Interim CEO Sean McCallister wasn’t kidding about wanting to make what he sees are positive changes in his stint at Powell Valley Healthcare. 

At the July 28 meeting, the Powell Hospital District approved his recommendations to cut district board of trustees meetings to four per year, cut finance committee meetings to as needed from monthly, and sell four vehicles from the hospital’s fleet. 

He said he’s also made a point to be transparent with the employees and has held sessions where they are free to speak up on any issues.

“You can see I enjoy change and being a little provocative and making folks uncomfortable,” he said. “I think it’s good in health care.”

The Powell Valley Healthcare Board of Directors, made up of all elected district members and a number of hospital staff, will still meet monthly, while the district will meet each January, April, June and October prior to the PVHC meetings. 

McCallister said a number of other hospitals he’s worked at, the district was only needed to meet quarterly. District Chair Bonnie Katz agreed — meetings are normally about 15 minutes long and involve approving district financials and vouchers. Those will now be approved quarterly. 

District meetings begin at 5 p.m. on the fourth Monday of the month, with PVHC meetings following. 

Powell is unusual in having a two-board system. Cody, for instance, simply has the West Park Hospital District Board. 

In Powell, the district generally handles capital projects such as the operating room remodel getting underway, while the larger board handles operations of the hospital and thus deal with the much larger budget to cover salaries. 

The PVHC meetings, which have generally included reports from the CEO, Billings Clinic and doctor representatives in addition to financials, are generally much longer than the district meetings. 

Vehicle sales 

McCallister recommended, and the board approved, the sale of four vehicles he says aren’t often used and, for the most part, aren’t reliable. 

However, combined they cost nearly $20,000 per year in insurance. 

“If we have fewer vehicles than the cost savings on our annual insurance coverage, there’s quite a bit of money wrapped into that,” he said. “The other one is simply, we’ve got some vehicles just sitting around, and we should, we don’t need them. I think we should sell them.”

Vehicles to be sold include an ambulance from 2000 McCallister said is unreliable. The emergency department only uses the other four in the fleet, he added. 

He also identified a 2008 Toyota Corolla and 2011 Chevy Impala he said are mostly just sitting around, not used by the departments they are slated to be used by. 

The hospital will also be retrofitting and then selling an RV purchased during the pandemic with stimulus money and used as a mobile lab. McCallister said now it’s only used once a year during the fair, but in the meantime it actually costs money not just for insurance, but rent to store it. 

“And the maintenance team has to continually check on it, change out the batteries, charge the batteries. It’s more hassle,” he said, adding, “What we’d like to do is invest some money, It’s probably going to be up to $6,000 to turn it back into an RV, and then sell it. And we think we can sell it for at least $50,000 at this point.”

The district approved the sales which will bring in an estimated $55,000 to $70,000 in revenue using conservative Blue Book numbers, McCallister said. 

“I think this is a good avenue to look for savings, good job,” said trustee Scott McKenzie. 

McCallister was quick to reply, “We’re just getting started.”