McHenry County Valley Hi Operating Committee met Feb. 1.
Here are the minutes provided by the committee:
1. CALL TO ORDER
Meeting called to order at: 1:30 PM by Paula Yensen.
PRESENT: Nowak (Remote), Yensen, Thorsen, Kearns, Doherty, Meshes, Jindrich (Remote), Schwartz
ABSENT:
Also present: Peter Austin, County Administrator; Scott Hartman, Deputy County Administrator; Thomas Annarella, Valley Hi Administrator.
2. MINUTES APPROVAL
1. Valley Hi Operating Committee - Public Meeting - Dec 7, 2021 1:30 PM
| RESULT: ACCEPTED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Stephen Doherty SECONDER: Theresa Meshes AYES: Nowak, Yensen, Thorsen, Kearns, Doherty, Meshes, Jindrich ABSENT: Schwartz |
| RESULT: ACCEPTED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Stephen Doherty SECONDER: Theresa Meshes AYES: Nowak, Yensen, Thorsen, Kearns, Doherty, Meshes, Jindrich ABSENT: Schwartz |
None.
4. MEMBERS COMMENTS
None.
5. VALLEY HI ADMINISTRATOR REPORT
Thomas Annarella, Valley Hi Administrator, joined the committee to discuss the report.
He stated he emailed the copy to the members late, minus the two attachments. There is a set of documents that they send out to all the residents and family’s every year as part of their admission packet that details out the Medicaid and Medicare programs, its requirements, how much they get to keep, etc. as a formal communication. He put it in the back of the administrator’s report so the committee can have a reference guidance between the two programs because it tends to be easily confused especially because the names are very similar. The second attachment is a sky view of the original concept drawings for the property before the facility was built. Last meeting the committee requested he find the information on the early days before the facility was built, so he put together that information in a document for the members. Getting into the formal report on Valley Hi, Mr. Annarella provided the following information.
• Covid update, they continue to have negative covid tests for all the residents, another round of live testing occurred yesterday. Staff are still testing positive, a lot of them come back to work from the weekend and test positive on Monday morning so they are still working through the staff aspect of that. There is currently one resident in the facility that is covid positive, on the covid unit, they tested negative at the hospital while they were there. Valley Hi’s protocol is to have them tested again as soon as they get back to the facility, in which the resident tested positive.
• The CMS vaccine mandate is now in full affect with the first dose deadline date of January 27, 2022. All the staff at this point have either been vaccinated, have an exemption on file, or have terminated their employment and he included the statistics on that in the packet. Overall, the staff vaccination rate is 90.4%, there has been another host of individuals that got their first dose within the last week, so that will help boost that number up higher.
• There have been nine individuals that were approved for a religious exemption, and two that were denied. One that was denied has since gotten their first dose, and the other resigned. He believes it was about ten people in total that the facility has lost, from either early retirement, planned retirement, or resigned because of that.
Chair Yensen stated it would be nice if Mr. Annarella numbered the pages on his report, so when he references certain information, they can follow along. Mr. Annarella stated he can add those for the future. Chair Yensen also stated she would like to see the report the day before the meeting, so the committee has time to review the information. Mr. Annarella apologized and stated that is his fault and he will be sure to get the report to the committee the day prior to the meeting.
• Project update, they keep moving along despite the letter, last week when it was negative 20 degrees out, they were up doing steel work and they continue to stay on track for the final completion schedule. Other projects that are secondary to that, the tile for the shower rooms are expected to come in within the next couple of weeks. The FRP paneling for the dining rooms should be in next week, so they will see the rest of the smaller ones being completed this month, hopefully by spring all the work will be completed.
• The wander guard system is a watch type of bracelet that residents who might wander wear and when they try to access the doors it sets off an alarm, or if they try to get on the elevator from the second floor it locks the elevator out so it won’t go down. The system they have is the same as what Mr. Annarella used in the building, he was in prior to coming to Valley Hi, so it is roughly twenty years old and they cannot get parts for it anymore. To change it out they will need to do the nurse call system at the same time, so all the pieces integrate back together. He wanted to mention it to the committee because it is reaching the end of its life and he will wait until next year to do it as a supplemental request because it will be a couple hundred thousand dollars to do the work. What they did when they found out parts were going out of order, they bought three of everything that they would normally replace, so they are good to go for some time.
Mr. Thorsen inquired if the covid funds would cover the cost in this case, Mr. Annarella stated it would not in this regard because it is not a covid related expense. They are using the covid funds to pay for increase cost of staffing, lost revenue, personal protective equipment, etc. but nothing that he has seen for the project would qualify.
Ms. Meshes stated when the projects are completed, she inquired if that would help bring up the census. Mr. Annarella stated when the projects are complete, they will have a bit more flexibility to increase the Medicare a bit as far as space but they are not census dependent projects, they are to help improve the services Valley Hi has but they are not holding the census down due to the project in any way.
• Census admissions have remained the same for the last couple of months, staffing has stabilized and remained the same since last month, so they are in a holding pattern. He stated he has a meeting set up with the team tomorrow and they will be revamping the way they review admissions and referrals; he will charge them with a plus two net per month from now until December meaning at the end of every year they would be at plus twenty-two.
Chair Yensen inquired on when Mr. Annarella thinks the committee can start meeting at Valley Hi. Mr. Annarella stated the committee cannot meet at Valley Hi until they open the therapy space because the multipurpose room, which would be the meeting space, is currently the therapy gym. Chair Yensen followed up inquiring on when that would be, Mr. Annarella replied around spring/summer.
• IDPH survey was held last week, they brought in six surveyors for 62 residents. Normally, there are five for 120 so that really gave them an opportunity to deeply investigate. They inspected the building for three days and they came up with nine minor tags, he was disappointed with the number because some of them were avoidable and missed opportunities. They were hoping this year would be a good survey getting their five star score up to five overall which is all based off the survey, and a good survey would’ve cemented that for the next twelve months, it will not bring it down far but it will not help.
• He wanted to bring two more items to the members attention. One is they are having trouble with Dairy Vendors and they may lose both contracts because pricing has changed so dramatically from the proposal back in September/October. He has purchasing currently looking into what their options are, nothing to be alarmed by because they still have a primary food vendor in their back pocket, but the issue is always having a secondary vendor. He stated by next month he will hopefully have a solution for the committee, the residents will not see any impact to services or products but if something was to happen to Gordan Food Service distribution center, they do not have a secondary component for backup.
• Last item is the legislation regarding long term care, there are a few pieces of legislation that are currently being worked on by one of McHenry County’s former Board members; Suzanne Ness. He was asked to get involved with that since there is a bit of a historical relationship. After the committee goes through the items that need extra rework, if they see something that they have questions about and would like to discuss he requests they inform him.
Mr. Thorsen inquired if Mr. Annarella ever collaborates with Alicia Schueller, Communications and Project Manager, regarding legislative issues coming up. Mr. Annarella stated usually the board sets their legislative agenda, and typically long-term care objectives go through the long-term care associations and not necessarily through the counties, and the large reason is because there are only 16 county nursing homes left. Mr. Thorsen stated if there is something where the legislative committee can assist, he would like Mr. Annarella to reach out. Mr. Annarella stated the largest item is Medicaid reimbursement, which got filed yesterday so everything is going well but, if anything else comes up he will let the committee know.
6. PRESENTATION
1. Valley Hi Financial Sustainability Tool
Scott Hartman, Deputy County Administrator, joined the committee to discuss the presentation.
Mr. Hartman stated this goes back to around 2015 that the tool was developed, and every year it is evolved further. The purpose of the model is to provide the committee and the County Board with a tool so they can see the effects of the variables and various policy decisions on Valley Hi’s Financial condition. He stated the tool pulls all the levers together and allows the members to manipulate the levers so they can see the effect of one change to another. It only reflects the cash reserves of Valley Hi, it does not affect the day to day operations, and they are a key factor to determine what the operating reserve level will be. He wanted to mention a few notes, stating the presentation is for demonstration purposes only because the Fiscal Year 2021 data is not yet complete, and it is still being developed. Due to that not being ready they do not have a good starting point, but they can look at how it functions and how it operates. In addition, they built in the dementia unit and those are plot figures because they do not know what the unit could cost for construction as well as the operation costs. Mr. Hartman went on to go through the tool with the committee using possible options and assumptions. Mr. Thorsen requested having the new Director of the Mental Health Board come to the next meeting due to having similar objectives and goals regarding those of elder individuals with psychiatric needs. Chair Yensen stated she agrees and thinks it would be a great discussion due to her being very knowledgeable. She also stated the model needs to be put back on the agenda so the committee can get into more detail and handle more of the philosophical issues about where they need to go. She stated she would like the item on the agenda again next month, so they can dive deeper into the matter, she does not want to interrupt any further discussion but there are other matters to tend to on the agenda. It was a consensus of the committee to add the item to the upcoming agenda to further the discussion. Mr. Hartman wanted to mention the Assumptions document that he handed out to the committee, stating they are assumptions and if the committee feels it is appropriate or not to add or subject something. He stated when they have updated information on the dementia unit they can include that, as well as any other information the committee would like to see they can add because it has a lot of flexibility. As well he looks forward to continuing to develop the tool as it best meets the needs to the Board and bringing it back with the 2021 data. Chair Yensen thanked Mr. Hartman for his hard work. Mr. Kearns inquired if Mr. Hartman is able to incorporate past year figures, Mr. Hartman stated they are already in there.
7. DISCUSSION ITEMS
1. Update on Demetia Unit Study
Thomas Annarella, Valley Hi Administrator, joined the committee to discuss the Update on Dementia Unit Study.
Mr. Annarella stated he had multiple visits by a gentleman by the name of Stew Gains who is a dementia care expert and is one of the people who wrote the certified dementia rules of Illinois. He has been working with Valley Hi on the project and they have reviewed a few different options, they have gotten to a point where according to both Stew Gains and Scott Gima from MPA they know what direction the recommendations are and where the market is, so they are finalizing their point.
So the idea is to build or construct a dementia unit that takes two wings of the spokes of Valley Hi and turns them into a dementia unit with a simple bump out in between the two of them for common space so the unit will be a “U”. He stated he does not have numbers they will be in the report but walking through the building and looking at how it would all operate, essentially if they were to do that they would have to give up some of the beds from their license because of needing to take a few rooms out of service. He stated they are in a unique situation, if Valley Hi were a private facility in which is more common as an FDA or a HUD based lone for long-term care because their rates extend over 50 years. They cannot touch the license capacity of the building without calling the loan into question, Valley Hi does not have that problem due to owning the building outright, so anything they do with the license should not impact the value of the building. A lot of these scenarios come down to the question of what the committee wants to do with the bed capacity in the unit, the idea of if it would work without having to do full add-on and would allow them to take two areas turn them into dementia unit. The unit construction will not be designed in such specificity that there is only a single use for a unit in long-term, it helps because it allows them to take what they already have as a footprint, utilize less construction costs and gives opportunity in the future to add additional beds to the operation they can easily do so. He stated he and his teammates have already begun discussing what can be done with the first floor and changing the utilization of the building to make the floor more specialty based, and the second floor about long-term traditional nursing home care. Mr. Annarella stated next month they will have something a bit more concrete, but they are active with the data gathering case.
2. Valley Hi Operating Committee Description For Board Rules
Scott Hartman, Deputy County Administrator, joined the committee to discuss the Valley Hi Operating Committee Description for Board Rules.
Chair Yensen wanted to be sure all the members read the document and if anyone had questions or comments about the description.
Mr. Hartman wanted to mention the membership is seven and it is to be in affect on 2022, not the current Valley Hi committee but rather when the County Board transitions.
It was a consensus of the committee to accept the description as presented.
VALLEY HI OPERATING COMMITTEE
(eight (8) members). Agencies of: Valley Hi Nursing Home.
Stewardship/liaison for matters pertaining to Valley Hi’s budget, expenditures, operations, personnel, and special projects.
The Valley Hi Operating Committee provides guidance and oversight to the operations and affairs of the Valley Hi Nursing Home including mission, strategic goals, budget, bed mix, room rates, staffing, facility improvements, assets, quality assurance and regulatory compliance.
After the brief discussion on the Valley Hi Operating Committee Description For Board Rules, Mr. Annarella wanted to inquire about his Valley Hi Administrator report that he presents. He inquired if there is anything that he has not included that the members want him to report or anything he does report that they would like presentations on. Chair Yensen stated the Financial aspect and numbering, as well as getting the report to the committee prior to the meeting so they can review it ahead of time. Mr. Doherty stated he touched on the matter but he would like to see information on the waiting list, since that seems to be the topic the community talks about a lot and those numbers impact the financial model as well.
| RESULT: PRESENTED |
McHenry County Page 5 Updated 2/16/2022 4:26 PM
None.
9. EXECUTIVE SESSION (AS NECESSARY)
None.
10. ADJOURNMENT
Mr. Kearns made a motion, seconded by Mr. Schwartz, to adjourn the meeting at 3:06 p.m. The motion passed on a roll call vote of all members present voting aye. -TCMcKinnon
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