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Brookings Health System Board of Trustees
Minutes of Meeting
Monday, January 27, 2025
The Brookings Health System Board of Trustees held a meeting at the Brookings Hospital in the Board
Room with the following members present: Lynn Darnall, Mary Anne Krogh (ph.), Sheila Anderson,
Shelby Eischens, Tracy Greene, Dave Jones (ph.), and Don Greiner.
Ex-officio: Andrew Rasmussen and Dave Miller
Absent: David Meyer and Jenn Barlund,
Management Present: Jason Merkley, CEO; Tammy Hillestad, CNO; Melissa Wagner, CFO and Sheri
Wiig, recorder
President Darnall called the meeting to order at 5:00 p.m.
INTRODUCTIONS
New board members, Shelby Eischens and Dave Jones, were introduced and welcomed, as well as County
appointed ex-officio, Dave Miller.
AGENDA
A motion was made by Anderson, seconded by Greiner to approve the agenda. All present voted in favor;
motion carried.
CONSENT AGENDA
A motion was made by Greene, seconded by Anderson to approve the following consent agenda items:
December 16, 2024, Board of Trustees meeting minutes, revised Medical Staff Bylaws, November and
Preliminary December 2024 financials, adjustments, and payables; total payables were $2,461,192.81 for
November and $3,488,651.64 for December. All present voted in favor; motion carried.
STRATEGIC PLAN UPDATE
January is one of three months slated to provide the board with a periodic update on each of the pillars of
success included in Brookings Health’s 2023-2026 Strategic Plan. Management provided reports on
current efforts that are underway within each pillar.
• People Pillar – Organizational Action Plan focusing on results of the recent employee pulse survey to
gauge progress with implemented improvements. Impact has been positive.
• Quality Pillar – Review of new clinical quality measures implemented by CMS focusing on safe use
of opioids and concurrent prescribing and total joint replacement patient outcomes. Also, continued
prevention of healthcare acquired infections (HAI) specifically C. difficile.
• Service Pillar – Patient experience/satisfaction efforts focusing on performing better than NRC’s
overall rating of 75% utilizing the tactic AIDET (Acknowledge, Introduce, Duration, Explanation,
Thank you) + the Promise to let the patient know everything possible is being done to improve their
experience.
• Finance Pillar – Reviewed benefit of using cash on hand versus borrowing (due to high rates) for the
Yorkshire Medical Building project as well as analyzing debt service coverage ratio, and age of plant
accumulated/annualized depreciation.
• Growth Pillar – Northern Plains Health Network (NPHN) – update on goals and objectives of the LLC
established in 2015.
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INFORMATIONAL ITEMS
Articles of interest included: “Pride & Promise”, Midwest Medical Edition; “President Trump’s 1st-day
healthcare moves: 7 things to know”, Becker’s Hospital Review; “The push and pull over prior
authorization”, Managed Healthcare Executive; and “Medicare Advantage Changes on the Horizon”,
Healthcare Executive.
REPORTS
Executive Reports
CEO Report
Merkley noted the employee appreciation event is being held February 28th and all members are invited to
join health system staff for an evening of fun. Merkley also shared the legislative bill tracker, pointing out
related house and senate bills being monitored by SDAHO’s (South Dakota Association of Healthcare
Organizations) advocacy team.
CFO Report
Wagner highlighted a comparison of operating expenses between 2023 to 2024. Salaries and contract
staffing are the largest expense items and areas with the most change were salaries and supplies.
CNO Report
Hillestad noted the impressive growth and quality of the obstetrics unit. 2024 ended with a record number
of deliveries (397) in a year.
Board Committee Reports
Administrative Committee Meeting
President Darnall provided a report; the Administrative Committee met on January 21st. Topics of
discussion included Yorkshire Medical Building, Workday/Epic, 2025 TeamShare Incentive, Medical
Staff Bylaws, Strategic Plan Update, Education/Staff Presentations, County Commission – Dave Miller,
and Security and Safety.
Finance Committee
Committee Chair Greiner provided a report; the Finance Committee met on January 21st. The committee
reviewed and approved the payables, adjustments, and financials for November 2024 and preliminary
financials for December 2024. Total salaries and wages were $3,617,918 for November and $3,453,738
for December. Other topics of discussion included Historical Overview and Cash Flow Update. The
committee also reviewed the proposed 2025 TeamShare incentive finance goal and recommended board
approval.
Quality Committee
Committee Chair Krogh provided a report; the Quality Committee met on January 21st. Topics of
discussion included 2024 Organ & Tissue Donation Program, mPINC Award, DAISY Award program
and 2025 Organizational Performance Improvement Projects. The committee also reviewed the Proposed
2025 Quality TeamShare Goal and recommended board approval.
NEW BUSINESS
FY25 TeamShare Incentive
TeamShare is Brookings Health System’s overall incentive program for the organization with new goals
being established annually and combines two pillars of success: quality/service and finance. The Quality
and Finance committees reviewed the FY25 TeamShare incentive tiers respectively and both recommend
board approval.
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A motion was made by Greiner to approve the proposed TeamShare Incentive Program as presented.
Service/Quality incentive tiers will be set at 80%, 80.5%, 81%, and 81.5% and Finance tiers will be set at
5.32%, 5.70%, 6.08%, and 6.46%. The motion was seconded by Anderson. All present voted in favor;
motion carried.
Annual Conflict of Interest Statement
Annual Conflict of Interest Statements were distributed. Members were asked to review, sign, and return
them to Wiig.
Upon motion by Greene, second by Greiner, the meeting adjourned at 6:30 p.m. Motion carried
unanimously.
Respectfully submitted,
_____________________________________
Mary Anne Krogh, Secretary