The Eureka Springs Hospital Commission voted unanimously to officially offer the hospital’s CEO position to Tiffany Means at an annual salary of $230,000.

Means, according to hospital chair Sandy Martin, had already agreed to the conditional offer, members of the hospital commission were told after an executive session that lasted just under 30 minutes at the commission’s regular monthly meeting held Monday, June 16.

“I propose we make an offer of employment to Tiffany Means with a salary of $230,000 a year and a to-be-negotiated incentive bonus plan,” commissioner David Carlisle said after the conclusion of the executive session.

Means’ resume, obtained in April by the Times-Echo through an open-records request, lists her current position as “Independent Healthcare Consultant” for Hollywood System, in Hollywood, Calif., and Quorum Health/ American Health Systems in Waukegan, Ill. She held the same role at Methodist Health System in Dallas from 2021 to 2023 and at Northwest Health System in Bentonville from 2023-2024. Means lists Fayetteville as her current home address.

According to the resume, Means’ employment background includes “Director of Emergency Service” from 2017 to 2021 and “Standalone Emergency Project Director” from 2019 to 2020 at Northwest Health Systems in Springdale, and “Nursing Director, Inpatient and Emergency Services,” from 2007 to 2017 at Mercy Health System in Rogers.

Means’ education includes a doctor of nursing practice degree from the University of Missouri, a master’s degree in healthcare administration from Missouri State University and a bachelor of science in nursing from Southwest Baptist University.

“Tiffany Means has accepted our conditional employment offer,” Martin said after the vote to officially offer Means the position. “She will be here Friday (June 20) at the hospital at 1 o’clock. I will speak to her this afternoon and we’ll set a schedule. She’ll be at the hospital first and hopefully we can do a community meet and greet, maybe, depending on how much she has there, and then meeting with the mayor as well. So, we’re excited about that. I’m glad this is a done deal. I think we’ve got a good staff.” On Wednesday, June 18, the hospital announced that the public is invited to meet Means from 4:45 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Friday, June 20, at the hospital clinic at 25 Norris St.

Means’ start date will be Aug. 1, Martin said at the commission meeting.

CEO REPORT

Jodi Edmondson, human resources director and interim CEO, was not at the meeting because of a death in in the family, but Martin gave a CEO report, including the results of a recent state trauma survey.

“The state trauma survey went very well,” Martin said. “We received a few deficiencies that we expected to receive from lack of documentation from the previous administration. The plan of correction has already been submitted. … It came pretty quickly. They were in and out in one day, right? That’s great.

“On June 9, the hospital had our first community education class on Stop the Bleed, and it went great….”

FINANCIAL REPORT

Cynthia Asbury, the hospital’s chief financial officer, said the hospital had a decrease of “about $384,000” for the month of May compared to April.

“Some of that … I’ll attribute to with our lower census and our billing out with the claims and reimbursement,” Asbury said. “I mean that money flow kind of falls about 15 to 20 days after a claim submitted. So, I mean we had a lower census, March and April, which then impacted the amount of money that would be deposited into May.”

A positive note on the budget was the billable revenue, Asbury said, with May bringing in more than $814,000.

“That’s fantastic,” Martin said.

“That is even higher than what we were last year, last May, and within last May we still had surgery and PT billable revenue,” Asbury said. “So, we more than exceeded where we were this time frame last year.”

When asked if that amount included any of the Rural Emergency Hospital funding the hospital gets regularly, Asbury said: “This is just straight billable revenue.”

‘FALSE STATEMENT’

Asbury addressed comments made during the June 9 city council meeting about hospital revenue being mostly impacted by tourism.

“I would just like to address a false statement made by one of the city council members at their last meeting who asserted that most of the visits to the hospital are from tourists and not from the local community,” Asbury said. “I’ve attached a graph here, it has the same information, one in a bar and one in a pie chart, whatever your preference. The administration and the hospital commission understand the critical importance of our hospital, not only to the residents of Eureka Springs, the surrounding community, but also to the tourists who visit our beautiful city. The significant role of tourism and its impact to the hospital’s census and financials have been a central topic of discussion for over the past two years. While we certainly observe an increase in visits during peak event weekends, it is important to clarify that the local community we serve compromises (sic) the significant majority of all the visits to the hospital.

“The hospital commission, the administration and our dedicated staff are fully committed to ensuring the hospital flourishes and continues to provide essential care to everyone in our community, residents and visitors alike. So, in this, I broke out so you can see from just our ER visits, over 85 percent of our visits was local for the month of May.”

Martin said it’s important for residents to realize the geographic area the hospital serves.

“I think it’s important … to remind people of our service area, because we are like the only hospital within, I think the population figure is 57,000, with northern Missouri and Madison County …,” Martin said, later adding, “We are a tourist town, but we are a resident as well.”

“And we continue to work with the community,” Asbury responded.

Feelings about the hospital amid recent controversies are improving, commissioners said.

“… With the negative commentary of the papers … some of those people even outside of our local area have seen the news or heard about the news of the hospital,” commissioner Brian Beyler said. “So, therefore it still reflects that they’re still positive about coming to our facility and using it.”

Asbury agreed and said feedback from patients and families has proved that.

“We do patient satisfaction surveys, and every one of them have nothing but positive comments,” Asbury said. “They’re thankful for the quality patient care they received through our ER, competent physicians, competent staff, family members who are thankful that we were there to take care of their loved one. They’ve complimented the changes within the internal infrastructure, like within the ER, and cleaning things up or the carts, just simple things like that that just makes it look more appealing …”

NURSING REPORT

Lana Mills, chief nursing officer, said the hospital had 207 patients in May compared with 139 in April.

“And, in the first 15 days of June, we’ve had 105,” Mills said.

Martin also shared that she has looked into the possibility of leasing or purchasing a non-emergency “mobile clinic” medical transport van that would be an asset to the community, she said.

“That allows us to go out into the community,” Martin said. “The company I talked to is a van mobile and they’re out of North Dakota and I had a conference call with them last week.”

Martin said the cost of purchasing a van would be $200,000 to $250,000 but there are grants the hospital can apply for in partnership with the city that are available throughout the Arkansas Economic Development Commission. The grant application would have to include a resolution from the city council, which Martin said will be voted on at the next city council meeting scheduled for Monday, June 23.

If the city and hospital do not get the grant a lease or lease-to-own option is also available, Martin told commissioners.