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Continued Dedicated Service to Our Community A pay period beginning with the summer ending Holiday of Labor Day maintained a somewhat sluggish business stature for the rest of the two weeks. Who wants to be sick in these rather perfect days of fall – although we were wetter than usual? As mentioned last week, several of our local crew were trained at the KHA convention, and several new staff were better oriented to our Cerner Rev Cycle software center in Russell. The most impactful learning came from our Eide Bailley consultant, Ralph Llewellyn, who wrapped up his four month-long off-site assessment of MCH, with an onsite workshop in which we prioritized eleven different projects with timelines ranging from two months for completion to one of nearly eighteen months to fully develop. We left with a commitment to find ways of improving our efficiencies through technology, AI driven wherever appropriate, and through our ongoing attentiveness to deliver quality care with each and every encounter.   I remain concerned that recent months’ statistical numbers are lagging to the same months’ numbers as last year. In a time of shifting sands on the Federal healthcare front, with lots of looming changes being final crafted at the policy and procedural level, I know that we cannot be as well poised to embrace the changes with shrinking or flat numbers. Some of our shrinkage has been due to staffing holes in a couple of our service lines, and there is some encouragement as those are being resolved.   We pause and celebrate our Housekeeping team this week, as part of National Housekeeping Week. Our team does a great job in their demanding role, and we are proud of each of them. I remain a bit apologetic about the extended timeline it is taking to get our tiles fully replaced in all of our hallways. I thank everyone for both their patience and tolerance of the added noise it has created. Have a great two weeks, everybody! And let’s get a win this weekend, Chiefs-we are not accustomed to losing! - Kevin Leeper, CEO

Continued Dedicated Service to Our Community It was great to have a contingent of six folks from Morris County Hospital at last week’s KHA Convention. It takes a real effort to get away to these overnight events, and my hope has been to grow our participation year by year. But I must also temper that desire somewhat and say a big thank you to those who stayed home to take care of our real business! However, the training we receive and the added value of networking with our peers do have some real merit for those of us who can get away. And the vendors at the event always introduce the latest technologies and software enhancements that can assist with our processes. My attending the event has made this report a few days late.   I look forward to a report to be given onsite next week, via a grant paid operations assessment of MCH, performed by Eide Bailley, paid for by USDA, and sponsored by the National Rural Healthcare Association. The preliminary report has indicated some opportunities for improvement, a few of which were anticipated, but I am most interested in hearing just how they suggest we implement them. A side benefit could easily be the formation of a more dialed in financing partner, USDA, pending how we respond to the recommendations.   We are ending a long-lasting project of correcting claims posting errors, emanating from a change in contracted billing services at the end of 2024. The number of errors proved to reach further depths than first thought, so the restoration of accuracy to all accounts took most of our spring and summer months. At last, we can release patient statements this week and hopefully return to normal processing. I wish to thank all our patrons who have patiently waited for us to repair what coulda shoulda never been broken. You can see on our website my letter being sent out this week with each statement.   August wrapped up with heavier than normal overnight patient days and less overall than normal outpatient services. Some of this was a product of provider vacations and some was a result of seasonal swings…something I am getting more used to here in rural Kansas. Just want to thank everyone who cares for our patients like they would wish to be cared for…Have a great two weeks, everybody! - Kevin Leeper, CEO

As I write this, we are a field goal away in days (3) from our first meaningful football game of 2025…courtesy of our own K-State Wildcats! That kind of brings cheer to an otherwise mundane life of chasing insurance companies for payment of the services we do love to deliver, here in our HOMETOWN HOSPITAL. Yes, this is my own long term chosen profession, but the billing rules of the game just don’t seem to be followed like they used to be…or I sure can’t keep up well with the new changes. I am just saying, I think I am a part of one very large pool of folks that think getting your healthcare bills paid properly is just one monstrous frustration. Enough – let’s tune in to the Chiefs, the Cats, the Braves, and of course the Horned Frogs, (I should add the J-birds). Life is just better with them on our forethoughts.   I wish to thank the large number of staff, locals, and some visitors who attended our annual golf tournament last Saturday. Though a bit toasty it was a lot of fun, and some reasonably good golf flared up out the heat waves. We really appreciate the support that was conveyed through the turnout and with the generous regifting of the award monies back to the Foundation!’   We are all really encouraged by the visit from a discharged home, Jeremy Thibodeaux, even if it was only to see him come in-house for some therapy. It was great to see you Jeremy, and it sounds like your return to work is only a matter of some more healing time – thank the Lord!  Also in the Surgery domain, we can all be proud of a certification that Morgan Chadd just earned last week: she is now a Certified Registered Central Service Technician (CRCST), which brings an essential set of skills and knowledge to our team. Congrats Morgan!   With our busier than usual census of late, I wish to thank everyone for simply stepping up and taking on the tasks at hand. As a rule, that is what we excel at around here, and that is what keeps people returning for our care. Those attitudes and actions simply must continue as we cannot afford to turn anyone off. Hope all of our teachers and kids are getting readjusted to the classrooms. Have a great two weeks, everybody! -Kevin Leeper, CEO

The ebb and flow tide of bed utilization has once again proved consistent in our truly rural little hospital. Bed demand was virtually nil the first couple weeks of July, but quite the opposite for the last couple weeks of the month. It just reminds us that we are privileged to serve when needed, and we should be content when our residents are comfortably at home during other times. For 2025, only two other pay periods in the middle of winter had more patient days than were experienced this last pay period.   As schools reopen next week, we will see a shift into more routine behaviors, more traffic, and a bit more buzz around town. The dog days of summer are indeed winding down, with the temps hopefully dropping in the nearer horizon. Glad Morris County had a successful Fair Week, and we hope that it will transition into productive yields for our farmers and ranchers this fall. A shout out to Council Grove’s bicentennial celebration this Sunday, and I hope all you music lovers enjoy the local concerts on Friday and/or Saturday at the Amphitheater.   Thanks for staying local for your goods and services and have a great two weeks. And again, thanks to all our team for consistently caring for our patients in a great manner! -Kevin Leeper, CEO

This summer continues to be rather eventful across our lands; with some things we just might have preferred not experiencing. It was nice to see some recent rain rescue our parched farmland, perhaps in the nick of time. And it will be nice to celebrate our historic little town’s two hundredth birthday, maybe with some still green lawns around town, in just a few days/weeks. For a while we have avoided a closed highway (for repairs) heading south out of town, and we are seeing a few housing opportunities open for the first time in quite a while. But our lake’s park system never really got open in time for summer’s customary local economic impact, and once again we are hearing of positive covid cases dotting our landscape – so be careful. We continue to be war-torn overseas, and we certainly don’t know where the next shoe will drop. Just this week our hospital temporarily lost a major portion of its rebuilt surgical team with the unfortunate accident suffered by Jeremy Thibodeaux and unexpected eye surgery of our hard-working Dr. Samani. We wish them both Godspeed in their complete recoveries, and we hope to support them and their families’ needs during this time. Some periods of time are just rockier than others, and that today seems to be where we find ourselves. It is great that many are experiencing some fun and well-deserved vacations. I encourage others to do the same before this fast-moving summer turns into the first school bell ringing. Thanks to Stacy Zeigler for organizing and promoting the two annual golf events in the near future: Disc Golf tomorrow and Ball Golf in three weeks. Hope many of you are planning on participating. It appears that our highest revenue month of the year, June, is being followed by our lowest revenue month of the year, July…but that is rural healthcare by definition: ups and downs. Our Board has approved a replacement Chemistry Analyzer this week, so by October we will have in-house the latest state-of-the-art producer of lab results currently on the market. We are fortunate to be able to stay abreast of most emerging technologies in this small hospital. For that I am very grateful. Thanks, and have a great two weeks, as we head into celebrating two hundred years. And again, thanks to all our team for consistently caring for our patients in a great manner! -Kevin Leeper, CEO

It was an interesting two weeks, which included the celebration of our 249 th Birthday as the world’s greatest nation, as well as the signing of one of the most talked about bills in a long time – OBBBA - beautiful to not as many as it is controversial to others. For those of us in healthcare, desirous of meeting the healthcare needs for all our citizens, it is a day as the American Hospital Association President, Rick Pollack said, “Today is an extremely disappointing and very difficult day for healthcare in America. Despite months of clearly demonstrating the implications that these Medicaid and marketplace coverage proposals will have on the patients and communities we serve, especially the most vulnerable populations, Congress has enacted cuts of nearly a trillion dollars to the Medicaid program.” Threats to our Community hospitals have, and always will be, the reliability of consistent funding for the expensive services we deliver. It will be interesting to see how we can weather these new ultimatums moving forward. For our community, I am somewhat relieved that our Medicaid utilization in Morris County is lower than in most, therefore we are not as dependent on those cash flows as other facilities. At the same time, however, we are seeing some of our hospitals in neighboring communities (Emporia, Junction City, and Topeka) end their contractual relationships with some of the Managed Medicaid plans and therefore we are seeing an influx of new Medicaid patients seeking care in our facility. From my perspective, we are here to serve all patients, and certainly those with insurance coverage of any form. But this new phenomenon is worth monitoring.   A nice victory for one of our longer tenured employees is worth noting today. Just this week Misty Burnett passed her registry exam as an RVT, Registered Vascular Ultrasound Technician! Her rise in this distinction, from serving as a 9-year Radiology Receptionist, is worthy of further mention. As sonographers are in great demand in Kansas, and we had a hole to fill, Misty came to me and her manager two years ago with an interest in jumping into a 20-month program to earn a degree in sonography. Much of that time is in hands on clinical training with providers who perform ultrasound studies at higher numbers than she can see at MCH. As a single breadwinner in her family, Misty had to maintain an income and knew she would have to study mostly at night and on weekends. It was clear that MCH needed to financially assist her in this ambition, and we were willing to do so in exchange for a commitment for her to work with us for a long time once credentialed. We worked through an innovative financial assistance plan good for both parties, and she will quite comfortably be able to repay her debt to us within a year, because of her new salary. I bring this to everyone’s attention (with her permission) to suggest that if any of you have a dream to elevate your position and still maintain (or begin) a job with us – we have a new template, and one that can most likely be adapted to meet yours and our visions. Bring your ambitions to us if you are so inclined!             And Congratulations and Thank You, from all of us, Misty!!   I’ll wrap up with only a brief comment about the soft numbers we experienced (below) during this holiday filled two-week cycle. I know if we are only going to have 7 metrics exceed our budgeted values – I’d sure rather one of them be the cash collected target, than anything else!! Enough said – and thanks to our Revenue Cycle team for working hard in a difficult environment!!! And again, thanks to all our team for consistently caring for our patients in a great manner! Have a great next two weeks!

Continued Dedicated Service to Our Community For Two Weeks Ending June 21st As much as I hate to think about it, but the summer solstice has already passed. The days are now getting shorter, which signals the start of seasonal shifting. Guess you can also look at it as the official start of summer, which sounds much better. Let’s go with that mindset.   This week also represents the end of the first half of our fiscal and calendar year – another hard to believe reality. The year has been pretty good for MCH, and I will be curious how the 2025 midyear comparison lines up to the last couple years of pretty remarkable growth. We’ll discuss that more in mid-July. We know our growth has softened quite a bit but there are still encouraging indicators.   A word or two on what is going on in Washington around healthcare. A lot of discussion about Trump’s leaning on the healthcare sector’s continued excessive costs and trying to reduce such at the expense of providers who must deliver care at lower payment rates for Medicare and Medicaid eligibles. All this to renew the expiring tax package of his last administration. That could be a huge downside for healthcare providers. On the plus side, it appears we are going to get some support from the Kennedy lead HHS and the Dr. Oz lead CMS teams, who are tackling head on the disruptive Big Insurance Companies’ practices of deterring care by executing rigid preauthorization programs, and then even holding up payments AFTER preauthorization permissions are given. The two leaders have met with the major insurance companies and announced this week some concessions to these practices. Only time will tell, but cutting out some of the administrative burdens of getting paid for rendered services will be a huge relief for hospitals and doctors’ offices.   Locally we welcome Dr. Samani’s recent credentialing to deliver a new knee replacement technique, called the Jiffy Knee, and his subsequent award of being the sole surgeon for most of central and eastern Kansas to deliver this speedier recovery procedure. Based on early calls, we should receive referrals from well outside our immediate service area. There is a lot of information on the web if you google Jiffy Knee. Also Dr. Hunt is growing her practice here and we are adjusting to her high-speed throughput of procedures on her given days in our Surgery Department. Lastly, we are finalizing an agreement and a start time to bring in Dr. Christopher Pole as a cataract surgeon to replace our retired Dr. Michael Reynolds. Hopefully it won’t be more than 2-3 months.   Congratulations go to Thomas Buttrey and his Lab team, who just this week passed a CLIA inspection with zero deficiencies, for the second straight year – a rarity in rural Kansas!! And again, thanks to all our team for consistently caring for our patients in a great manner! Have a great two weeks! Kevin Leeper, CEO

Continued Dedicated Service to Our Community For Pay Period Ending June 7th Back on a two-week capture time frame that matches our pay period. Just wish to ask of everyone’s patience as we steam roll through our floor tile replacement project. We know it is loud and disruptive…but it is just that kind of necessary work every 20 or so number of years. Thanks for tolerating!   No more to report   Thanks, as usual, to all our team for consistently caring for our patients! Have a great two weeks! Kevin Leeper, CEO

Continued Dedicated Service to Our Community For Pay Period Ending May 31st Being a week late, as I was out most of last week, and with our month of May ending on a Saturday, the last day of our weekly reporting cycles, leads me to report (for this time only) three weeks of data, instead of the customary two. The data you see will give you a glimpse of how our monthly totals fared with their respective budgeted totals - see the right-hand column shaded in green on pages 5 and 6 below. We have endured a slow month regarding our overnight census, which does drive some of the volumes of our ancillary departments. So again – lots of red metrics to report. Interestingly, of the eight green metrics we generated over the past three weeks, four of them can be directly attributed to the crazy busy ER period we experienced due to accidents on the Unbound Gravel race on May 31st! So “green volumes” in both of EMS’s metrics, for the # of ER visits, and for total plain x-rays taken, were a result of the several bicycle accidents we cared for on May 31st! The 5,000 riders plus their support crews traveling through Council Grove last weekend did contribute extra business for MCH. I am sure many other businesses fared very well, too. Thanks to our individuals that worked so hard to care for these numerous accidents. What a special day for our community to be a part of this global event! In attending the KHA Board retreat last week, we were updated on many things we have been hearing about for years: our aging population, relative to the past, as couples everywhere are having fewer children, our shrinking healthcare workforce due to pandemic burnout, and the resulting storm ahead as we all know most required healthcare is towards the end of life. So, a very real hovering question is “who is going to take care of us in our later years”, with the convergence of millions of older people and a shrinking number of caregivers. The absolute dependence on Telehealth will be a critical piece moving forward, something that our community has not had a lot of exposure to. Technology will produce labor replacing options and innovation will be essential as well. But this question remains largely unanswered currently. The other hot topic was that of healthcare’s cost to our overall economy. As providers, we have grown accustomed to personalizing how we deliver our care. The USA has fostered choice in how providers approach their care plans and subsequently, creating a choice as to which doctors we as patients gravitate to for the style of care we prefer. Differentiation in how medicine is practiced domestically has proven to yield the highest per capita health expenditure in the world, by far. A move towards more standardization in adopting best practices is viewed as the best way to squeeze cost out of the system. And a huge part of the cost is on the administrative side of securing payment for services! Simplification in that area would be so impactful, if we could somehow better align incentives. It all comes down to seeking and adopting change that works on both a micro and macro level. So if anyone has good ideas, advocate for them through your State and local leaders! Thanks, as usual, to all of our team for consistently caring for our patients! Have a great two weeks! Kevin Leeper, CEO

Continued Dedicated Service to Our Community For Pay Period Ending May 10th I write this during HOSPITAL WEEK, and in doing so I just want to recognize each of you that play an active role in Morris County Hospital’s success: our great Staff members, our visiting Physicians and Providers, our supportive vendors/contractors, our Board, and of course our Patients! Together we create a viable and enduring Community Hospital! Thank you One and All! Just a note for those who may have missed it…but last Friday we had a nice going away/retirement party for a notable long-term Physician for our Community. Dr. Michael Reynolds performed nearly 2,400 cataract/eye surgeries in our hospital over his thirty years of serving our area. He was a true icon in his field and will be greatly missed. We are hoping one of his two colleagues, Dr Anniker or Dr. Pole, will be able to fit us in once a month, despite their now busier schedules. We do wish Doc Reynolds a well-deserved retirement in his Colorado cabin. If you have some concerns, four months into our year, that we have routinely been seeing many more red scoring metrics than green ones, you are pleasingly observant but may need some perspective. Simply from an overall revenue generating target, we budgeted a 14.5% increase above a very impressive year of growth in 2024. We have fallen 7.3% short of meeting that target through four months, which leaves us short on many of the component parts that generate that growth. But on the optimistic side, we are still 6.7 % ahead of 2024 revenue through the same four months, and if we were grading current numbers to prior year numbers, we would look a whole lot greener. But increasing your expected budgets is the only true way to counter the uncontrollable inflationary costs which we have been experiencing for the past 2-3 years. It doesn’t mean that we will automatically attract such growth, but if we work with a mindset of continuous quality improvement as a daily driver…we can secure those referrals from incremental satisfied customers, which will assure more growth. That is my challenge to each of you. We need to be all about satisfying each person who chooses us to care for their health! Thanks to all of you that come to work each day to make that happen! Have a great next two weeks! And once again: HAPPY HOSPITAL WEEK! Kevin Leeper, CEO

These past two weeks have been tasked with a committed and hard-pressed effort to complete the 2025 -2026 application to the KS Community Service Tax Credit program. As most of you know, we have selected the project of expanding our Surgical abilities by adding a second OR Suite to our footprint. The space vacated by EMS is a convenient 50+ feet down a common corridor, and it sounds from the visiting architect this week that we can accommodate this conversion at an “affordable” cost. Perhaps I should say it is affordable if we can get some outside assistance, starting with the $200K we have asked for from the Tax Credit Program. It will be a somewhat on hold and anxious few weeks until we hear back on the award designation (or not). I think we have a good story, and we had some great last minute pledge support and Community letter writing in favor of this project! Thanks to all of you who did so! The real victors of this project, if we can get it accomplished, will be those future residents who have the unfortunate need to have their hips repaired or replaced. They will be able to do so locally!!   I welcome again Bryce Scott, CRNA, who has reaffirmed joining us effective May 1st, to share with Shaun McEuen, the coverage of our Anesthesia needs on a 24/7 basis. Lack of housing at the end of 2024 forced him to delay his start time, and the gap in time brought forth other challenges in moving a family, as well as other opportunities for him to possibly not require a move. So, since we have got to know you some over the past few weeks, Bryce, we are all very excited to hear this news.   April’s better weather seems to have softened service demands just a little bit…the red values are way up on our green values this pay period. But at least through quarter one, we are reporting good financial figures on the current-year to prior-year comparative performance. I want to thank our Accounting and HR duo of Lisa Lee and Terri Lemay for their hard work and preparation in driving the rollout of our new Payroll system in the past couple of weeks. I am excited to hear of some of the features of this new software and of some time savings it should yield to those who prepare payroll moving forward.   It is a busy season for our students, parents, and graduates, and I wish all of you the best as you wrap up another school year! And to conclude, we all give our heartfelt sympathies to the mother, siblings, extended family, MCH family, and all who are grieving the loss of Theresa McGannon, who left us this past week and is now free from battling cancer. We all miss you!   Thanks also to all our staff who give themselves to our patients, every day! Have a great next two weeks! Kevin Leeper, CEO

April is National Stress Awareness Month!   Here are a few tips to help ward off the negative impacts of stress: Take breaks from news stories:  It’s good to be informed, but constant information about negative events can be upsetting. (Think about setting boundaries before this upcoming election!) Eat healthy.  Have fruits and vegetables, lean protein, whole grains, and low-fat or no-fat dairy. Limit foods with unhealthy fats, salt, and added sugars. Cut back on processed foods and choose more whole foods! Get enough sleep.  Go to bed and wake up at the same time each day to help you  sleep better . Adults need 7 or more hours per night. Sleep is what helps to reset our emotions and stabilize our hormones. Move more and sit less.  Every little bit of physical activity helps. Start small and build up to 30 minutes a day. Rome wasn't built in a day--add a few more steps today than you had yesterday! Limit  alcohol  intake.  Choose not to drink, or drink in moderation on days you drink alcohol. Moderation means having 2 drinks or less a day for men or 1 drink or less for women.  Continue with regular health appointments, tests, screenings, and vaccinations.  Talk to your doctor if you're feeling overwhelmed or anxious. They are here to help and can find you additional resources if needed.  Make time to unwind.  Take deep breaths, stretch, or  meditate . Try to do some other activities and make time for the hobbies that you enjoy. Connect with others.   Talk with people  you trust about your concerns and how you are feeling. Connect with your community-based or faith-based organizations. Spend some time outdoors.   Your mom was right--get outside! Research shows that being outside is good for us. Sunshine and fresh air can help our physical and mental health.  We are putting a pause on Chair Yoga at the Council Grove Senior Center. We usually meet on the 2nd and 4th Thursdays of the month, but during April we will be participating in Walk With Ease instead.  Join Laura Canady on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Fridays for some stretching and a brief walk outside. Meet at 12:30 and the Council Grove Senior Center. White City Senior Center chair yoga is unchanged this month. We will meet on the 2nd and 4th Tuesdays of the month from 10:30am to 11:00 am.   Everyone is welcome to join us for some great movement (and it's a great stress reliever too!) Health Wise Lunch Bunch is going off campus this month!  We are trying something new--a 3 part interactive workshop in conjunction with Council Grove Life Center. Workshops will be from 12:00-12:45 pm on Wednesdays, April 16, 23, and 30th at the Life Center. You will learn the importance of strength training as we age, as well as how to lift weights correctly. No lunch will be served! The workshop is free if you are a member of the Life Center, and there is a $7 fee if you are not a member. Space is limited, so you will need to reserve your spot. You can call 620-767-6811 ext. 148 or email szeigler@mrcohosp.com  to reserve a spot or with any questions. The 36-Hour Day Group. It is a support group for caregivers who are caring for those with dementia. It meets every Thursday from 1:00 -2:00 PM in our Hospital Chapel. The group discusses various topics from the book, "The 36-Hour Day". You can email Stacy with any questions you have, szeigler@mrcohosp.com   Morris County Assisted Living is an important part of our community and provides excellent housing options for our seniors. We appreciate your referrals as we look to rent our last couple of renovated apartments and we are looking for a few more great neighbors to call this unique space home. Call 620-767-5600 to schedule a tour. We are also looking to hire a full-time CNA or CMA and a part-time Activities Director. Call Laverne for more information at 620-767-5600.