CCHD continues improvements

ANAHUAC— The Chambers County Hospital District No. 1 recently met, discussing ways to improve service and regular business.

CCHD held its regular meeting on Thursday, May 22.

LaDuska James, director of quality assurance/performance improvement, discussed the Center for improvement in Healthcare Quality, an organization that helps with Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services evaluations.

CIHQ would visit on behalf of CMS to audit the facilities and policies. Chambers Health would need CMS accreditation for Medicare/Medicaid funding.

What is notable about CIHQ is they provide resources, such as checklists and policies, to Chambers Health prior to the visit so Chambers Health can better prepare for the audit.

James said she is already a member of the silver plan but requested the next plan level to access the resources.

James already had the funds available in her department’s budget to purchase the membership, so the board approved.

Stacey Brown, business development and marketing director for Chambers Health, gave an update on the five-year strategic plan. The directors of the Chambers Health clinics and hospital are to attend the next meeting with The Hammes Company.

Because Hammes is focused on the revenue side of things, Brown is going to ask the directors to put together a SWOT analysis- strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats- focusing on service to go alongside the strategic plan.

CCHD Board Chairman Andy Legg shared his thoughts on putting together a strategic plan.

“We’ve been so busy just putting out fires and taking care of what’s right in front of us, but we’re at this point now where we’re starting to pivot towards the future,” Legg said.

Legg said he hopes to consider a 10 to 20-year plan in the future.

Brown and CFO Kimberly Cooper spoke with a representative of Texas A&M about potential opportunities for the district.

“I’ve done some work previously with A&M and they do very good work,” Brown said.

Brown said A&M has free training for providers to help with coding which would help ensure there are no financial losses.

Cooper said she mentioned grants to the representative, and he is doing research on them to see if the district would qualify for those.

The board approved naming Brown as the Bayside Healthcare Foundation executive director.

Chambers Health CEO said the previous director came to her and said she didn’t have the capacity to hold the position anymore.

The board plans to present self-evaluations at the upcoming board meeting, which should be Thursday, June 26 at 5:30 p.m.