Rock Island Today

Rock Island County Hope Creek Care Center Board of Directors met March 20.

Here is the minutes provided by the Board:

1) Call to order and roll call

Members present: Jessey Hullon, Gregg Johnson, Michael Kelly, Carol Near, Ginny Shelton, Rod Simmer (arrived at 5:36 p.m.), Bryon Tyson (via phone)

Members absent: None

Others present: Kenneth Maranda, Hayleigh Covella, Lynda Vogt, Mia Mayberry, Bob Westpfahl, Bill Gabelmann, Tom Dryg

2) Approval of the minutes from the February 20, 2017 meeting

Motion to approve: Gregg Johnson

2nd: Michael Kelly

Voice vote

Motion carried

3) Public comments

Mr. Hullon noted that they have financials even though they aren’t on the agenda.

Mr. Dryg said he’d start with the financial package then turn it over to Mr. Gabelmann for cash flow. He directed the committee to page two, the asset side of the balance sheet. Hope Creek has $4.7 million in current assets, cash, and receivables. Mr. Dryg noted that he’s accruing for real estate taxes at $562,000. He accrued for property taxes on a pro rata basis over the year. Still due from the State of Illinois is the IGT, so Mr. Dryg is accruing for that over the course of the year as well. That all totals to $4.7 million in current assets.

Mr. Dryg explained that page three is the liability side of the balance sheet. Hope Creek has $4.4 million in current liabilities. There is $1.1 million in accounts payable. That’s about where it’s been running, almost two to three months in arrears.

Mr. Hullon asked if Mr. Dryg knows how Hope Creek is doing compared to last year at this time. Mr. Dryg said he doesn’t have comparative numbers, but he can find out. Mr. Hullon said he’s just curious to see. Mr. Dryg noted that he thinks it’s higher than it was.

Mr. Gabelmann said they can start showing that. Mr. Hullon said it would be good so they can see where they are at.

Mr. Dryg continued that page four is the start of the revenues and expenses on an accrual basis, including $65,000 in IGT being accrued. They’re saying the revenue is $1.215 million and expenses are $1.069 million. There’s income from operation of $46,000 on an accrual basis. Mr. Dryg noted that there is a little change running through here from what was represented last month and the month before because there were some adjustments at yearend that he went to the Auditor’s Office for, specifically payroll accrual. That got straightened out.

Mr. Dryg noted that on page five, “other sources” includes real estate tax accrual at $187,500 per month and “other uses” includes bed tax and interest, partly which he is accruing for what’s due on the bonds and the tax anticipation warrant. Year to date, the net change in fund balance is positive $301,000.

Page six is the cash flow statement. In the lower right hand corner is where this boils down. Hope Creek started the year with $704,000; used $157,000; and the current balance at the end of February was $547,000. That boils the statement down.

Mr. Dryg explained that page eight is the year to date comparison of this year to last. Revenue on an accrual basis is $3.7 million. That’s very comparable to last year. It’s up $72,000. Maybe census is better or the mix is. Salaries and benefits are up $282,000. It’s $2.6 versus $2.358 million last year. Other Services and Charges is at $579,000 versus $835,000 last year for a decrease of $255,000. Mr. Hullon asked where that decrease is from. Mr. Dryg said it’s primarily agency and HDG that are the biggest line items in that category there. Total operating expenses are up about $46,000. That’s at $3.808 million versus $3.761 million year to date for three months.

Mr. Simmer is present.

Mr. Dryg noted that the nursing home levy and bed tax that he has accrued for are pretty comparable to the previous year. There’s not a lot of change there.

Mr. Johnson noted that he likes to average out numbers. Over a three-month period, through February 28, Facilities and Maintenance in February was about $54,000 but the average was $47,000 the other two months. Laundry expenses, even though February was a shorter month, was $25,000 in February but averaged nearly $32,000 in November and December. He asked if the population has dropped that much. He continued that food service was $107,000 in February and the average was $130,000 in November and December. He asked if February was a bad month population-wise. Mr. Hullon noted that they have had quite a few deaths. Mr. Johnson said it’s a pretty substantial difference in those numbers from November to February. Ms. Vogt said the facility lost 34 and is still trying to make up for that. Population is at around 202 today, so that’s still low census.

Mr. Dryg noted that early on in the year, he’s cautious with that because of the way things get pushed back and forth with the current and prior years. Some of that may be going on. He asked Mr. Johnson to keep monitoring that because he likes that he does that. It should level out and become more comparable as the year goes on.

Mr. Gabelmann added that, related to Ms. Vogt’s comment, he had the census report which usually Mr. Ross goes over. The census for February was 203.

Mr. Gabelmann said he’s going to touch on a couple of things that have come up. He directed the committee back to page two, the balance sheet. He noted that the last couple of months they’ve talked about allowance for bad debts. Mr. Gabelmann asked if Mr. Ross did a presentation on what they resolved. Mr. Hullon said not yet. Ms. Shelton said she thinks they met after the last Board of Directors meeting. Mr. Gabelmann said they did meet. He explained that there’s a reserve sitting there of $860,000. That equates to approximately 20%. Part of the meeting they had with Ms. Palmer’s office and Mr. Ross was to identify a policy for the bad debt allowance. What they used was approximately two or three years ago, there was an actual valuation done on Hope Creek as far as the facility. Part of that valuation from a third party system was to value the accounts receivable based on industry norms. For the meeting, they took those industry norms that were used for that valuation and said if that was good enough for valuation purposes, which is typically even more discounted than normal, why would it not be appropriate to use for the allowance here? Mr. Hullon asked what the percentage was. Mr. Gabelmann said 18.6%. They decided as a group to move it up to 20% as a slight conservative. He believes Mr. Ross will present that as a policy. Part of the reason they did that is there has never been a set policy for what to use as an allowance for doubtful accounts at Hope Creek. That caused headaches on last years’ county-wide audit. Now Hope Creek is in sync with the county. Now every three or six months they will true it up with the same standard that they identified specifically.

Mr. Gabelmann noted that as an example, February receivables after 90 days are worth 0 or 50%. State receivables after 120 days are worth 0. Private pay after 90 days is worth maybe 35%. They very methodically identified a procedure of how much a receivable base would be worth. The offset is the allowance account. That’s why the county is also at $800,000. Mr. Hullon asked if that’s the number they will work off of for 2017 moving forward. Mr. Gabelmann said they’ll see how it runs and manage and monitor it. They’ll look at it every three or six months. They haven’t had a chance yet to really put that into play. If it hasn’t been presented yet, he thinks it will be presented. Ms. Palmer, Mr. Ross, and he and Mr. Dryg are comfortable. Once they put a hard number to it and ended up at 18.6%, they said “Let’s use 20%.” Now on a monthly basis, instead of recalculating, it’s not 20% of the receivables every month and new billings. It’s still theoretically 20% of the outstanding balance. Mr. Simmer said it’s outstanding money they’re hoping to get, not money in hand. Mr. Gabelmann confirmed.

Mr. Gabelmann noted that for the preliminary status, they are in agreement now with the accrued payroll, which is $170,000. That’s a swing from the last financial statement. It was a simple issue. They got it fixed. It was just calculated wrong the first time and now it’s fixed. Moving forward, they don’t anticipate any more changes to these financial statements. However until the audit is done, this is not done. That’s why they’re still stamped “preliminary,” but he’s pretty comfortable these are solid numbers.

Mr. Gabelmann directed the committee to page four. These financials are showing, on an accrual basis, a fairly positive impact. Mr. Hullon has asked a couple of times if they can put this in a format that really reflects cash activity. They started looking at that and were going to present one today, but there are so many moving parts. There’s a simple way he’ll propose to the committee. On this page, the biggest accrual items on the revenue side are change in accounts receivable, which is at a positive $269,000, and IGT which is at $195,000. If they pull those out, they are pretty much at the cash basis for what’s been received for the year. If they do that, that reduces the positive impact by almost $370,000. Under expenses, the three bottom lines are bad debt, amortization, and depreciation. Those are all non-cash items. That decreases expenditures by about $270,000. The net of those two numbers decreases this activity by about $150,000. That’s almost exactly, when they look on page six, the net change in the cash position for the year. He asked if that’s what Mr. Hullon is looking for. Mr. Hullon said yes.

Mr. Simmer asked what the bottom lines are. Mr. Gabelmann said bad debt, amortization, and depreciation. That’s about $269,000. Those are non-cash expenditures. He thinks that’s really what they’re trying to get to. The other items they accrue for are not really what they call “true operating items.” Property taxes are a support item. Bed tax is an operating item, but it’s really kind of offset through IGT and other activities. He thinks that’s what they’re trying to get to.

Mr. Hullon asked if they’re picking up at $162,000 on page six, then. Mr. Gabelmann said yes. That puts them in a position where they’re monitoring actual cash activity from operations, but that won’t take care of June 1 when they have that $265,000 bond payment going out the door. That’s where they’re tracking that on cash flow activities.

During February, cash receipts were about $963,000. A big hurdle that occurred in February was the new Medicaid program did not get a payment coming in. That hurts big. They’re talking about $250,000. He doesn’t want to paint any rosy pictures today. Right now, cash flow is completely dismal. If there is something good to look at for February it’s that Hope Creek had $963,000 in receipts without Medicaid. They would have been over the $1.1 million goal on a monthly basis.

Mr. Gabelmann noted that Mr. Dryg has been talking with Ms. Helms. There’s a vendor voucher check run going out the door this Friday. There’s $136,000 in the bank right now. There’s over $1 million worth of payables. Ms. Helms and Ms. Vogt are working daily with vendors on who needs to get paid. Mr. Dryg will come over Wednesday. One thing that needs to be considered right now is instead of a once-a-month big payable run, and this occurred back in January for a while, Hope Creek was almost doing weekly payable runs. He thinks they need to manage that until some of these items have cleared up.

On a positive note, Ms. Luecke communicated to Mr. Dryg that she had contacted the state and both the December and January Medicaid submittals were approved. That means they’ll get them within 7-10 days is what they told Ms. Luecke. If the full amount comes in with no offsets, that could be close to $500,000. However, they got a remittance advice that shows a $250,000 reduction that they’re trying to figure out what exactly that’s all for.

Ms. Vogt said it goes back. Mr. Dryg explained that some are bed taxes and some are prior adjustments. Mr. Gabelmann explained that this was a 14-page remittance advice that goes back to some claims going back to 2015 and 2016. It’s got some audit adjustments on it. It nets out to 0. The total is $250,000 of credits. It also has a partial payment on the $29,000 audit payment. It’s got two big adjustments of $30,000 each that just say “adjustment.” He’s not even sure what those are. The concern is that will come out of the next Medicaid payment, but they don’t know that for sure. Ms. Near said she’s sure it will. Mr. Gabelmann said he doesn’t want to get real excited about the fact that everything has been approved. He thinks they need to stay in the condition that they got payroll covered last Friday, but there’s another payroll in two weeks. He doesn’t think another voucher run this Friday makes a lot of sense at the risk of shorting payroll unless that Medicaid comes in and everything’s good. Then they might have to make a decision on what gets paid.

Mr. Hullon noted that the report is showing $1.1 million in payables. He asked how far back that goes. Mr. Gabelmann said there are some December ones out there.

Mr. Simmer asked how much Hope Creek has borrowed so far this year. Mr. Gabelmann said they’re staying at the $1 million. Mr. Simmer asked if they only have $2.2 million they can borrow. Mr. Gabelmann said as far as the total availability, yes. Mr. Simmer said so they’re over what they have now with what they have in bills. Mr. Gabelmann said yes, if they were to pay everything off. That includes current bills that are never paid until next month anyway. Those are running a little high. The norm has been 60 days.

Mr. Hullon noted that they have cash in the bank of $136,000 but under assets it’s showing $18 000. He asked where they’re getting that number from. Mr. Gabelmann said that’s today. The number on the report is as of February 28. Mr. Gabelmann explained that the investment balance is considered part of cash because that’s part of the revolving cash fund.

Mr. Dryg said the $136,000 did not include the $86,000. Mr. Gabelmann said then they’re running $222,000. Literally as they were coming over here, they got communication of another $80,000.

Mr. Tyson asked how much payroll is going to be for the coming month. Mr. Gabelmann said $385,000. Mr. Tyson said then there’s not enough in cash right now to cover payroll. Mr. Dryg said not right now, but they have two weeks of collections to get there. Mr. Gabelmann explained that on a normal collections cycle, that isn’t usually a big concern. Their suggestion is going to be don’t flood out the normal accounts payable run and then all of the sudden a week from this Friday when the accounts payable voucher run goes out, they say they shouldn’t have cut that much. Mr. Dryg is going to be meeting on Wednesday with Ms. Helms. It’s just like today. Hope Creek got a deposit of $86,000 at the end of the day of Medicare right toward the end of the day. If the state comes through in 7-10 days, theoretically Hope Creek shouldn’t have any problem, but they don’t know what’s coming in anymore with the state.

Ms. Mayberry said she thinks Mr. Gabelmann just spoke to it, but at the Committee of the Whole meeting last week, Ms. Ewert was briefing them on what Mr. Simmer was speaking to with this $1 million in bills and $1 million tax anticipation warrant. Ms. Mayberry asked if Mr. Gabelmann and Mr. Dryg anticipate the things they were just speaking about, the Medicaid and collections, to offset that at some point. Mr. Dryg said real estate taxes will pay that back. Mr. Gabelmann explained that the entire payback is scheduled on real estate tax receipts. Ms. Mayberry asked when that will be. Mr. Gabelmann said starting June and as they come in. Mr. Dryg said about half of what comes in will go toward the loan payment.

Mr. Simmer asked if this year is worse. Mr. Gabelmann said it comes to the same thing. There’s a 12-month projection in the packet. Right now it’s difficult to even take a look at it, not because of how bad it looks but because things are so in flux with the cash receipts. The other thing they noticed is Hope Creek hasn’t had an IGT payment since December. Those usually run about $165,000 a quarter. Last year the two quarters came in December 2015 and in March 2016. Again, it was held out a month. When they hold that out a month, it’s a big number. It’s $165,000. One came in at about $200,000, in fact. There are so many things right now looking at the cash flow projection. Theoretically if the state can get caught up on Medicaid, these credits aren’t going to completely undercut where Hope Creek is at. Hope Creek will continue to hold back on some voucher payments because they have to. They’ll keep moving and spreading those out.

Theoretically, the June 1 interest payment should be covered. The tough part of that, even though it’s not really something, it is a one-time deal, is May is a three-payroll month. They’ve got $1 million in payroll going out the door. That shouldn’t be a factor because every two weeks they’ve got $380,000 going out the door. The fact that one month shows three payrolls is still part of every two weeks. It’s real, though, because it hurts when that third payroll timing-wise hits the day before a $240,000 bond payment is due. It shouldn’t come into play, but when it’s a day apart it does. Instead of $380,000, they’re talking $600,000 has to come out the door then and there.

Ms. Mayberry asked, on average, how many months behind the state is usually and if this is out of the ordinary. Mr. Dryg said it is because they changed the billing process. They used to, once someone was approved for Medicaid they got same amount every month and were on a program where this month’s payment, they would get the third week of this month. A law was passed that county homes couldn’t be deferred in payments. The county home is unlike other vendors at the state. They are obligated by law to remit the Medicaid. Starting December 1, they changed the way they reimburse to more of building a reimbursement rate out of the level of care the home is providing rather than a flat amount per day.

Ms. Shelton asked if the fact that they started doing that differently accounts for the credits the home has or the adjustments they made or if there is any one thing. Ms. Vogt said this goes back. Ms. Shelton asked if it was due to any one thing. Mr. Dryg said no.

Mr. Dryg explained that the new billing process, the first time that it got done was for December 2016 and January 2017. A few weeks ago, they found out those claims had been rejected because of the billing code that was used. They resubmitted them and Ms. Luecke found out today they had been approved and will pay in 7-10 days. Usually they’ll get paid the following month. Ms. Mayberry said then it’s not typical going forward for them to be two to three months behind. Mr. Dryg said no, but the other issue is getting people approved. Ms. Vogt noted that they’re six months to a year out on approvals. Mr. Dryg added that they’re caring for a person that whole time before they determine eligibility.

Mr. Gabelmann explained that in that big credit remittance, they identified some things. Very obviously in there it identifies specifically patients who have not been approved and were submitted for approval back in 2015. It’s January, February, March, and April 2015. Each month for each patient is listed. They’re finally getting around to 2015 and some of 2016. Ms. Shelton said she can’t understand why it takes so long to approve an application with all that paperwork they have to turn in.

Ms. Near asked what happens if they have someone here for six months who applied for Medicaid and they’re denied. She asked how to get money for them. Ms. Shelton said that’s the problem. Mr. Johnson said if they have nothing then Hope Creek gets nothing. Ms. Shelton said that’s where those bad debts come from.

Mr. Tyson asked if there are any obligations to the state that they’re looking for payment on. Mr. Dryg said yes. Hope Creek had an OIG audit that concluded in November. Mr. Hullon said they’re sending them $30,000 every month. Mr. Dryg added that that’s for six months. Mr. Hullon said try not paying state; he knows where Mr. Tyson is going. Mr. Gabelmann noted that Mr. Ross was going to try to contact the state on that exact item. He doesn’t know if he had a chance to do that. They’ll just say, “No. You’ll pay me.” That’s what they’ve done in the past.

Ms. Shelton asked, when a person applies and it takes six months to a year, at what point they can submit the application. If they know a person will run out of money in June, at what point can they apply for public aid for that person? Ms. Vogt said once they establish what their spend-down and liabilities are, they can apply almost simultaneously. A lot goes into that. They look at their financial statements and they want spousal impoverishment. Mr. Dryg said it’s not the same for everybody.

Mr. Hullon asked if they have residents at Hope Creek who have been denied public aid and are still residents. Ms. Vogt said no. Usually they have a good idea after looking at financials if they’ll be approved. They don’t see that a lot. Mr. Hullon asked for confirmation that they don’t have anyone here who is not paying because the state turned them down. Ms. Vogt said not that she can think of.

Mr. Gabelmann noted that the next few weeks will be extremely tight. There are opportunities, but it might be a scratch to get to next Friday. Hopefully in the next few days, some of this will start coming in. It’s part of the normal cycle. They do anticipate additional tax receipts will come in. It’s just that when they’re that far away from a $380,000 payroll, it’s time to start watching things very closely.

Mr. Westpfahl noted that last week at Committee of the Whole, the Auditor and Treasurer presented a whole different picture than what they’re talking about here. They were talking millions. Mr. Simmer explained that that’s what Mr. Gabelmann said. They’re talking month to month right now. Mr. Westpfahl said he’s been around this thing since 2010. He asked if anyone will ever be able to tell them if this thing will be self-sufficient or not. He thinks that’s what everyone wants to know: is there some light at the end of the tunnel or not?

Mr. Gabelmann noted that they’ve been here a few years. Two months ago everybody was high fiving because Hope Creek collected $1.3 million and it was like finally it fell over the edge. Then it got pulled right out from under them. The millions of dollars, so Mr. Westpfahl understands what Ms. Palmer and Ms. Ewert were talking about, is true. On the aging report, the seventh line item down is Medicaid Illinois. Right now, the outstanding balance is $1.2 million. The reason it is that high right now particularly is because December and January haven’t been received. Last month, with December not having been received, at the end of January it was at $985,000. It runs $1 million plus behind all the time. The other big one is in private pay. This month it was at $1 million. The numbers are out there.

Mr. Gabelmann noted that they’ve always said there are two main issues. There’s always the concept of the payer mix. That’s one: where they are getting money from. The second biggest has always been collecting what they bill. Mr. Westpfahl added and making sure to bill it and get it right. Mr. Gabelmann noted that Hope Creek has been getting stuff down. He made this comment a couple meetings ago when Hope Creek identified an extra $6,000/month. That’s $72,000/year. That’s real money. That was just the one month. Mr. Westpfahl noted that in three years, that’s a quarter of a million dollars. Mr. Gabelmann explained that every month, Hope Creek finds more things to pull and tighten and do what they can on.

Mr. Hullon asked if Ms. Vogt had anything to report. Ms. Vogt noted that agency nursing dropped by almost $18,000 from last month. That’s a very good thing. Ms. Shelton said the new hiring practices are working. Ms. Vogt said they are working on additional ideas now. Ms. Shelton noted that she sees they’re advertising on TV for nurses for a local hospital. Ms. Vogt said that another hospital also has a $10,000 hiring bonus.

Mr. Hullon asked what the census is. Ms. Vogt said 202 today. The other good news is on the occupancy report; from two years ago they dropped public aid from 58% to 45%. They’re really paying attention to case mix right now. Mr. Hullon asked what 202 is as a percentage and if it’s below 80%. Ms. Vogt said it’s 81%.

Ms. Mayberry asked what average is or what it is if they’re doing good. Ms. Vogt said she likes to see it at 92% or better, so about 225. It’s more important to look at case mix than the numbers. Right now, they’re focusing on trying to get public aid numbers down and VA contracts, private pay, and managed care up. Mr. Hullon asked if it’s true that other nursing homes in the Quad Cities are at that low 80 number. Ms. Vogt confirmed and said in the meetings she’s been going to, everyone’s struggling. She noted that census is down.

Mr. Hullon asked how the Admissions Nurse is doing. Ms. Vogt said really well. She brought in four on Friday and five on Saturday. She’s working ERs and everywhere else. Mr. Hullon said she does go out and knocks on doors. Ms. Vogt said yes. Mr. Hullon asked if her progress is good. Ms. Vogt said yes and explained that she’s kind of being held right now with the ACOs. They’re still hurting on the ACO side. They want a rate of 14-16 days when someone comes in for a skilled stay. Hope Creek was averaging 26 days when they started. It’s down to about 18 now. The other thing impacting Hope Creek is the quality measures. They have to be at least a 5-star home to get into the ACO. Those two factors are impacting being able to get into an ACO.

Mr. Simmer asked how much longer those IJ tags last. Ms. Vogt said they should have a survey in July or August.

Ms. Shelton asked if VA admissions are up any. Ms. Vogt said yes. That’s where they’ve been trying to push. They pay well. They’ve gotten quite a few VA contracts. Ms. Shelton noted that the nearest veterans’ home is La Salle. Then they’ve got Quincy and she knows that’s a hardship.

Mr. Kelly noted that he saw that Ms. Covella sent out a bunch of flyers through email and on May 13 there is a family meeting. He asked if it’s true that he could go to that. Mr. Hullon said he doesn’t see why not. Mr. Kelly asked, if he goes, if there is anything the Board would like him to relay to them. Mr. Simmer asked what that entails. Mr. Kelly said he’s not sure. He was going to find out more before he went. Ms. Vogt explained that for Family Council, they would put him on the agenda so they know who is speaking. They put that out ahead of time in the newsletter. Then they come with questions. Mr. Hullon said he would suggest staying away from financials. Mr. Kelly said okay. He can just say he doesn’t have that in front of him. Mr. Hullon said to sing accolades of the tremendous job the home is doing and the services offered here. Praise the staff.

Mr. Johnson noted that a lot of this is flashing him back to his time at state when they talk about payroll where they didn’t know if they’d have toilet paper from one week to the next. Obviously they were part of the state, but homes are being hit as an indirect because of what’s going on with the State of Illinois. It’s just a kick in the gut when he’s reliving this again. The only question he has is because when they ran into a point where they had to start deciding what vendors to pay and not pay, some vendors played hardball and some didn’t. He asked if Hope Creek still has a good relationship with vendors. Ms. Vogt said some are starting to press. Mr. Johnson said that’s what they went through. Some vendors played hardball and wouldn’t deliver food unless they paid now. He’s wondering at what point they get there with the vendors here. He hates to paint a bleak picture, but he has been through this. Mr. Dryg noted that Ms. Helms has the best gauge of that. She puts down on a calendar when she gets calls. When it comes time to try and decide, if there’s not enough to go around and they have to defer some people, the squeaky wheel sometimes gets grease. Also, lights, water, and food are going to be primary. There’s a credit card in use. That gets priority because they don’t want to pay high interest to the credit card company. It’s kind of like running a household.

Mr. Johnson noted that the other thing about this is there are other indirect casualties: small businesses they might do business with. The prisons kept a lot of small businesses around and they’ve collapsed because of this sort of thing. They determined that those businesses could wait and a lot of times they couldn’t. Mr. Dryg noted that the staffing agencies have already made payroll too, so they try to give them priority as well. They should be able to get a lending arrangement that covers receivables. The county has never been a bad debt for anybody as far as he knows. It might take time.

Mr. Tyson said he’s just worried. They talked a couple meetings back about being more aggressive on collections. He asked if there’s anything else they can do. They need to be more aggressive collection-wise. They’ve got about $1.6 million over 180 days old in receivables. Mr. Simmer said he’s been doing this for 22 years in billing. Mr. Hullon has been doing it quite a while too. As far as the medical profession, they’re third rate citizens anymore. Insurance agencies are running over them like freight trains. They take what’s given to them. That’s what Hope Creek is doing on a larger scale here. That’s the way of the world right now. Insurance companies play it. Even private pay and such you can’t go after because medical debt, you’re stuck with it. He eats more every year than he takes home, easily.

Ms. Near said she has a comment addressing the nursing shortage. Blackhawk, she’s adjunct faculty for the CNA program, and they only had seven students for the CNA program in the last eight weeks CNA program. One CNA course started yesterday and only one was registered and the class was canceled. A lot of students get funding from JTPA. They don’t get Pell grants or state funds or anything. They get it from agencies and the money just isn’t there. There are no classes for eight weeks.

4) Releasable Board member contact information

Mr. Hullon asked the members to give their information to Ms. Covella.

5) Board of Directors member opportunity for brief comments (no decisions will be made)

Mr. Johnson thanked everyone who made it to the meeting. He noted that they’re going to go through a rocky period, but they’ll get through this.

6) Adjourn

Motion to adjourn: Rod Simmer

2nd: Gregg Johnson

Meeting adjourned at 6:18 p.m. by Chair Jessey Hullon.

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