Hospital board handles final business

With Jay County Hospital headed into the final hours of its existence, its board on Wednesday handled some last-minute business and also spent some time saying thank you.

Jay County Hospital Board OK’d a resolution to handle benefit plans, approved a long list of staff appointments and heard a financial update during its final meeting at noon Wednesday, 12 hours ahead of the moment the facility officially became IU Health Jay.

Beyond those last-minute logistical items, there was a lot of thanks:

•To the hospital employees for their work in preparing for the integration with Indiana University Health.

•To IU Health for its support throughout the process.

•To board members for their years of service.

“When you’re merging two organizations and two cultures, it can be a challenging thing,” said then-Jay County Hospital CEO Dave Hyatt, who is now president of IU Health Jay. “But we have seen people go above and beyond on both sides, putting in countless hours … people putting in massive amounts of work, and they’ve done a great job. … I’m very excited, and can’t be more proud of the team we have here.”

“We think that the affiliation we will have with IU Health will be nothing but positive,” added board president Dave Littler. “We’re excited. And the excitement shows in this room, and the excitement shows in all of the transition committee meetings that we’ve had in the hospital. …

“Thanks again for your confidence in Jay County Hospital.”

As part of the integration, all Jay County Hospital retirement plans are being closed. Each employee had options as to how those benefits will be received, and they also were able to enroll in Indiana University Health’s retirement programs in order to accrue future benefits.

IU Health agreed to pay the resulting closing costs, estimated between $6 million and $9 million.

Though Jay County Hospital technically no longer exists, there remains paperwork to close out the retirement plans. The board on Wednesday approved several resolutions that will allow the transition committee — Littler, board member Bill Hinkle and attorney John Coldren — to handle those items. The goal is to have everything complete by the end of the year.

The board also took the step to accept the resignations of privileges from cardiologist Dr. Sai Devarapalli, dentist Jason Arnold, nurse Rick Spangler, otolayrngologist Dr. Thomas Whiteman, nurse practitioner Carol Keihn and all virtual radiology staff. The move was a procedural one, as all of those employees were also approved for privileges by the new IU Health Jay board.

Other staffing moves Wednesday included the two-year appointments of Dr. Bhavana Siddegowda Bangalore (cardiology), Dr. Gregory Chupp (emergency), Dr. John Mihelcic (emergency), nurse Clinton Fletcher and physician extenders Kendra McLaughlin, Patricia Myers and Jennifer Detweiler. Reappointed for two years were Dr. Michael Moran (cardiology), Dr. Michael Malnofski (radiology), Dr. Bruce Graham (cardiology), Dr. Sudarshan Komanapalli (sleep lab), Dr. Xiaolin Wu (pathology), Dr. Jeffrey Ulrich (urology), Dr. Elizabeth Droege (emergency), Dr. Robert Elliott (out-patient), Dr. Allen Shepherd (general surgery), Dr. David Rohrer (family medicine), nurses Bryan Anderson and Eric Pinkie, physician extenders Karen Bricker, Teresa Michael and Charity Pearson, nurse practitioner Alice Bruggeman.

Don Michael, Jay County Hospital’s chief financial officer, updated the board on finances, which were the driving force to the board pursuing a regional partner. The facility had a loss of $680,000 in January, bringing the total losses for fiscal year 2018, which began Oct. 1, to about $2.37 million. (The hospital’s expenses outpaced revenue by nearly $8 million in fiscal 2017.)

Hyatt presented the board members, as well as Coldren, with a plaque in thanks for their years of service to Jay County Hospital.

While Jay County Hospital Board will no longer exist, each of its members — Pat Miller, Roger Locker, Janet Bantz, Debbie Kummer, Brad DeRome, Littler and Hinkle — will be part of the new IU Health Jay board. That group will also include Dr. Jeff Bird, president of IU Health’s east central region, Lori Luther, IU Health Ball Memorial Hospital chief operating officer, John Littler, chair of IU Health’s east central region board, and Dr. Frank Vormohr, a Jay County native and physician at the hospital.

Like Hyatt and Littler, Bird expressed his excitement about the partnership.

“This transition has been a phenomenal process,” said Bird, who was in attendance along with John Littler and other IU Health officials. “Dave, thank you for your leadership through it. …

“For the leaders from the hospital, we at Ball and in the east central region couldn’t be more impressed with your team. We hope that we are going to be able to learn from some of the great practices that you have and support you in ways that maybe were difficult before. We’re so very excited for the relationship going forward.”

The new board will oversee Jay County Hospital through Feb. 28, 2021, with the facility then to fall under the jurisdiction of IU Health’s east region board that also govern’s IU Health Ball Memorial Hospital and IU Health Blackford.

Hyatt reported that Littler and Hinkle will be joining the IU Health east central region board this month.

He also told board members that hospital auxiliary is committed to continuing its volunteer work with IU Health Jay.