Foundation Hospital posts loss; chief of staff resigns

Financials on the month of August at Franklin Foundation Hospital show a $107,950 loss.
Chief Financial Officer Ron Bailey told the Hospital Service District 1 commissioners Thursday that a timing factor in Medicare and Medicaid contractual adjustments accounted for a majority of the shortage.
Finance records show that the loss combined with a $172,168 profit in July results in a $158,584 year-to-date surplus through 11 months of the fiscal year.
In other discussions, chief Executive Officer Claudia Eisenmann said preliminary recommendations by the board on strategic planning are based on growth initiatives in the areas of increased use of post-operative swing beds, reduction of patient emergency room out migration, more urgent care strategy, physician recruitment and staff education.
“We’re going to be launching a fairly aggressive proposal for the board to consider in terms of recruitment of a variety of new physicians into the community,” she said. “We need to really pursue volume growth in a whole host of arenas.”
In medical staff reports, Dr. Donna Tesi reporting as chief of staff noted that the previous chief, Dr. Guillermo Delgado, resigned “due to a variety of pressures.” She added that at a special meeting held earlier in the day, Dr. Steven McPherson was elected vice chairman of the board. She also asked that another unspecified issue be discussed in executive session which the board routinely enters to discuss strategic planning.