BBGH Board of Trustees announces the appointment of Lori Mazanec as the hospital’s Chief Executive Officer
BBGH closes on $28.75 million USDA Permanent Loan; announces savings of $9,000,000 in interest payments over 40 year term due to lower interest rate
Lori Mazanec, new CEO of Box Butte General Hospital
The Box Butte General Hospital (BBGH) Board of Trustees met Monday, November 28 for their regular monthly meeting, and after exiting executive session to discuss personnel matter, the re-entered open session toward the end of the meeting voted on the position for a permanent CEO for the hospital. They approved to appoint Interim CEO Lori Mazanec as the hospital’s new permanent CEO by a vote of three to one.
In a letter to BBGH staff, Trustee Chairman Tom Furman, D.V.M., M.S., stated, “As members of the board of BBGH and members of the western Nebraska community, we are very proud of our team of hard working and compassionate people in our hospital. We have constructed a new space to practice the craft of making people healthy, we have all been diligent in making the physical move and mental transition to the future tasks of continued excellence in servicing the healthcare needs of this community. Your efforts have not gone unnoticed by the people of Box Butte County, and we are all very grateful!
“… Having in mind the importance of the roles of all the valued staff at Box Butte General Hospital, the board is pleased to announce the appointment of Lori Mazanec to the permanent CEO position of BBGH. Lori understands the importance of good communication and support between all of the staff to ensure the optimum standards of care for our patients. Lori is rooted in Western Nebraska and dedicated to all levels of continued provider recruitment and retention. Our goal is to continue to unite our professional family in the quest to provide 21st Century medicine from people who care! Please join us in welcoming Lori as BBGH CEO.”
Ms. Mazanec commented, “It was an honor to be offered the position. I’m thrilled to be given the opportunity to make a positive difference in the lives of our patients, our staff, and our community and am looking forward to recruiting additional physicians to become a part of this great organization and develop a retention program to recognize the committed staff already in place. BBGH employees are dedicated, hard-working individuals that have true compassion for their professions. And to say I am now leading them is an honor!”
It was also announced by BBGH Chief Financial Officer Emeritus Tracy Jatczak that at noon that day hospital representatives met with USDA representatives to close on the $28.75 million USDA Permanent Loan. The hospital had an interim loan with First National Bank the past three years to cover construction costs for the new addition. Ms. Jatczak went over some of the numbers associated with the loan. “The final interest rate we were able to get was a fixed 2.375 percent for 40 years,” she said. “That was considerably less than the rate we locked in at when first awarded the loan, which was 3.5 percent a little over 3 years ago. At the time we thought there was no way it would go lower, but it did, which is fantastic. The drop in the interest rate equates to a savings of about $9 million over the term of the loan. That comes out to a savings of $250,000 per year. The first payment will come due January 1, 2017, and the last payment will be December 1, 2057. The monthly payment is just under $93,000. We will also have a monthly reserve account payment to make of $9,387, which will go on for a period of 10-years until the balance of the account reaches the equivalent of one year of debt service on the loan.”
The board also conducted the following business.
Interim CEO Lori Mazanec introduced Diagnostic Imaging technician Amber Smith as the November Employee of the Month. She then introduced Greater Nebraska Medical and Surgical Services newest Nurse Practitioner Kristin Ferguson, APRN-C. The board also welcomed Gabriela Tovar, Admissions/ER Representative, to the BBGH staff.
After unanimously approving the consent calendar, the Trustees received the monthly Quality Management & Safety report from CQO Mary Mockerman. Ms. Mockerman went over 12 National Patient Safety Goals issued by The Joint Commission, saying all these goals are critical for patient safety. The goals are: Two patient Identifiers (name and birthday) when providing care, treatment and services; Eliminate transfusion errors related to patient mis-identification; Timely reporting of critical results of tests and diagnostic procedures, with live (face to face) reporting within 30 minutes of critical lab results; Label all medications on and off the sterile field in perioperative and all procedural settings; Reduce risk of harm associated with Anticoagulant Therapy through approved protocols; Maintain and communicate accurate patient medication information; Improve the safety of clinical alarm systems; World Health Organization Hand Hygiene Guidelines; Reduction and control of Multi Drug Resistant Organisms (MDRO); Prevention of Central Line associated Blood Stream Infections; Implement evidence based practices for preventing surgical site infections; and Implement evidence based practices for preventing urinary catheter associated infections. She also went over her Safety Central information, ranging from Occupancy Permits being received and annual fire alarm and sprinkler system inspections being completed to Hot Patch work progress and Safety Officer James Koeteman’s plans to present 2012 Life Safety Codes changes, as well as others, this month. Her Safety Matters report focused on blood bank errors and the action plan developed through the Just Culture Algorithm to address the issue.
After unanimously accepting the October Financial Report from CFO Bridget Miller, the trustees briefly discussed the draft review of the Strategic Plan with Ms. Mazanec. Several board members, as well as Ms. Mazanec, said the draft raised several questions on methodology that they would like to see answered by the company developing the plan.
Ms. Mazanec provided an overview on where the Phase II part of the renovation was at this time. She told the board construction workers are working on dry wall finishes, with overhead work nearly completed (wiring, etc.). She said discussion is still continuing on equipment purchases and that everything is on track to hit the planned January 2017 opening.
After unanimously approving all credentialing requests, as mentioned at the beginning of this article the trustees voted to go into executive session at 7:46pm to discuss personnel matters. They reentered regular session at 10:08pm and after appointing Ms. Mazanec as CEO, adjourned at 10:15pm. A special meeting will be held December 12 at noon in the Sandhills Room. The regular meeting for December will be held Tuesday, Dec. 27 at 7:00pm in the Sandhills Room. As always, the public is invited to attend.
Box Butte General Hospital is an equal opportunity provider and employer.
