Covid numbers falling, vaccinations rising

DAYTON–COVID numbers are down in Columbia County and personnel vaccinations are up 95% in compliance with Governor Jay Inslee's timed mandate.

Columbia County Health System (CCHS) CEO Shane McGuire reported to Commissioners at the September 22 meeting the positivity rate of COVID tests in the county had fallen from a high of over 25% to 10%. Actual case counts were as high as the mid-forties and now have dropped to the mid-teens.

As the October 18 deadline imposed by Governor Inslee approaches, which mandates medical workers to be fully vaccinated or lose their jobs, McGuire said the district has seen an increase in staff vaccinations from 60% to 95% compliance. "Everybody at this table, everybody in the administration building, everybody at the department-head level has engaged their employees, one-on-one, multiple conversations," he said. "Lindsay McLaughlin [NP] has been great. She came and spoke to the departments.

"We've been able to get that number down to about 5% of people we know we're going to lose," McGuire said. "It still hurts. Five percent of our workforce is a truly significant number."

McGuire indicated 10 employees are refusing to vaccinate or accommodation and two employees remain undecided. Four of the 10 are staff at Booker Rest Home, two from the clinics and the others from various departments.

If an employee chooses not to comply with the vaccine or accommodations, according to Human Resources Director Laura Stevens, they are being reported to the Employment Security Department as "voluntarily resigning" per the Department's guidance. Also, Stevens claims their guidance indicates a letter of termination cannot be give because the employee is choosing to refuse to meet the requirements of the Governor's proclamation. She also says they are following the lead of the Washington State Hospital Association, as well as advice from legal counsel "in the best interest of the district."

The pandemic is also having an effect on the CCHs budget. As part of the COVID relief effort, Health and Human Services (HHS) issued Provider Relief Funds (PRF) to medical facilities. CCHS has tried to keep up as guidance for use of this money continues to change.

According to CFO Matt Minor, HHS posted unexpected updates to the guidance "which prohibits use of funds for any constructed asset which was not completed by the deadline of June 30, 2021. There are currently multiple bills in Congress which would extend the deadline for use of these funds [and] construction of all the assets that were started using PRF funding would be complete before the revised deadline. Because we must estimate the amount of PRF in accordance with the guidance as it stands, we have recorded a reduction in estimate PRF revenue of $1.4 million."

However, McGuire reported that HHS funding for rural hospitals is expected within a month for over $250,000. He added ARPA funds are also expected and new funding is being made available all the time.

The budget report for August was the highest gross revenue month at $3.5 million, which exceeded the budget by $567,000. This increased revenue kept CCHS within 3% of the budget, despite also having an increase in expenditures of $233,000, mostly due to salaries for new hires and shift coverage incentives. "Separating out the impact of the Provider Relief Funds, CCHS revenue and operations were very strong in August," Minor said.

Tom Meyers, Controller for the Finance Department, presented August statistics on operations which showed Lab and Rehabilitation departments each had all-time high procedure counts of 3,730 and 4,845, respectively. For comparison, the July rehab count was 3,450.

Projects for the hospital continue with the Headwall Project almost complete, with the exception of medical air, of which completion is expected soon. Both the Electrical Generator and Assisted Living projects are in the foundational stage. The projected date for completion of the assisted living is in the spring. Commission Chairman Bob Hutchens asked about the demand for the rooms, and the response was that a fourth unit could be needed.