Patten talks contracts, employment, other changes
Rehoboth McKinley Christian Hospital has officially cut ties with Community Health Corporation. Their contract with the Texas-based hospital management company formally ended on May 2.
RMCHC’s agreement with CHC was for a five-year period, with what’s called a three-year window. At the three-year mark, either party in the agreement could notify the other of its intent to end the agreement. The hospital board notified CHC of their intent to end the agreement in October.
In a May 8 interview with the Sun, the hospital’s Interim CEO Bill Patten reflected on the hospital’s time with CHC and the board’s decision to find a new management company.
“CHC saw us through a very difficult time in our history, and as a result had what I would describe as some baggage. …,” Patten said. “So from a practical perspective, it would’ve been difficult for the board to continue the contract with CHC. Also, I think the board was looking for a fresh start. We’d gone through this turbulent time, we wanted to put some of those issues behind us, and by having a new company some of the things from the past wouldn’t have been so in our face every day.”
NEXT CONTRACT IN SIGHT
Patten said the hospital’s board reviewed five proposals for management services, including one from CHC. They ended up choosing Ovation Healthcare, which is based out of Brentwood, Tennessee, a suburb of Nashville.
Ovation Healthcare’s website states that they are a premier provider of operational services focused on helping hospitals and health systems with financial performance, purchasing supplies, clinical resourcing, workforce solutions, and executive advisement.
They have over 375 clients branching over 47 states.
Patten actually worked with QHR Health, which is what Ovation was called before it was rebranded in March 2023.
Ovation will offer similar services to what CHC did for RMCH, but one big difference is that no one will be employed through Ovation; they will all be directly employed by the hospital, including Patten and the hospital’s current Interim Chief Financial Officer Chris Dover.
A NEW OPERATING OFFICER?
But Patten may not be around to stay. The board recently interviewed multiple candidates for a Chief Operating Officer position. Patten said they are currently in negotiations with what he thinks is a promising candidate.
Whoever the new COO is, Patten said the plan is for that person to serve in the position for whatever period of time the board sees fit. During that time, Patten will mentor and coach the COO, and then when the time is right Patten will “exit stage right,” leaving his interim position and letting the COO step into the CEO job.
There’s yet to be an official timeline for this process, but Patten said he is more than willing to stick around in any capacity the board may need.
“I’ve expressed to the board that if they want me to stay on as a support person either to the board or to the CEO, I’m happy to do that,” Patten said. “One of the things that I think would make sense would be for me to continue to work with the accounts payable project, working with the city, the county, and the state as far as all of the funds that were appropriated and how those are going to transition to the hospital rather than asking a new person to come in in the middle of a very complicated process.”
CHIPPING AWAY AT DEBT
In a recent McKinley County Board of Commissioners meeting. Patten reported that the hospital was able to reduce accounts payable from about $33.5 million in October to just under $25 million, according to his most recent report in April. He estimated the reduction to be around $9 million.
Senate Bill 161 from the last legislative session played a part in helping the hospital get out of the hole. The bill, which is titled Acute Care Facilities Subsidies, created a fund for state - or county - owned hospitals and independent not-for-profit hospitals with fewer than 30 beds to tap to cover losses incurred from providing emergency medical care; inpatient services related to maternity, child and family health; increased costs of medical malpractice and property insurance premiums; inpatient acute care; and Medicare spending reductions known as sequestration.
Patten said RMCH will receive $5.7 million from SB 161. The amount will be spread out between two years, with the hospital receiving a little over $2.5 million the first year and about $2.5 million the next.
House Bill 2, which laid out the state’s budget, also provided some resources for the hospital.
RMCH will benefit from two line items in the budget bill, both designated for any “non federal hospital in McKinley County.” One provides $12 million to backfill support money to the county and City of Gallup to ensure the hospital could make payroll from December through the first part of this year. The other provides $15 million to help the hospital pay down its debt.
So far, RMCH has seen $8 million of that $12 million; the county and city have each given the hospital $4 million. Patten said he’s not expecting to see the $15 million until the fall.
SEARCH FOR EMPLOYEES CONTINUES
RMCH has recently lost a couple of doctors, and Patten said they’re currently searching for replacements for those roles.
Dr. Matthew Spiva served as the hospital’s podiatrist and also specializes in wound care. He had a contract through High Desert Physician Management, but now he will be going back to the Gallup Indian Medical Center.
Dr. Ramon Schafer and Jennifer Schafer served their last day as RMCH employees on May 6. Jennifer is a nurse practitioner, and Ramon is a doctor of osteopathic medicine.
Patten said RMCH has scheduled an onsite visit with another podiatrist who may be joining the hospital soon.
“That’s an important specialty for us, not just the foot care but also the wound care,” he said.
He also said they had another interview with a qualified physician who completed a fellowship in wound care.
On a more positive note about hiring, both Dr. Chris Gonzaga and his wife Dr. Flor Callabar-Gonzaga are planning to return to the hospital.
Gonzaga retired from RMCH Dec. 8 after a 40-year career in medicine that included 26 years at RMCH. Callabar-Gonzaga retired in 2021. Patten said they’ve both signed contracts and will begin seeing patients again at the end of May.
Patten said the hospital is also looking to expand the urology department by hiring a nurse practitioner or a physician assistant to work with Dr. Christopher Hoover in the urology department.
In total, the hospital has seen seven new hires so far this year, with four of them being rehires.
“We take that as a very positive sign that the work that we’re doing is being received well,” Patten said of the rehires.
Patten also explained that he’s trying to reduce the number of traveling nurses the hospital needs in an effort to hire more local people.
“During the pandemic we had as much as 51 travelers,” he said. “With the hiring of permanent staff, we’re whittling that down smaller and smaller. I don’t know if we’ll ever get where we don’t have any travelers. In my mind if we have within the range of four to six, that’s probably the sweet spot.”
EXPANDING SERVICES
Patten said he is also actively trying to expand the hospital’s available services. He scheduled a meeting for May 15 with the hospital’s medical staff to discuss what he calls a “medical staff needs plan.” He said the conversation will focus on looking toward the future and discussing what sort of specialized doctors the hospital still needs.
For Patten, this year is all about stabilizing and making sure they’ve replaced any staff that have left the hospital. His first priority on his checklist is the cardiology department.
“That’s one of the specialties we’re recruiting for right now, because I believe it will improve the care we provide in the emergency department and on the in-patient side of things today,” he explained.
Next year, he wants to tackle the women’s health side of things. The hospital’s Labor and Delivery unit on Aug. 3, 2022. Ever since then, women have had to go to Albuquerque to give birth. Patten said he hopes to hire obstetricians and pediatricians Then, both pregnant women and the children they give birth to will be taken care of.
In a 2023 study by the National Library of Medicine, 115 rural family medicine residency programs were surveyed about mixing the two practices of family medicine and obstetric care. Of those practices, 85% said they trained residents to provide comprehensive prenatal and postnatal care.
Patten said he wants to take on a similar approach, called Family practices with obstetrics, which would provide prenatal and postnatal care. He hopes to hire three FPOB doctors and one OBGYN. The OBGYN would focus mainly on the gynecology side of things and provide backup support for the FPOBs.
An FPOB would be able to perform C-sections, but they wouldn’t be qualified to do a hysterectomy. If a woman were suffering from an ectopic pregnancy, the OBGYN or a general surgeon would perform the surgery.
Finally, Patten also mentioned the possibility of contracting with Gallup Community Health to bring more doctors to the hospital.
By Molly Ann Howell
Managing Editor
