Photo and story by Catherine Stachowiak
At Kern Valley Healthcare District board meeting, Thursday June 13, during his Chief Executive Officer report Tim McGlew announced that the hospital was hiring its new Chief Financial Officer and a new physician.
“I’m pleased to report that we have a CFO. He is formerly at Catalina Hospital. He will be starting with us on Monday June 24th. We’ve received several rave comments about him from a number of outside references.”
The KVHD set up a budget meeting and would be welcoming the new CFO.
The hospital has also found a new physician who plans to start on June 24.
McGlew said, “We submitted the letter of intent to participate in Health Net’s 2023 voluntary rate range. Our portion of that tab would be $4.8 million.”
The hospital renewed its telemedicine agreement, which McGlew said continues to be a great tool for the hospital.
Another physician reached out, who is fairly local and is thinking about joining the practice in the fall, but was still undecided.
The hospital is holding its graduation ceremony for the CNA program graduates, Wednesday June 26, from 11 am to 1pm at Kern Calvary Chapel in South Lake .
Board member Ross Elliott questioned the foundation’s auxiliary report regarding the Kern Valley Hospital Foundation awarding scholarships to some high school seniors.
Elliott said, “I understand that this board has no authority over the decisions that the foundation makes. It just seems like there’s not a very strong nexus from granting college scholarships to benefiting the Kern Valley Healthcare District.”
Elliott said he didn’t see how granting scholarships makes the district better or improves patient care. And with the scholarships in Kern Valley reaching over $200,000 it seemed like the seniors already had a lot of resources. Elliott said, “We could be benefiting our patients, benefiting the experience here, at the hospital. I give my stipend that I get, as a board member, to the foundation, minus the taxes. It makes me want to pause.”
Treasurer to the executive board, of the Kern Valley Hospital Foundation, Deb Hess said that the scholarship was directly related to River Rhythms. Anyone is eligible for the scholarship money. The foundation also has money to assist their CNAs. Once the CNAs graduate, and work for the hospital for six months, they are reimbursed for live scan and other things. Hess said that anyone winning the scholarship has to be going into the health care industry, public safety or STEM.
Elliott said he thought those scholarships were not being vetted closely enough and suspected that recipients were not all going into the health care industry.
