The wiregrass farmer. (Ashburn, Ga.) 1984-current, January 13, 2016, Image 3

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The wiregrass farmer., January 13, 2016, Image 3

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Newspaper Page TextThe Wiregrass Farmer, January 13,2016 - Page 3 TRMC responds to Medicare report Andy Smith; Tift County EMS, Mandy Brooks; TRMC Foundation and Robby Royal; Turner County EMS. EMS gets new LifePak from Tift Regional Foundation by Robby Royal Turner County EMS Turner County EMS Direc tor, Robby Royal was excited when he got a call from Mandy Brooks with the TRMC Foun dation early December. The Foundation wanted to purchase a new FIFEPAK 15 cardiac monitor for Turner County EMS. I knew the Fifepak 15 was coming, but I wasn’t expecting it for another month or so when Mandy called me last Thursday to come pick it up on Friday (01/08/16) morning. We are very fortunate to have this continued overwhelming sup port from the Tift Regional Medical Center Foundation. Approximately 96% of Turner County’s cardiac pa tients are transported to TRMC hospital. The ability to send a 12 lead EKG to the hospital during transport has saved lives by saving precious min utes for cardiac patients. On multiple occasions, paramedics have gone straight from the ambulance to the Cath Fab with their cardiac pa tient, bypassing the emergency room because the doctor al ready has a copy of the 12 lead EKG in his hand. Three of Turner Counties four Fifepak 12 cardiac moni tors have been purchased with assistance from the foundation in the past, with the most re cent purchase in 2013. We will be trading in one of the Fifepak 12 monitors purchased by the Foundation in 2006. The Foun dation is hoping to continue over the next 2-3 years as the Fifepak 12 is being phased out. They will be obsolete by 2020. The contribution of the Fifepak 15 cardiac monitor from the TRMC Foundation will help to save lives as well as the county taxpayers close to $25,000. A huge “THANK YOU” goes out to the TRMC Foundation and Foundation Director Mandy Brooks for their generosity towards Turner County and its Citizens. The Tift Regional Medical Center Foundation recently presented the Tift County EMS and Turner County EMS with a Fifepak 15 monitor/defibril lator. These units are designed to perform a diagnostic EKG enroute to the hospital. The technicians will then send the results to the Emergency Room and to the physicians’ mobile phone. This will allow Tift Regional and the physician to prepare for the cardiac vic tim before arrival and saving valuable time. The Fifepak 15 monitor/de fibrillator were funded by the 2015 “Hearts and Diamonds” Gala, which raised over $61,000 for the Foundation’s Heart Safe Community Pro gram. Tift Regional Medical Cen ter (TRMC) is one of 758 U.S. hospitals around the country that will have its Medicare payment lowered by one per cent in 2016 for being placed in the 25th percentile of risk- adjusted national Hospital Ac quired Condition (HAC) rates. Hospital-acquired infec tions is the primary condition. TRMC officials said the penalty assessment is based on data that is greater than a year old and TRMC has made sig nificant improvements since that time which has led to recognition for quality by VHA Georgia, the Feapfrog Group, the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations and Georgia Trend magazine. Several nationally-known healthcare institutions includ ing two hospitals run by the Mayo Clinic Health System in Minnesota are included in the HAC penalty as well as 30 hospitals in Georgia such as Emory Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia Regents Medical Cen ter in Augusta, Navicent Health in Macon, Memorial Health in Savannah and Phoebe Putney Memorial Hos pital in Albany. The federal government’s HAC assessment is based on the frequency of in fections, sepsis, hip fractures and other complications. “It’s important to note that Medicare’s data is retrospec tive,” said Dr. William Guest, Chief Medical Officer and Senior Vice President for Qual ity, Clinical Integration and Medical Affairs at Tift Re gional Health System. “It is based on data from 2012,2013 and 2014 and our metrics for quality have steadily climbed since that time, resulting in recognition by various enti ties.” Dr. Guest stated, for exam ple, that TRMC reduced its MONEY (Continued from Page 1) ing homes isn’t doing it. Mr. Berry suggested the City get into gas appliance sales. He specifically men tioned water heaters. He said the City could finance appli ance purchases at zero percent interest. “Y’all have got to do these kinds of things,” he said. The City has access to pro grams to help people buy nat ural gas appliances, he said. PROPANE “It’s about the same place as natural gas,” he said. The pro jected income probably won’t happen. “There are ways you can make it better if you decide to keep it,” he said. WATER Mr. Berry said the Water de partment is not generating enough money to meet ex penses. The City did raise water rates in 2015. The City’s annual audit, delivered late last year, said the rate hike is gen erating slightly more than enough money to meet ex penses. The auditor said that is very good. “The revenue is not reflect ing it,” Mr. Berry said. “I’ll double check those numbers.” In his presentation to the Council last year, the auditor said the revenue is reflecting it. Mr. Berry’s figures show Water has a $100K loss and Sewer has a $109K loss. “Those have got to be ze roed out at minimum,” he said. “You are bound by law to make those zero out. You can’t run a deficit.” Again, at the audit presenta tion, the auditor said the two funds are in good shape. “Water use is down,” Mr. Berry said. “The best you can hope for in water & sewer is to break even,” he said. RATE HIKE? Another rate hike is not likely to happen, the mayor said. “I don’t think the people can take no more,” he said. The City’s main income sources are the enterprise funds and property taxes. The City does have a”street fee” on util ity bills. That money goes to the general fund. The General fund pays for City Hah, the City shop, animal control, po lice, fire, street and the Youth Resource Center. GARBAGE He said there’s little the City can do about garbage, but the rate should allow the City to collect some money for City overhead and expenses. Garbage is typically a pass through with all the money coming in going back out to the garbage collector. THE BUDGET The City’s financial struc ture needs work. He pointed to the budget report he presented. The general fund accounts for the majority of the City’s spending. The general fund does not have enough money to meet ah the expenses. “The general fund is not going to do that. It is barely able to take care of itself,” he said. Cuts the City has made are good and are working, but it’s not enough. “You can’t cut expenses enough to get out of this. You have got to be increasing in revenue and decreasing in ex penses. It doesn’t always have to be a rate increase,” he said. Mr. Berry said the City’s budget “process” looks good. The budget is a different mat ter. NEW AND USEDTIRES - COMPUTER WHEEL BALANCE ALLEN'S Tire Service OPEN 7:30 A.M. TIL DARK FREE AIR Monday- Friday FREE ROTATION PRESSURE Saturday 7:30 a.m. - 6 p.m. AND REPAIRS CHECK & FILL J r ON SET OF 4 1-75 at Bussey Road Sycamore • 567-3390 AUTO • RV • TRUCK AND TRAILER TIRES PUBLIC NOTICE The City of Ashburn provides notice, pursuant to O.C.G.A. § 21-2-131 (a)(1), that the office of three at- large seats on the City Council are subject to election on the Tuesday next following the first Monday in No vember of 2016. The qualification fee for City Council at-large positions shall be $126.00. The qualification fee must be paid at the time a candidate qualifies. WESTERN FINANCE A division of Western Shamrock Corporation Where Service Counts TRUSTED LENDER SINCE 1965 Trust our Experienced and Friendly Professionals! We Offer Credit Starter Loans, Collateral & Signature Loans, and Vehicle Secured Loans. Loans repaid in installments with no prepayment penalties. All Loans are subject to our liberal credit policy and credit limitations, if any. 221A E. Monroe St. * Ashburn 229-567-332a www.westernshamrock.com Apply Online * Apply by Phone Come in Today Standardized Infection Ratio (SIR) for colon surgical site in fections by 68 percent since 2013. Currently, the TRMC colon surgical infection rate is below the HAC reduction pro gram national comparative. In September 2015, VHA Geor gia presented TRMC a 2015 VHA Leadership Award at the organization’s annual expo in Atlanta. TRMC won first place in the 150-349 bed hospital category for its team approach in reducing surgical infection rates and improving outcomes specific to colon procedures. VHA Georgia is an alliance of not-for-profit hospitals offer ing a clinical and financial in formation exchange, collective supply chain contracting and synergetic services. Dr. Guest said that TRMC has also volunteered to be sur veyed for quality measures by the Leapfrog Group, a non profit coalition of large U.S. employers and health-care pur chasers. In Oct. 2015, the Leapfrog Group awarded TRMC an A grade for its ef forts to keep patients safe from infections, errors and acci dents. The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations recently named TRMC a Top Performer on Key Quality Measures for the second year-in-a-row for at taining and sustaining excel lence for heart attacks, heart failure, pneumonia and surgi cal care. The hospital scored 95 percent or above across ah reported accountability meas ures. Georgia Trend magazine announced in its December 2015 issue that TRMC is a top 10 Georgia medium-sized hos pital for the fourth year-in-a- row. Georgia Trend used Medicare’s publicly available data on quality indicators and patient satisfaction to deter mine the rankings. Dr. Guest said that a July 28 study from the Journal of the American Medical Association concluded that hospitals that receive HAC penalties fre quently had more quality ac creditations, offered advanced services, saw more complex patients and had better per formance on other process and outcome measures. “Some times the data findings and re porting periods can be paradoxical,” said Dr Guest. He added that Tift Regional is committed to fostering a cul ture of safety and quality. “We will continue to enhance the patient experience through the utilization of performance im provement initiatives,” said Dr. Guest. “We are proud of where we have come but also know the journey to quality never ends.” Ready. Set. Save on Kubota’s B Series SAVE compact tractors. SALES EVENT “Have the budget on paper and that makes it a different thing,” he said. “Whoever did your budget did a pretty good job.” He also said, “your cash flow is not real good either.” The cash flow is concen trated in late fall and early win ter when the bulk of property taxes comes in. Mr. Berry said the City needs a more regular stream of income throughout the year. “You’ve got to find a way to get revenue year round,” he said. Perrin Farm Equipment 703 5th St. E Hwy 82 E Tifton, Georgia 31794 (229) 382-9821 Kubolo. •JO down, 0% A.P.R. financing for up lo 60 months on new Kubota B Series Equipment is available to qualified purchasers from participating dealers' in-stock inventory through 3/31/2016, Example: A 60-monlh monthly installment repayment term at 0% APR. requires 60 payments of S16.67 per S1,000 financed 0% APR. interest is available to customers if no dealer documentation preparation fee is charged. Dealer charge for document preparation fee shall be in accordance with state laws. Inclusion of ineigible equipment may result in a higher blended A.P.R. 0% APR. and low-rale financing may not be available with customer instant rebate offers. Financing is available through Kubota Credit Corporation, U S A.. 3401 Del Amo Blvd, Torrance, CA 90503; subject to credit approval. Some exceptions apply. Offer expires 3/31/2016. See us for details on these and other low-rate options or go to www.kubola.com for more information. Optional equipment may te shown. an WOMEN’S HEALTH DAY ft As . IdA^ . ” Jl A/ ./It/ Tift Regional Community Events Center 1657 Carpenter Rd, Tifton rr-j^ TRMC v ejxAA/ertaier/ WOMEN S HEALTH SERIES! • Women's health information • FREE Screenings for blood pressure, blood sugar and lipid panels (8 -10 a.m., appointments required) • Dr. Melissa Rampal, Nephrology, presents "How Hypertension and Diabetes Affects Your Kidneys" at 10 a.m. • Vendors on various women's health services This event is free and open to the public . Refreshments will be served. Call 353.6316 for more information or to schedule an appointment. Screening appointment slots are limited and are available on a first-call, first-serve basis. www.tiftregional.com Tift regional HEALTH SYSTEM