LAFAYETTE COUNTY - Jack Sauer, chair of the Lafayette County Hospital Committee, called the meeting held Thursday, Dec. 1 to order.
    Attorney Nathan Russell will facilitate the purchase of Family Health of Lafayette County (FHLC). He has gone through with the letter of intent. Russell has received bids for title insurance. The closing dates have been set for assets Thursday, Dec. 29, 2016 and real estate Monday, Jan. 2, 2017. Letters of intent were signed by Julie Chikowski, Hospital Administrator; Sauer and Matt Solverson, owner of FHLC.
    Molly Wiegel, Finance Manager went through the financials. Net income for October 2016 showed a loss of $42,951, October 2015 had a loss of $69,470. 2016 Year-to-date net income of $28,930, 2015 had a net income of $153,857. Cash balance at the end of October 2016 is $1,490,530. Two capital purchase items amounted to $179,820. Current amount owed on the outpatient remodel project is $546,024. Account balances that were written off to charity care for 2016 amounted to $21,686, which is way down from previous years.
    The committee approved paying vouchers of $165,245 and pre-approved vouchers of $164,020 for a total of $329,365.
    The new IT director Jon Fechner of Darlington, started Monday, Dec. 5.
    A non-qualifying FMLA was approved for up to six weeks, for an ER employee.
    The nursery build-out project is waiting for the HVAC. The hospital has all the permits and plans. Rielly Plumbing and Heating has promised they will be done by the end of the year.
    The purchase of new power tools, Stryker System 7, for Dr. Stormont joint reconstruction surgeries was approved. The tools will be bought from Stryker Company and will cost the hospital $55,000. The old tools are obsolete (twelve years old) and parts aren’t available.
    A resolution was approved for a physicians position that will work at Memorial Hospital of Lafayette County (MHLC). The compensation will be between $100,00 - $350,000.
    A resolution was approved to acquire the employees of FHLC. The employees will be taken on at their current position and pay
    Technical professional staff increases were discussed. The raises were justified based on comparing wages within the co-op of hospitals (rural hospitals) and that replacing one RN will cost MHLC $75,000. So it will be beneficial to pay the technical professions a higher wage to keep them here and to keep them at a competitive wage. A motion was made to approv the technical professional staff increases – motion passed (this increase was approved at two previous committee meetings).