NEWBERRY — Newberry County Memorial Hospital will hold a hand washing relay on May 5 in which hospital staff and other healthcare providers and students from the community will participate.
CEO Bruce Baldwin told the board about the event during Tuesday’s board meeting.
“The relay is part of the hospital’s awareness about the importance of hand hygiene. May is national hygiene awareness month and the ‘Clean Your Hands’ annual initiative is part of a major global effort led by the World Health Organization,” Baldwin said. “Other hand hygiene initiatives, led by Diane Trantham, our Infection Control Practitioner, are already taking place at Newberry Hospital and will be ongoing.”
Amid the financial report board member Dr. William Dixon posed the question to CFO Bob Hetrick: “From a profitability standpoint, are inpatient or outpatient surgeries more profitable for the hospital?”
“It depends,” Hetrick’s answered.
Inpatient orthopedic cases involving a knee or hip implants, for instance, are not as profitable, Hetrick said.
“If there is a payer source, medicare or commercial, they are both (inpatient and outpatient) profitable. It depends on the resources that are used during the surgery,” Hetrick said.
However, generally speaking Hetrick said outpatient surgeries are more profitable as they typically consume less expensive resources.
On April 8 the hospital held its annual Friends of the Foundation dinner about which Baldwin said he has heard only positive reviews.
However, he did report that attendance numbers were down slightly compared to last year and that auction bids were lower.
“We will report a final amount raised from the event in the May board packet,” Baldwin said. “The Foundation Board of Directors would like to thank the Board of Trustee members who supported the event this year.”
Baldwin also reported the hospital is in the process of repurposing space on the second floor into an obstetrics waiting room for the families of patients.
“This should be completed in the next 30 to 45 days,” he said.