By BOB MARTIN
Eagle Times Staff
Sullivan County Health Care Administrator Matt Lagos told the county commissioners that there his department is currently in the midst of a “COVID outbreak,” as there are seven staff and 11 residents who are infected after a “very nice run.”
“It just started springing up,” Lagos told the commissioners at their meeting on Monday. “Contagious. Contagious. We’re seeing about maybe a quarter of them have full symptoms, and the rest are asymptomatic. We’ll probably be in an outbreak for the considerable future.”
Lagos was at the meeting to give his monthly update, which included that they had their annual surprise inspection on Columbus Day. The county had to call most of their managers in from home, he explained, and much of what was found was “nitpicky.” This included aspects like the census needing to be updated, as records showed they had 126 residents, when in fact there are 127. A full report will be brought back in two weeks.
“As soon as we get the results, I’ll share them with you,” he told the commissioners.
Financially, Lagos was happy to report a “really good month.” He noted that they are $41,000 “in the good,” and said this is the month that they were starting to decrease the census to get ready for the move. He said this takes planning and coordination, but hard work has been done to put together a better plan where this doesn’t need to be reduced. He said the department is in a great spot.
“We’re sitting pretty right now,” Lagos said.
Lagos said the census is “extremely stable” and right where they need to be. There was a “line of the sand” that is 125 residents, and he said this has been eclipsed just about every day. Next month could have a small dip, but they will be working hard to gain that back, Lagos told the commissioners.
Lagos shared some key updates for the month of September, which included the ability to reduce the aging by $183,000 over the last two months.
“The better point is we’re also below where we were for new receivable, meaning we are getting money in as it is due, and as its coming,” he said. “So, we’re not adding a ton to the age, just what we would expect to.”
They have also created a Medicaid cost report, and “point, click, care” is getting rolling. The clinical side is fully implemented, and they are about a month into the financial aspect. He said this will take a bit, but will lead to “good, positive things” for the business office.
Since September, the department has cleared $465,000 worth of outstanding claims. He said this is a perpetual movement so it isn’t shown as much in the aging, but this could be shown in the aging report in upcoming months.
Lagos also showed the trend line of payments coming in, which is going up, and “exactly what we want to see.”
One point of pride for Lagos in the report was the Medicaid Pendant, which he was very proud of. The last report was over $440,000, and it has dropped to $269,000. This involved clearing six “hefty cases,” that he said was no small task and work that he attributed to Admissions Director Kelly Lainey.
“We’ve reduced it almost in half, which is pretty cool,” Lagos said.
