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Roger and Joanne Petrik
The RHD quarterly meeting was held at the Ramada Inn in Kearney, NE on March 1at noon and adjourned on March 2 at 1:30 p.m. It was decided to invite all the Directors of Nursing and Dietary Managers of each of the facilities as the time was planned for learning sessions to enhance the management of those departments.
The first day started with a huge blizzard in the north and eastern part of the state and Iowa, so there were several employees and guests that were unable to attend. The RHD benefits Administrator, The Olson Group, was able to be at the meeting gave an update on the Company benefits and options available. All employees were given time to visit with Mike Atkins one-on-one about their individual accounts. The representative from Martin Brothers Food Service was unable to at the meeting due to the weather, but Randy Kozeal, Director of Education, presented a session on "Dementia and Alzheimers." After break, the attendees broke into three groups--dietary, directors of nursing, and administrators. Round table discussions on issues within their facilities were discussed. At the end of the day, an update on Medicare Billing and the new billing forms was given by Janet Lytton, Director of Reimbursement. She emphasized the importance of the facilities to begin using their National Provider Identifier. She also discussed some of the billing issues with the Skilled Nursing Homes therapy claims and SNF no pay claims. Janet handed out examples of SNF claims for the facilities to put in their SNF Billing Manual.
The second morning was began with a continental breakfast followed by a learning session on the "Far Reaching Impact of the Quality Indicators" presented by Nancy Harms, RN Consultant. Attendees shared incidents with others on their QI reports and how this is a good tool to use in the facility QA meetings. The various deficiency F-tags that the State surveyors could site were discussed and facilities were given ideas on ways to remedy these. Denise Hyde, PharmD, RP from CIMRO, spoke on "Appropriate Medication Use For Nursing Home Residents." She gave facilities several ideas on how they can get their Pharmacy Consultant more involved with the resident's drug regimen. Roger Petrik, VP gave an update on "Budget and Standards." Since many of our facilities have the beginning of their fiscal year of July 1, this update was very beneficial as many will be beginning this process soon. What trends are happening in the nursing supply areas, food items, and overall costs were discussed. The meeting and discussions ended by about 1:30 p.m. and everyone started home. Some traveling to the north and east were still possibly going to have bad roads as the snow storm was still in progress.
Ron Ross, one of the co-founders of Rural Health Development has returned effective January 2007. During the past eight years Ron has been involved with public service in the State Offices in Lincoln, NE. The first five years was spent as a cabinet member for Nebraska Governor Mike Johanns as Director of Health and Human Services, and the past three years as the Nebraska State Treasurer. "I feel very fortunate having served the people of Nebraska for the past eight years and I have appreciated the knowledge I have gained by working with all three branches of government," said Ross. Ron plans on bringing this insight he has gained to RHD and being able to help the company grow and meet the needs of their clients.
Ron Ross and Roger Petrik have started a new company, HHS Solutions. This sister company will help meet the needs of facilities in more urban communities as well as meeting the housing and support service needs of people with disabilities.
The first evening climaxed with a steak and shrimp dinner and awards presented by Roger Petrik, Vice President. Past awards were mentioned and new awards were given for 2006 as follows:
Administrator of the Year 2003 - Dorene Spies, Mt. Carmel Home, Kearney, NE
Administrator of the Year 2004 - Kelsie Ryan, Hillcrest Care Center, Laurel, NE
Employee of the Year 2004 - Janet Lytton, RHIT, NHA, Director of Reimbursement
Administrator of the Year 2005 - Walt Dye, Mitchell Care Center, Mitchell, NE
Nurse of the Year 2005 - Kathy Keifer, D.O.N. at Hillcrest Care Center, Laurel NE
Employee of the Year 2005 - Jo Fuller, Administrator, Billing Specialist
Administrator of the Year 2006 - Barb Dreyer, Wilber Care Center, Wilber, NE
Employee of the Year 2006 - Joanne Petrik, RN, Nursing Consultant
Nurse of the Year 2006 - Amber Jarecke, D.O.N. at Parkside Manor, Stuart, NE
Roger Petrik, President/CEO of Rural Health Development closed the meeting with updates to the company. He strongly stated that we as RHD have an obligation to keep the census up in our facilities and that he and the other Consultants will be guiding the Administrators in marketing ideas to increase and maintain census in our facilities. He is extremely pleased with how each of our facilities is doing in a time when healthcare is at its most challenging moment. He also stated that there are Nursing Homes and Hospitals out there that are unaware of our Management or Consulting abilities and that our goal over the next few months was to introduce these Administrators and Boards to the services we are able to provide. Roger is very pleased with how Rural Health Development is growing and with the fact that RHD is making a positive difference in the management of healthcare in the rural communities with which we are associated either by management contracts or consulting contracts.
Roger discussed the educational engagements "The Cambridge Institute" with all the administrators. "The Cambridge Institute" is a corporation set up to present educational topics to individual facilities, organizations, or associations across the country. Many of our present employees are experts on many subjects related to healthcare and we want to give others the opportunity to learn from our knowledge and experience. If anyone is interested in talking to Roger about a specific topic you can reach him at rdpetrik@charter.net or Ron Ross at rdross54@yahoo.com or contact Janet Lytton at 308-647-6455 or RHDconsultJL@hotmail.com. Janet Lytton, Director of Reimbursement will be presenting "Billing for the Independent Rural Health Clinic" at the National Rural Health Clinic conference in March in San Antonio, Texas.