ECHD Board acquires new technology, practice [Odessa American, Texas]

Nov. 06--Tuesday night the Ector County Hospital District Board approved the purchase of a new web-based program that will assess and gather payments owed to Medical Center Hospital in the future.

The Med Assets Contract Manager will cost an upfront, one-time payment, of $46,000 and an annual payment of $83,000 compared to the annual payment of $5,000 for the current program that is being used.

Board President Richard Herrera asked whether there would be negative affects by not going to the contract manager to which J.R. Edminston, director of patient financial services, said he could not answer the question in exact dollars.

But he continued that with the current program being used an extra $300,000 in revenue was collected in the past year and he anticipated the new program would be able to collect more in the coming years.

Board member Mary Thompson agreed with Edminston saying "it sounds like you get what you pay for."

Edminston continued that the old program did not help to gather payments from MediCare and MediCaid, which accounts for half of the hospital's business. He said that Med Assets program will be able to gather those government insurance payments and be better suited to keep up with recent and expected future changes to healthcare.

The motion to purchase the tool did carry and it is expected to be implemented within four to six months of purchase.

The board also voted to change their provider for the reinsurance policy the hospital provides to each employee to protect from medical claims more than $350,000.

The former provider, Fairmont Specialty, offered a renewal for one year with an addition of $12,145. Since Fairmont Specialty was not a preferred stop loss provider, there would have been an annual fee of $32,500 through a third party administrator.

The board chose to go with HCC Insurance Holdings, which is a preferred stop loss provider, with an increase of $7,500. The plan would be for three years with not more than a 10 percent increase in the premium for 2015 and no more than 15 percent in 2016.

Chief Executive Officer Bill Webster said Pediatrician Yalavarthi Ranga approached the board about acquiring her practice at 540 W. Fifth St. #460, as she prepared to retire and a motion to approve the acquisition was approved at the meeting.

Webster said the transition will begin Monday and Ranga will stay until Dec. 20.

"She will work with us overseeing a smooth transition for her patients," Webster said.

Contact Chris Bartlett at 432-333-7782, email at [email protected], or on Twitter at @OAChrisBartlett

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