2014 Business Class Honoree: Citizens Memorial Healthcare

Donald Babb is smack dab in the middle of the country’s precarious health care industry.

As CEO of Citizens Memorial Healthcare in Bolivar, the health system’s balance sheet in his hands is case in point. In 2012, Babb watched the organization’s profits balloon to $5.9 million, only to see them drop to a still respectable $1.6 million the next year. The main culprit: Fewer federal reimbursements, he says.

Through the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, CMH received the first payment of “meaningful use dollars” for transitioning to electronic medical records. The government incentives were not as great in year two.

“There is probably a $1 million difference between 2012 and 2013,” he says, because information system technology changes already were in place.

Babb says a cash purchase of the Lake Stockton Healthcare Facility also played in to the health system’s profitability.

Yet, Babb and CMH management have remained focused on delivering health care through expanding programs and clinics.

This year, Babb says CMH has five major construction projects at various stages. The largest job is the $12.4 million, 85,000-square-foot expansion of the Kerry and Synda Douglas Medical Center for new surgical suites, physician offices and an imaging center.

There’s also the coming Bolivar OB-GYN, recently out to bid, and the $5.3 million Bolivar Technical College on the hospital campus. With an expected July construction start, the school is designed to house the CMH Education Department for nursing and other medical training.

Following the acquisition in Stockton, CMH is building a long-term care/senior living center next to the Stockton Family Medical Center. “We’re working through the plans now. We’ll probably start construction some time this year,” he says of the estimated $5 million project.

A new program launched last year through the Tremain Family Hospital House provides overnight stays for cancer patients traveling long distances for treatments. The house has recorded more than 400 guest nights since Sept. 1.

CMH already plans to expand its STEMI – or ST-Elevation Myocardial Infarction – Center that began offering emergency cardiac care in February. Staffed 24/7 and serving a need between Springfield and Kansas City, Babb says the hospital plans to apply for Level 2 STEMI designation that would open the door to treat critical care cardiac patients.

Among the tentacles of ACA, the recent open enrollment period for federal health insurance kept CMH staff busy. When it closed March 31, Babb says CMH helped a couple thousand residents obtain health care coverage.

With the additional services, CMH’s operating revenue was up 8 percent in 2013 to roughly $325 million. The fiscal gains were slower than the double-digit percentage growth recorded the previous two years.

And without Medicaid expansion in Missouri, he says the future of finances and care is uncertain. “It’s something that health care is in great need of. Patients are in need of it, yet (legislators) find the inability to approve that,” Babb says. “It’s leaving a lot of money on the table.”[[In-content Ad]]