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Brookings Health System Board of Trustees
Minutes of Meeting
Monday, June 30, 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, David Meyer, Mary Anne Krogh, Sheila
Anderson (ph.), Jenn Barlund (ph.), Shelby Eischens, Tracy Greene (ph.), Don Greiner, and David Jones
Ex-officio: Lisa Hager, and Dave Miller
Management Present: Jason Merkley, CEO; Tammy Hillestad, CNO; Melissa Wagner, CFO and Sheri
Wiig, recorder
President Darnall called the meeting to order at 5:30 p.m.
EDUCATION – PHARMACY SERVICES
Steve Timmerman, Director of Pharmacy, presented an informational overview of pharmacy services at
Brookings Health System. Timmerman has been with Brookings Health for 31 years in the pharmacy
department and has seen extensive changes in pharmacy services. Timmerman also provided information
on quality and safety initiatives within the pharmacy department as well as regulatory issues and financial
impacts due to significant increases in the cost of some medications.
Timmerman was thanked for his informational presentation, and exited the meeting at 6:00 p.m.
AGENDA
A motion was made by Greiner, seconded by Eischens to approve the agenda. All present voted in favor;
motion carried.
CONSENT AGENDA
A motion was made by Krogh, seconded by Jones to approve the following consent agenda items: April
28, 2025 Board of Trustees meeting minutes, June 18, 2025 Medical Executive committee meeting
minutes, and April and May 2025 Financials. Total payables in April were $8,866,819.47 and
$3,874,081.99 in May. All present voted in favor; motion carried.
STRATEGIC PLAN UPDATE
June 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:
o 2025 Employee Engagement Survey detailed review of scores compared to survey held in
2023. There has been tremendous improvement in scores over the previous survey which was
a good survey as a comparison. Organization and department action plan efforts will continue
to be made on areas of opportunity.
o Employee Childcare Needs internal survey results were presented. Based on results, for those
employees that utilize childcare, there is a need, and many are interested in an employer
sponsored benefit which could help in future recruitment efforts. Conversations will continue
with others in the community working on the collaborative.
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• Quality Pillar – Review of taskforce results/efforts being made to improve scores on three (3) CMS
measures; Clinical Quality Measures/Healthcare Acquired Infections, Mortality/Readmissions, and
Timely & Effective Care.
• Service Pillar – Reviewed five (5) Service Team efforts that are working to impact patient
experience/satisfaction scores to be better than NRC’s overall 75th percentile rating.
• Finance Pillar – Reviewed historical reimbursement benefits and yearly impact of the Rural
Community Hospital Demonstration (RCHD) Program. For Brookings Health, the RCHD program
will expire 10/1/2025. For various reasons, Brookings Health does not qualify for other
reimbursement programs.
• Growth Pillar – Physician recruitment needs were reviewed. Recruitment has been very challenging;
therefore, discussions are taking place with Avera to create a shared physician recruiter position to
focus on Brookings needs including Orthopedics, General Surgery, Emergency Medicine, Urology,
Dermatology, and Family Medicine/Internal Medicine.
INFORMATIONAL ITEMS
Articles of interest included: “Summary of One Big Beautiful Bill Act's Provisions Impacting Hospitals &
Health Systems”, AHA Legislative Advisory; “AI In Healthcare, Balancing the Benefits and Risks”,
Midwest Medical Edition; “Medicaid Cuts, How deep will they go?”, Managed Healthcare Executive;
and, “Proposed Medicaid cuts, quantified”, Becker's Hospital Review.
Discussion was held regarding the detrimental policy changes to Medicaid and Health Insurance
Marketplaces if Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill passes. Anticipation is there will be very few positives
for the health care industry. Merkley commented that the congressional bill, if it becomes law, would cost
hundreds of millions of dollars in administrative costs while threatening access to health care for millions
of people across the country.
REPORTS
Executive Reports
CEO Report
Merkley reminded members that the Foundation’s 16th Annual Aiming to Inspire Health fundraiser will
be held on Thursday, August 7th. The raffle grand prize is a 2025 Polaris Ranger 1000 premium UTV.
CFO Report
Wagner highlighted financial results from the recent Medicare Cost Report as well as potential Medicare
Proposed Rule impacts for 2026. Wagner also shared additional positive optimizations within Workday
for Department Directors.
CNO Report
Hillestad shared the Home Health & Hospice department made their move from the old Yorkshire
Medical building to the hospital and on their first day in the new location, the SD Department of Health
arrived unannounced to conduct a survey. The department did very well with the survey, resulting in no
deficiencies.
Board Committee Reports
Administrative Committee Meeting
President Darnall provided a report; the Administrative Committee met on June 24th. Topics of discussion
included Yorkshire Medical Building Move/Demo/Ribbon Cutting, Workday/Epic, City/County Board
Member Application Timeline, Strategic Plan Update, Investment Authority, and Brookings Merger-
Economic Development Entities.
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Finance Committee
Committee Chair Greiner provided a report; the Finance Committee met on June 24th. The committee
reviewed and approved April and May 2025 payables, financials, and adjustments. Total salaries and
wages in April were $2,308,371 and $2,325,933 in May.
Quality Committee
Committee Chair Krogh provided a report; the Quality Committee met on June 24th. Invited guest, Katy
VanderWal, Registered Dietitian, presented an overview of two (2) performance improvement projects
focusing on NBV/Hospital Menus and Managing Weight Loss in Long Term Care. Other topics of
discussion included the new Patient Safety Structural Measure (PSSM), Arlington Medical Clinic
Department of Health Survey, 2025 Contracted Patient Services, 2025 Mass Casualty Drill and an update
on Measles and confirmed cases in South Dakota.
NEW BUSINESS
Medical Staff Credentialing
Eischens provided a review of provider credentialing. A motion was made by Greiner, seconded by
Meyer to approve all credentialing as recommended by the Medical Executive Committee. All present
voted in favor; motion carried.
Upon motion by Meyer, second by Krogh, the meeting adjourned at 7:01p.m. Motion carried
unanimously.
Respectfully submitted,
_____________________________________
Mary Anne Krogh, Secretary