HIPAA Security Officer, and appointed the Director of Health Information Management as the HIPAA Privacy Officer. They have also developed an implementation timeline and are actively working on HIPAA compliance. Mr. Button added they have until April 15, 2003, to become compliant. If SPH does not become compliant penalties could be levied and eventually Medicare reimbursement would be stopped.

Mr. Lau introduced Mr. Ron Alderfer who arrived at 7:00 p.m.

Recognition of Board Members

Mr. Lau mentioned the BOD member who requested to have this item on the agenda was not able to attend this evening and suggested postponing discussion. Ms. Woodworth agreed and there was no objection from the members. Ms. Welch suggested forming a joint committee with members from both Boards. Ms. Woodworth said possibly the Governance Committee could present a recommendation for both Boards to approve. Because of various conflicts during the next two weeks a meeting date will be set at a later date.

Mr. Franz informed the members they have received the report from the McDowell Group and he would see that they each received a copy. He felt it was an excellent overview of the demographics for the area. One of the highlights was from 1990 to 2000 the service area grew 47% in population and was more then twice the rate of growth in the rest of the state. The average age of a resident in 1990 was 31 and in 2000 the average age was 37. The fastest growth was in the over 50 population, which will have a significant impact in the future in planning for health care. Mr. Franz said in the survey of 300 families, nine out of ten had used SPH, nine out of ten were satisfied or very satisfied with services received, and 47% felt the level of services should be increased. He added 85% of the respondents either favor or strongly favor expansion of SPH’s facilities. Mr. Franz said the report also indicated a significant portion of SPH service area residents support inclusion of alternative medical services at the hospital. A copy of the report will be provided to the members and will be used in refining the Strategic Plan.

Public Service Announcements/ Hospital Information Brochures

Mr. Franz asked if the members would like to include advertising with special interest groups such as Pier One Theatre, little league ball teams, and the high school swim team, in addition to the radio and newspaper advertising. Ms. Woodworth felt the best use of advertising dollars for the hospital is for health education, especially when people get confused on operation money and tax dollars. If they see an ad in a special interest group brochure this might open up to criticism regarding the use of funds. Other members agreed and it was felt focus should be given on services at the hospital and how SPH is different from other hospitals. Mr. Hillas thought it would be good to inform the community when specialists are scheduled to be in Homer. Mr. Franz thanked them for their input and will work on these areas.

Ms. Dentz suggested advertising in the new teen magazine in Homer and it was felt this would fall under education. It was also suggested including the Ninilchik Senior Citizen Center in promoting long term and continuing care, and the various agencies available for assistance. Ms. Welch said last summer a few people stopped at the Ninilchik Senior Center specifically looking for assisted living and LTC. She felt they were looking for a place to settle which had these types of care services available within the community for when they would no longer be fully independent.

BOD Finance Committee Meeting 05/21/02 12:00 p.m.

Regular BOD Meeting 05/22/02 6:00 p.m.

SAB Finance Committee Meeting 06/04/02 12:00 p.m.

Regular SAB Meeting 06/06/02 6:00 p.m.

Ms. Woodworth reported the committee discussed the Foundation and reviewed the upcoming presentation of the budget to the Borough on May 20th. There were a few minor changes because figures provided by the Borough had changed slightly but the overall presentation remains the same.

Governance Committee

Mr. Franz said the committee discussed Policies and Procedures and recognition of Board members for their long service to the hospital.

SAB Chairman

Ms. Woodworth said Mr. Green is ill and did not have a report.

SPHI President

Mr. Lau reported the BOD is going through self-evaluation and Board evaluation and are compiling items from this process. One specific item is to work with new Board members and bring them up to speed on issues. This would include hospital orientation, a financial workshop, review of the Bylaws and review of the continuum of care and services provided by the physicians and the hospital. They would also cover credentialing, review of the Strategic Plan and assigning a mentor to work with the new member. Ms. Avril added they also established a goal to have five to seven QI indicators and use these as a score card to see how the hospital is doing.

CEO Report

Mr. Franz said in his written report he mentioned the Kenai Peninsula Economic Development District, working with the Foraker Group in Anchorage, was going to present a four to five hour training session for non-profit boards. They have now decided not to do this because the Kenai Peninsula College is going to be presenting something along these lines in the near future.

Mr. Franz reported the Pharmacist, Mr. Jim Pedley, now has a draft of a formulary, which is a list of drugs in the Pharmacy, and should be available to the physicians within 30 days. This will help the doctors identify drugs, which are less expensive options and be able to make cost effective chooses for their patients.

Mr. Franz said he had prepared a checklist containing ideas for new Board member orientation, and asked the members to review it and phone or e-mail suggestions to him.

Mr. Franz said there were several long-term staff members leaving SPH. Ms. Ginger Scoggin, Director of Community Health Services, is pursuing her interest in Gerontology and has accepted a position in Oregon as an adult nurse practitioner. Another big loss to SPH will be in the Medical Staff Support office with Ms. Christi Horst moving to Seattle. Fortunately they had just hired Ms. Patty McDonald as a clerk in the QI office and she has accepted this position.

Mr. Franz reported there were 200 children at the Safe Kids Fair last weekend. There were several booths setup by agencies in Homer, which are involved with children’s services, and Mr. Franz said he had the opportunity to present the NRA’s Eddie Eagle Gun Safety Program. Director of Acute Care, Ms. Sharon Merchant and ER Nurse, Ms. Torrie Morrison, had obtained a small grant from the Emergency Nurses Association, and Master Lock, to present free gun locks to parents who have guns in their homes.

Mr. Franz encouraged the members to attend the Employee Awards Banquet on Saturday, May 18th. Several employees will be recognized for their contributions to the hospital. The theme will be a ‘50’s sock hop and Ms. Dentz offered the use of the jukebox from the Frosty Bear Ice Cream Parlor.

Mr. Hillas asked if there was anything to update on the real estate purchases. Mr. Franz said they had received two counter offers. One of them is pending a re-inspection by Mr. Franco Venuti to verify repair work has been completed and is done to code. The other counter offer was for full-appraised value for the property even though there are some necessary repairs. He said they are close to agreement on two properties and still far apart on two others.

Strategic Planning

Mr. Franz said since there was such a close evaluation with the written proposals from the two competitors they will now provide oral presentations. Livington Slone will present their proposal tomorrow morning from 9:00 a.m. until 11:00 a.m., and Mills, John and Rigdon will present theirs on Tuesday, May 7th, from 10:00 a.m. until 12:00. Mr. Franz urged the Strategic Planning Committee to attend.

There were no comments of the audience.

Mr. Gannaway said he read in the paper six students graduated from KPC as nursing students and asked if this helped the hospital. Mr. Franz said he did not know but they were meeting tomorrow with Weber State University in Utah to try and establish a local nursing program.

Ms. Olson mentioned the BOD member list showed her term had expired. Mr. Franz said they would have that corrected. Ms. Olson suggested having a mentor present for orientation of new members.

Ms. Dentz said she was appreciative of the survey report and also of the new BOD member orientation.

Ms. Welch felt there was always room for improvement concerning Board training. She also thanked Mr. Franz and the hospital for providing diabetes education in Ninilchik. This is very much needed and the people are very interested in this topic.

Mr. Alderfer said he was looking forward to orientation.

Mr. Hillas said at the last meeting in Anchor Point, even after all the advertising done, there was no one from the community in attendance and hoped this would be better in the future.

Mr. Kennelty felt orientation was a good idea because you are uninformed and rather reserved until you are brought up to speed.

Ms. Avril welcomed Mr. Alderfer to the Board.

Ms. Woodworth reminded everyone there would be two positions open on the SAB.