By Brian Gray
bgray@ themonroetimes.com
MONROE - Almost a year after Green County voters approved a referendum to keep the county-owned Pleasant View Nursing Home open, the home's administrator is optimistic things are on the right track.
"We're not out of the woods yet, but we're making progress," administrator Terry Hensel said. "I think we're moving in the right direction."
In 2009, the nursing home had a deficit of about $1 million. In 2008, the nursing home had a deficit of about $800,000.
In October, Green County residents voted by a 3-to-1 margin to allow the county to exceed the property tax levy by up to $890,000 a year for the next five years to fund the nursing home.
The county board voted in October to exceed the revenue limit for the nursing home by $819,000 last year. The county will have to exceed the revenue limit again this year, but Hensel said she doesn't know by how much. The budget process has just started and how much is needed won't be known for a few weeks.
However, she predicted the nursing home will be within its $10 million budget this year.
Hensel and Herb Hanson, Green County Pleasant View Nursing Home Committee chairman, both said that while the nursing home is being run more efficiently, some costs for building maintenance will come up in the future.
The nursing home is more than 40 years old and only about half the building has sprinklers. State regulations require the entire building to have a sprinkler system.
Hanson said the committee and Hensel are trying to find out the cost to put sprinklers in the entire building and are talking to other nursing homes about how to go about installing them in a cost-effective manner.
"You don't have to reinvent the wheel," Hanson said. "You can talk to other nursing homes to find out what they did."
At the time of the referendum, Green County voters said they were willing to help fund Pleasant View, but expected the administrator and the county to operate the facility efficiently.
Hensel, who began her duties as administrator in November, said that was also her goal. She said she wanted to reduce expenses and increase revenues. She also said that reducing expenses wouldn't result in a decline in care for the approximately 125 Pleasant View residents.
Changes made in how the nursing home is run was the reason for the more optimistic financial future, Hanson said.
"Terry came to us from the private sector. She knows what it means to keep things within a budget," he said.
One of the first things Hensel did when she took over as administrator was to recruit nurses to work at Pleasant View. In the past, the nursing home relied on agencies to provide nurses on a part-time basis.
"We used Craigslist (online classified advertisements), the county website, Internet sites and other types of advertising to hire nurses" Hensel said. "We needed to market ourselves to get people to come here to work."
Since April, the nursing home has hired 44 people, mostly nurses, but also some nurses aides.
By hiring nurses, rather than using agencies, the home expects to save about $600,000 this year.
Last year, the nursing home spent about $900,000 for nurses from nursing agencies. So far, in 2010, the nursing home has spent about $250,000 to hire nurses from nursing agencies.
Hensel said no agency nurses have been working at the nursing home since June 18, and she doesn't expect to use any the rest of the year.
Hensel was also able to combine two supervisory positions, which saved Pleasant View about $40,000.
To increase revenue, the nursing home began advertising that it offered physical therapy services. People who had hip or knee replacement surgery were able to come to the facility on an out-patient basis.
While exact numbers weren't available, Hensel said people have used Pleasant View's facilities for physical therapy.
Hanson said the nursing home also began to keep more accurate records of services for residents, such as therapy or extra help for residents. In the past, some of those services weren't recorded, and the nursing home didn't receive reimbursement from insurance, or Medicaid or Medicare.
Hanson said recording the services is just good management.
"If you don't record those things and you don't get paid for them, it's really your mistake," he said.
Hanson said he hopes county residents approve of what has been done at Pleasant View.
"I hope that people would be happy with how the nursing home is being run," he said.
bgray@ themonroetimes.com
MONROE - Almost a year after Green County voters approved a referendum to keep the county-owned Pleasant View Nursing Home open, the home's administrator is optimistic things are on the right track.
"We're not out of the woods yet, but we're making progress," administrator Terry Hensel said. "I think we're moving in the right direction."
In 2009, the nursing home had a deficit of about $1 million. In 2008, the nursing home had a deficit of about $800,000.
In October, Green County residents voted by a 3-to-1 margin to allow the county to exceed the property tax levy by up to $890,000 a year for the next five years to fund the nursing home.
The county board voted in October to exceed the revenue limit for the nursing home by $819,000 last year. The county will have to exceed the revenue limit again this year, but Hensel said she doesn't know by how much. The budget process has just started and how much is needed won't be known for a few weeks.
However, she predicted the nursing home will be within its $10 million budget this year.
Hensel and Herb Hanson, Green County Pleasant View Nursing Home Committee chairman, both said that while the nursing home is being run more efficiently, some costs for building maintenance will come up in the future.
The nursing home is more than 40 years old and only about half the building has sprinklers. State regulations require the entire building to have a sprinkler system.
Hanson said the committee and Hensel are trying to find out the cost to put sprinklers in the entire building and are talking to other nursing homes about how to go about installing them in a cost-effective manner.
"You don't have to reinvent the wheel," Hanson said. "You can talk to other nursing homes to find out what they did."
At the time of the referendum, Green County voters said they were willing to help fund Pleasant View, but expected the administrator and the county to operate the facility efficiently.
Hensel, who began her duties as administrator in November, said that was also her goal. She said she wanted to reduce expenses and increase revenues. She also said that reducing expenses wouldn't result in a decline in care for the approximately 125 Pleasant View residents.
Changes made in how the nursing home is run was the reason for the more optimistic financial future, Hanson said.
"Terry came to us from the private sector. She knows what it means to keep things within a budget," he said.
One of the first things Hensel did when she took over as administrator was to recruit nurses to work at Pleasant View. In the past, the nursing home relied on agencies to provide nurses on a part-time basis.
"We used Craigslist (online classified advertisements), the county website, Internet sites and other types of advertising to hire nurses" Hensel said. "We needed to market ourselves to get people to come here to work."
Since April, the nursing home has hired 44 people, mostly nurses, but also some nurses aides.
By hiring nurses, rather than using agencies, the home expects to save about $600,000 this year.
Last year, the nursing home spent about $900,000 for nurses from nursing agencies. So far, in 2010, the nursing home has spent about $250,000 to hire nurses from nursing agencies.
Hensel said no agency nurses have been working at the nursing home since June 18, and she doesn't expect to use any the rest of the year.
Hensel was also able to combine two supervisory positions, which saved Pleasant View about $40,000.
To increase revenue, the nursing home began advertising that it offered physical therapy services. People who had hip or knee replacement surgery were able to come to the facility on an out-patient basis.
While exact numbers weren't available, Hensel said people have used Pleasant View's facilities for physical therapy.
Hanson said the nursing home also began to keep more accurate records of services for residents, such as therapy or extra help for residents. In the past, some of those services weren't recorded, and the nursing home didn't receive reimbursement from insurance, or Medicaid or Medicare.
Hanson said recording the services is just good management.
"If you don't record those things and you don't get paid for them, it's really your mistake," he said.
Hanson said he hopes county residents approve of what has been done at Pleasant View.
"I hope that people would be happy with how the nursing home is being run," he said.