HERMANN — Planning a week’s vacation and wondering where to place grandma while you’re gone? You now need to look somewhere other than the local hospital as a place for her.

The use of Hermann Area District Hospital rooms as a short-term option for those not needing to recover from injury or illness was ended Monday night by the Board of Directors. Under the hospital’s private-pay policy, the use of rooms as a temporary location was one of three primary uses. The other two uses are those staying during end-of-life treatment and those whose skilled-care treatment has ended but the patient might be a few days away from being able to return home.

The move by the board — one of the first recommendations made by new Administrator Bill Hellebusch — was made to save money. The cost to a private payer under the policy was $340 a day, but, according to Hellebusch, the cost to the hospital for staffing and support of a private-pay resident is about $800 a day.

“It’s not something that bears out well for us financially,” Hellebusch told the board during its regular monthly session.

Hospital officials said that while there was not a widespread use of rooms under the private-pay policy, there did seem to be a growing interest within the community about the possibility of such a use, rather than placing a family member in a nursing home for a short time.

The directors agreed to keep the private-pay option in place for those in the final days of life and for those skilled-care patients recovering to the point of returning home.

This was Hellebusch’s first board meeting since becoming HADH administrator the first of this month, succeeding longtime hospital employee and chief administrator Dan McKinney. It was the first opportunity Hellebusch had to speak to the entire board at the same time, although Director Trig Render was absent from the session.

“Thank you all for your confidence in Mercy and me,” Hellebusch said to the directors to open the meeting.

His arrival as administrator came as a result of Mercy Healthcare agreeing to take on a management role in the day-to-day operations of HADH. Mercy Washington has long had an affiliation with the Hermann hospital and has agreed to help HADH return to solid financial footing. The most recent audit of the hospital expressed concern that the rural healthcare facility could operate beyond another year or two given its current financial situation. It is a concern the Board of Directors has been dealing with for the past several years.

Indeed, Hellebusch earlier this month told the Hermann Regional Economic Development (HRED) Corporation board that one of his first tasks would be to help define the role of the acute-care hospital. But, he told the HRED panel, he was committed to making HADH more than a so-called Band-Aid station that routinely transfers patients to other hospitals.

The new administrator Monday night also said he wants to strengthen the alliance with Mercy Washington, which has been recommending patients for one of HADH’s more-successful services — the use of so-called “swing beds” in which skilled-care patients receive treatment prior to returning home. HADH’s physical and occupational therapy programs are enjoying success and some observers say the programs could be a central part of the long-term role of the hospital that Hellebusch is looking to define.

One bit of good news for directors and the hospital district taxpayers is that the cost for agency staffing — money paid for non-staff employees — has been reduced significantly. With costs recently reaching more than $100 an hour for nursing and other agency workers, HADH continues to search for its own employees. Officials Monday night said agency employees accounted for only four of the hospital’s employees — two in the laboratory and two nurses.

The board also heard about a security concern voiced by some employees. Primarily sounded by the MU contracted staffers working the Emergency Department, there is a concern about security at night. With a limited night staff, there are occasions when a nurse might be the only staffer in the department with several other people, and, staffers say, the board should work toward a policy that ensures a staffer is never left alone in the Emergency Room.

Board President Dale Ridder said the issue of security has been taken up previously.

“We have hired security over the years,” he said. “To say security is an issue for us, I think we have to find a way to make that work for us within the budget.”