HERMANN —  A new clinical lab director with new ideas and a possible new source of revenue for the hospital is what Hermann Area District Hospital (HADH) administrators and policymakers are hoping.

Administrator Bill Hellebusch said he is optimistic that the arrival of new laboratory director, Heather Yarborough, will lead to more activity and an increase in the revenue stream through the provision of several tests now being conducted off-site or currently not being conducted.

At the July 24 meeting of the HADH Board of Directors, Hellebusch said the new lab director estimates the hospital could see as much as $600,000 a year in revenue from tests that to this point haven’t been done. That would be a major step in the hospital administration’s efforts to put the health care provider on a more solid financial footing.

In addition to increasing money coming in — including through continued efforts to collect outstanding bills — Hellebusch is training his sight on reducing the money paid to outside firms doing business with the hospital. For instance, he said the hospital would be ending its contract with a company that has been involved in the debt-collection effort.

“That’s $40,000 a year I would like to have off our books,” he told the board.

The board also heard concerns from the administration about the number of transfers from the HADH Emergency Room to other hospitals. The primary issue, according to Hellebusch and the medical staff, is that some of those transfers could be treated as inpatients at HADH.

However, hospital officials say there appears to be little or no communication between ER personnel making decisions on transfers and HADH medical personnel to determine if a patient could be treated here or if the better option would be to send to a larger facility.

The HADH Emergency Room is being staffed by personnel affiliated with the University of Missouri Health Care System. Hellebusch said he has talked with UM Health Care System representatives about the number of transfers from the local ER to hospitals in Columbia and other cities. The number of transfers is considerable, officials said — up 78 percent from this time last year. “And that’s too much,” Hellebusch told the board.

The transfers away from HADH don’t appear to be financially driven, officials said. Dr. Michael Rothermich, chief of the HADH medical staff, noted there is no financial incentive to the ER personnel to send patients to the UM Health Care System facility or a Capital Regional facility in Jefferson City. Hellebusch agreed that the number of transfers are not prompted by any provisions of the contract between HADH and UM Health Care.

The administrator also said he would be talking with Emergency Medical Services personnel, who also have input into a decision made by ER personnel to transfer patients.

The normal number of transfers each year has been about 200. Through the first half of this year, the number is 118, officials noted. “It definitely warrants us to dig a little deeper” into why transfers are up, Rothermich said.

On another key front — the hospital’s “swing bed” category — the numbers are encouraging, Hellebusch said. Thus far this year there have been 23 admissions from Mercy Washington to HADH and 21 admissions to a swing bed from HADH. Swing beds are those admissions of patients who do not need regular hospital care but might not be quite ready to return home and still need some specialized services such as therapy treatments. Swing bed revenue is seen as one of the hospital’s vital sources of funds.

Longtime Administrative Assistant Shirley Viola will be retiring from the hospital’s administration team after more than 50 years with the health care facility. Board President Dale Ridder congratulated Viola and thanked her for her service. Viola began working at the hospital in the 1970s, serving in several positions before settling in as the administrative assistant.