VTH Board Minutes 8/23/2018

Informational

Agenda: 

• • Policy Approval Policy
  • Parkland Technician Program
  • Equipment Requests (Ophtho, equine surgery)
  • Reorganization status

• Policy Approval Policy was approved with changes.

  ACTION – JW will post and distribute.

• Parkland College has an annual agreement with the VTH to provide the clinical training for the Vet Tech students.  Contract is $84,812/yr.  Under review with the new Dean of Health Professions.

• Ophthalmology’s LA operating microscope is no longer functional.  They are currently unable to perform cataract surgery on horses or train their residents using that scope.  They do have a functional SA microscope and are proposing to move it to LA, and replace the SA scope.  Ophtho has provided 2 quotes obtained last year for refurbished scope: Zeiss - ~$39K, basic scope, no video capability or Leica - ~$66K, cutting edge technology, HD video streaming included, able to be upgraded in future.  SK is looking into unspent Capital Equip. funds from past years.

  ACTION – Board would like more information regarding how often ophthalmology uses the microscope for LA surgery.

• OSHA investigating a ‘major’ work related injury associated with remaining old equine surgery table.  May have to replace.  New table recently acquired cost ~40K.

  ACTION – Board recommends initiating purchase to replace the old table now.

• Director – search underway

• Asst. Director – search underway

• VTH Business Office – fully staffed, Jessica McClain position filled by Accounting Tech II and will perform both VTH BO and CVM BSC functions

• Program Coord – Lori Heinz over Client Services

• Program Coord – RDVM Coord.  Search underway

• Storeroom – Tom announced retirement (Oct. 31), facilities is working with pharmacy for all pharmaceuticals to be delivered to the pharmacy.  Storekeepers moved under facilities – Discussions underway

Dermatology Requests

Agenda: Room; technician

• Dr. Clarissa Souza is arriving sometime this fall (VISA approved Aug 27).  Derm has a dedicated exam room (SAC E110) but has trouble at times accessing it.  They have a video otoscope that they would like to store in the exam room and want the ability to lock it.  Derm has requested E113 (currently used by primary care) or E111.  Derm has a large amount of designated clinical space in the basement of SAC.

  ACTION – Board is in favor of dedicated exam room with lockable closet for on-site storage of video otoscope, but with accessibility to other services when not in use by the derm service.  JW will speak with Dr. Pieper about location.

• Derm requested a vet tech position which was not approved by the board.  Derm has submitted a request that the board consider a position mid-year in light of Dr. Souza’s arrival, Sandy Grable’s likely retirement in the near future, and the increase in service availability to full time.

  ACTION – Board agrees to evaluate need for additional dermatology technician at the December/January meeting, and would like Drs. Pieper and Souza to develop a service plan to support the additional technical support.  JW will communicate this to Dr. Pieper.
  
  

Marketing

• 2 years ago, a marketing proposal was developed and tabled.  This year, we have committed funds towards implementing the 1^st phase.
  
  

Projects Update

Agenda:

Small

• ER
• RX
• SAC lobby
• LAC lobby
• LAC parking
• LAC rust mitigation Ward 1
• VMSC
• I/R offices

Capital

• Lin Acc
• SX/ECC/Stepdown

Planned

• Equine lameness arena
• Ambulatory truck parking
• Sports medicine center
• Equine surgery renovation
• SAC lobby renovation
  
  

• Dr. Williams has asked for JW to develop a timeline report. ACTION - JW will work on that with facilities.
  
  
• ER – construction done, cages coming from MO – here next Monday.  IT and facilities finishing details, move next Thursday.
  
  
• RX – construction finishing, swipe card installed in inner foyer door.  Need to purchase doorbell, check with AACUP re: parking space  - relocate.  Moving Sunday.
  ACTION – JW will check on what fund is being used for the 24 hour reserved parking space by the new pharmacy entrance.  JW will work with facilities to get a pharmacy client parking sign for the space and a pharmacy hours sign for the door.   JW will email the VTH personnel to advise of the pharmacy new entrances.  It was recommended that the pharmacy train HO on new RX procedures once established in new location.  Board recommended window cling or branding at new pharmacy entrance as well.
  
  
• SAC lobby – Painting done, hall doors by Onc/ST being finished, pictures mounted, digital directory hardware is here – waiting on directory content.
  
  
• LAC lobby – Painting started, pulled away to finish pharmacy, but will return.
  ACTION – JW to work with design group on window cling/branding for LAC entrance.
  
  
• LAC parking lot – complete.  ADA spot compliant with current striping.  Working with parking RE: meter.
  
  
• LAC doors – doors swipes being added to west doors on either side of isolation.  Ward doors need to be replaced.  Facilities to be sending JW an estimate.  Suspect ~250K.  Dr. French has spoken to the LAC caretakers about door security.
  ACTION - Facilities is planning to replace 2 overhead doors annually.  JW will ask facilities to set up a meeting with LAC faculty/staff to determine most appropriate type of doors (garage style vs barn door)
  
  
• Rust Mitigation – iron work delivered next week with installation of periphery stalls in Sept.  Contractor (River Road) may be able to construct center ironwork if not too complicated by deadline of Dec. 2018.
  
  
• VMSC – Continuing to work with TKB to develop SD.  Planned occupation December 2019, rotations starting in January 2020.
  
  
• I/R Office  - project complete
  
  
• VTH Business Office – project complete
  
  
• 240a SAC – planned IT upgrades and cosmetic/acoustic changes to shared wall.
  
  
• Linear Accelerator:  Dog walk area on east SAC destabilized, temporary walk out area placed on south side of wing.  Work on-going on Lin Acc with project completion scheduled for April 2019.
  
  
• Phase 1 Surgery/ECC project – construct surgery addition.  Planned start date April 2019.  Architects are scheduling a meeting (planned 09/13 or 09/14) to discuss phasing plan.  Phase 1 thought to take ~1 yr.  Stage 2 – construct step-down ward, followed by Stage 3 – construct ECC.  Project completion Dec. 2020.
  
  
• During the construction of Phase 1 and 2, access to the SAC from the northeast will be unavailable.  Egress only from the basement doors by the Lin Acc.  Access to SAC will have to be through LAC 100 commons area.  The Dean has commissioned the construction of a covered walkway between VMBSB and VTH.  Won’t be done by time Phase 1 starts but planned.
  
  
• The University F&S Architect has developed 3 concept plans for development of equine surgery and will be scheduling a meeting to discuss.  He has also developed some schematics for the hay barn development.  Dr. French has mowed the paddock and is working with Dr. Lowe to move the animal shed to make room for an equine lameness assessment arena.  Facilities is exploring options for moving the WMC flight cage from its existing location to the south side of VMSC to remove the raptors from the construction chaos.  As of now, there is no plan to move forward with SAC admissions renovation.

Working Group Reports

Agenda:

• String Soft
• Central Laundry
• Inventory Management
• Pharmacy

• String Soft implementation team will meet with board next month with decision points.
  ACTION -  JW will encourage that issues are made available for section discussion prior to meeting.
  
  
• Centralized laundry assessment – working group has been assessing costs associated with performing laundry in-house or via contracted services. 
  
  
• Inventory management – one company with a cart system demonstrated the cart to our staff.  We also received a demonstration on Cubex which appears to be similar to a supply omnicell.  Facilities is attempting to have a company provide ER with a few carts to determine their functionality.
  ACTION – JW will hold a townhall meeting to discuss further.  Architects need information about programs in Sept.
  
  
• Pharmacy – The Director of Pharmacy has resigned her position and we are currently reappointing the visiting pharmacist to a permanent appointment.  Dr. Williams (Shelby) is scheduled to take the IL pharmacy licensing exam the first week in Sept.  Once licensed, both pharmacists will be eligible to apply for a 0% administrative appointment as Pharmacy Director.  We have received a comprehensive report following the external review of the pharmacy.  Several strong recommendations have come forward. 
  ACTION - JW will make the report available and will be reviewing the report with the pharmacists, with the goal of implementing action plans for VTH/Board review.  PLEASE KEEP COMMENTS REGARDING SPECIFIC PERSONNEL CONFIDENTIAL.
  
  

Budget Report FY18

Agenda: 

• VTH
• Course budgets
• Hiring Requests

A.L. Fenger provided a PPT summarizing the FY18 Financials.  RAHMS case numbers are more reflective of actual since animal census reporting has been corrected.  VTH case numbers grew but is flattening, and average transaction is decreased.  This trend was especially apparent in last quarter of FY18.  July and August in FY19 are down when compared to prior year which is concerning but may be explainable.  We have moderated our Vet CT expenses ($524K down from historical ~$1M).  OT is still more than ideal.  In FY18, the VTH ended with a 12.7% operating margin which is good for a VTH.  MRI performance is good, Echo cardiology performance is good.  Farrier service is at break even and farrier school continues to be a liability for the VTH.

The VTH commitment to the Capital OR/ECC project was reviewed.  Our commitment in FY19 is $511,500.  In a meeting last week, we were notified of an additional $625 variance to the budget.  At that time, we decided to address this by removing FFE (fixtures, furnishings, and equipment) from the budget which freed up $709K to allow the project to continue moving forward.  The additional costs were largely due to increase in construction supply costs (steel tariffs, concrete, etc.).  We also decided to have contractors bid on the base project as surgery with 2 alternates including ICU/medicine and ECC.  This allows for flexibility in the bidding process. 

ACTION – the Board moved and passed a motion to commit $313K of VTH available cash to FFE for the capital project. 

Margaret has released course budget approvals.

Please provide Dr. French with any changes to the HO hiring plan that was submitted by services this spring.