Samaritan board OKs capital budget

MOSES LAKE — Samaritan Healthcare board members approved a $1.3 million capital budget, enabling staff to purchase two big items in 2010.

The items include an electronic health record (EHR) and a computerized physician order entry (CPOE) system. EHR costs $161,850 and CPOE is about $377,650.

“These are things every hospital should be purchasing because both ensure patient safety and improve efficiency,” said Scott Campbell, vice president for planning and development.

Each falls under the technical support services department. EHR is a requirement from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act stimulus and BMV is a part of Inland Northwest Health Services.

EHR records patient encounters, allowing hospital staff to automate and streamline workflow in health care settings and to increase safety through evidence-based decision support, quality management, and outcomes reporting. The CPOE ensures each patient is getting the correct medication they need, Campbell said.

Other items up for purchase include computers at $50,000, a ventilator for $37,000 and an exam table priced at $5,918. Each item must be taken to senior leadership for a final approval as they are purchased throughout the year.

“This is a conservative capital budget and will continue to be for awhile I am guessing,” Campbell said. “However, we didn’t leave any items out that are important to have in order maintain quality care.”

Last year, the hospital never finalized a capital budget because of changes in their chief information officer and chief financial officer.

“We did purchase some capital items in 2009 despite that,” Campbell said.

Samaritan staff have several steps they go through to create their capital budget. The first step involves getting department managers together to discuss needs specific to their fields.

 “We work closely with each department head to determine what we need to do to enhance and maintain our services,” Campbell said. “We work closely with surgeons as well to ask what they need.”

After the meetings are over and suggestions are given, administration puts together a list of needed items. They prioritize the items, numbering them from one to three to decipher the biggest needs and examine available finances.

“We knew funds would be limited so we reduced our list to include the number one items we knew we absolutely needed to purchase,” Campbell said. “Many items are important, but we can afford to wait a little longer before we purchase them.”

The original list was about $1.9 million and the total capital request list was close to $2.5 million before reductions made by administers.

“The (approved) list represents our current best guess for the year 2010, however, in a dynamic environment there may be changes throughout the year,” Campbell said.

The list also includes a $169,042 fetal monitoring system for the mother and baby unit, including an additional two telemetry units for induction of labor. Samaritan Healthcare Foundation’s members are working to raise funds to pay for the system.

“This will improve how women in labor are monitored,” Campbell said. “This is vital for making delivery safe and as comfortable as possible.”

If the foundation successful in raising contributions, the capital expenditure’s amount will be reduced.

The capital budget is a part of the hospital’s reserve funds and affects the operating budget.

“The changes we’ve made to operations by the purchase of the equipment are investments,” Campbell said. “They ultimately save us money and allow us to operate more effectively. Our community is continuing to grow, which means we need to continue to grow in order to meet their needs.”