Joined by David Griffiths, vice-president, finance and chief financial officer of Regional West Medical Center in Scottsbluff, Kimball Health Services CEO Julie Schnell presented the Kimball Hospital Board of Trustees with a look at the hospitals finances at the Board of Trustees meeting on Feb. 24.Schnell said that although the hospital is down from the previous year, the situation is not grim. Nor is it different than other hospitals in the area.After hearing the report, board member Max Revell asked Griffiths and Schnell, "Is this in line with our peers?"Griffiths said that it was. He said the Kimball hospital, and other regional hospitals -including Chadron and Oshkosh-  have seen a decrease in patient services. Part of the reason for the decrease is because their hasn't been an outbreak of the flu this year, so far. Schnell added that the slower economy could be adding to that as well.Griffiths said another reason that KHS has seen a decrease in patient services is because people are looking elsewhere for treatment that they can not receive in Kimball. "We are continuing to look for outreach doctors to come to our clinic," said Schnell.By getting the outreach doctors into the hospital it will expand the services that KHS is able to offer.  Schnell said she had spoken with the hospital at Poudre County but didn't feel hopeful from those talks.  Efforts will continue, she said. Board president Carla Goranson asked if their are trends are similar to last year."The trends are down," said Schnell, " but they have picked up lately."CEO ReportSchnell told the board that the hospitals contract with Stericycle, the company responsible for picking up and disposing of the hospitals bio waste (red bag), is in need of signing. The problem with signing the contract is the drastic increase in the cost of services. Schnell said the contract at last signing was for $5,312.16 a year. The current contract, when signed, will show and increase to $10,188. That increase will take effect as soon as the contract is signed, said Schnell.She explained that Regional West is looking in to having a project were they clean and sterilize the needles using an autoclave. The items would then be cleared for disposing in landfills. Griffiths said that the project is on their list of capitol projects. It is possible the Regional West could be contracted for that service.Schnell said she would try to negotiate a different contract with Stericycle. She wasn't hopeful of the results though because they are the only company that handles medical waste in the area. Schnell said the will also be doing in house training to inform staff of what does or doesn't o in the red bags. This way it will lower the amount that Stericycle is picking up from Kimball. Schnell said the Maynard Project (electronic health records project) is scheduled to go live soon. "Things are going as good as can be expected," said Schnell.The hospital continues to work on their recruiting efforts, said Schnell. A new recruiting letter designed by Kerry Ferguson is being printed and will be mailed to an estimated 5,000 potential recruits. The letters are a deviation from the previous recruiting efforts, said Schnell. The hospital had been using a recruiting service. By doing themselves, Schnell said they will be better able to target the recipients."We are hoping that we can do a better job of recruiting ourselves," said Schnell. In other action, the hospital board congratulated Pam Klussman as the KHS Employee of the Month for February, approved a request by Laura Bateman for $3,700 in education assistance for two semesters, and approved the credentialing of Dr. Charles Singer, a radiologist who will assist KHS with interpreting x-rays and other medical images from Advanced Medical Imaging Consultants in Fort Collins.After Schnell explained to the board a couple of legislative bills they needed to be aware of, the meeting was adjourned.