At the July 27 regular meeting of the Oceana County Medical Care Facility (OCMCF) board of directors, the board and administration discussed the ongoing efforts to repair and maintain the facility’s HVAC system, employee recruitment and retention in the nursing department and the presentation of denial reports at public meetings. Also discussed was the facility’s reports of continual positive financial growth throughout 2026, with gross operating revenue at $1.4 million and operating expenditures at $1.7 million — both amounts are improvements to expectations set out by previous years.
That being said, some of the facility’s expense concerns are related to vendors, repairs and maintenance to the facility building. OCMCF’s HVAC project remains under progress, with Administrator Sally Choponis hoping to soon provide a four-phase replacement schedule of failing HVAC units. This schedule is reliant on estimates from Enertemp, Lackso Services, Andy J. Egan Co. and Premier Heating and Cooling. Of those options, Premier Heating and Cooling will be utilized for emergency maintenance in the interim.
The unit highest on the project’s priority list cools the kitchen. A portable air conditioner has been rented to mitigate heat and humidity for the next few months while a replacement is installed. Other units are being cleaned and modified to make them as efficient as possible.
Another high-priority project is that of the kitchen drain repair. The first estimate was provided by All-Flo Plumbing, but due to lack of communication and coordination from the service providers, Choponis requested board approval to close the original decision paper for that contract work, which the board unanimously provided. Andy J. Egan Co. also provided a project estimate, one more inclusive than All-Flo, but still not providing the necessary infection control measures. As such, OCMCF is requesting an additional project estimate from Gale Plumbing.
The facility’s backflow preventers have also failed a recent inspection and require repairs. As much of the current system was repaired in 2022, OCMCF is investigating what may be the root cause of such an accelerated rate of degradation. Board member Dale Danes suggested the cause might be related to the fact that OCMCF is at the end of the City of Hart’s water line. “We catch all the sediment at the end of the line from the whole city," Danes said. "That’s what’s making these things fail.”
Another priority for OCMCF is nursing recruitment and retention. One avenue in which OCMCF is working toward that goal is by implementing a 12-hour work shift model, as preferred by current and prospective staff. As explained by Choponis, this model would help the facility “be competitive in our healthcare market,” while also “strengthening our recruitment and retention efforts.”
The nursing department is still short-staffed, as has been an ongoing issue within OCMCF and the healthcare industry at large, with nine nursing positions currently being occupied by agent nurses.
Denial reports have ceased being presented at public meetings due to concerns about possible violations of regulatory compliance, though denials are still tracked and kept on file in-house. Board member Larry VanSickle inquired whether denials pertaining to ineligible insurances could continue during meetings, citing concerns within the community. Said VanSickle, “We get questions when people get denied based on [that] they’ve got insurance that we don’t accept… when we finally did get Priority [Health], that was because of pressure from the community making it come to the forefront… If we don’t have that information, we can’t suggest that maybe something change.”
Choponis responded that the information was still available to OCMCF and could be provided, but said that “it does give me a lot of reason to worry, though, because with Priority Health, we have taken a financial hit. With United Health it’ll be worse. With Humana, it’ll be even worse than that.”
Choponis then offered to provide a written response regarding insurance denials that the board could utilize.
Earlier in the meeting, VanSickle also refused to approve meeting minutes from June 22 due to a lack of clarity regarding a decision paper about the drain system failure and foundation impacts, concern over a lack of clarity of the decision’s subject, discussion and details. Board chair Linda East agreed to defer the approval of minutes until the next regular meeting to allow for the requested changes.
The facility’s census and outpatient numbers remain steady. The number of gym memberships continues to climb, now at 27, with even more anticipated following July’s 50%-off offerings. The few scheduled activities that were not canceled due to recent poor air quality were well received by residents. Finally, OCMCF increased its star rating from the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) rating of nursing homes, with the quality measures category moving up from 2 to 3 out of 5 stars. The OCMCF has a 5-star CMS rating in all other categories.
