Continued Dedicated Service to Our Community
For Pay Period Ending July 20th
This political year is getting more and more interesting from my one biweekly report to the next (not every day we talk about assassination attempts and significant resignations). By sitting in a lead chair of a County owned business I am not permitted to speak from a politically directed perspective, but I CAN encourage everyone to dial in the best way they can as to what is really going on in our Country (and World) and recognize that the stakes for America’s ongoing global financial leadership may never be more vulnerable than they are today…and our lives will definitely not be the same if we lose that ranking. And I can also say that this year’s elections, starting on August 6, 2024 (with its primaries), are very important for us all to utilize our rights and voices and make sure we vote with a conviction from our studied hearts and minds. Even little Morris County has very important choices to make and I encourage everyone to turn out and “vote their preferences like they matter”!
Our local businesses (and hospital) are definitely impacted by choices made in Washington and to some extent in Topeka. We are all struggling with the added costs of business, driven by inflation, which has been escalated by the never before seen spending frenzy in Washington due to the COVID triggered stimulus spending…which I hope has reached its end, even though millions of people are still living with some financial distress. MCH is continuing its year and a half trend of significant growth in its business, partially contributed by the closure of the Herington Hospital, and also by continuing to bring in new services, but our rising expense impact, caused by inflation, has prevented us from growing our margin like we might have expected in the pre-Covid market. I know MCH is not alone in this dynamic, and it just accentuates the fact that we need change in how we are governed – which would be a whole lot easier if we weren’t such a divided nation – something not soon to end as things are now going.
Forgive my wandering, but it is getting late into a meaningful election year. The MCH Board did just receive our Final 2023 Audit Report from Forvis this week, and the audit validated everything I just said: much improved growth in services, and also a growth in costs…bringing considerable improvement over a rough previous year, but not where we still aspire to be. That’s why we’re back pushing hard in 2024. I want to thank everyone for their recent work in prepping for an expected State survey by year’s end – also enduring a recent mock survey in decent fashion. The work for one of these required functions is a bit different than regular duties of patient care, but it is important, as it actually dovetails into how, via updated policies, we actually give that care. So thanks team for continuing with those tasks as well!
Glad to have Dr. Samani now start visiting us every week, and congrats to the Surgery and Nursing teams for delivering two total knee replacements in a single day this week…a first for our facility! And, thanks to all our staff who are daily mindful that our customers and visitors come first!
Kevin Leeper, CEO
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