No major actions were taken at the July 24 meeting of the Idyllwild Fire Protection District commission.
The discussion of a patient satisfaction assessment process continued. Commissioner Dr. Charles “Chip” Schelly shared a draft of a six-question survey with his colleagues.
He stressed that a simple questionnaire would be more likely to generate responses than one with more details. This is an important criterion for Schelly who explained that low numbers of medical responses per month creates an inherent limitation to significant responses about the department’s patient service. He expects about three to five responses per month.
“I think our objective is to collect information on the quality of care of our delivery system,” he told the commission. He hopes the satisfaction survey will elicit sufficient responses over time to assess the safety, effectiveness, efficiency, equitableness, timeliness and communication of the department’s medical service.
“We want to get information to be sure we’re providing the service we think we are delivering,” Schelly said.
A portion of the discussion focused on whether responses should be anonymous, which is Schelly’s recommendation. He believes this will encourage more responses.
However, Commissioner Jerry Buchanan said if a patient feels there was a problem, supplying a name and connection enables the district to address the issue and then tell the patient about the action.
No action was taken at the meeting and the commissioners agreed to review the issues and provide comments to Schelly.
In other business, the commission reviewed financial results of the 2011-12 fiscal year, which ended June 30. The original approved budget was $1,687,000. For the year, the district’s receipts were about $87,000 less than expected and expenses were about $15,000 less than budget. The result was a deficit of $72,000.
While there were five ambulance contract payments in 2011-12, only four are expected for this year. However, contract revenue will increase about $67,500, more than offsetting the difference. In addition, the Riverside County Assessor is projecting that the drop in Idyllwild’s property values will reverse next year, according to Interim Chief Mike Sherman.
Buchanan and Sherman told the commission that they would be discussing the schedule for the audit of this fiscal year this week with the auditors. They are hoping it will be completed in October or November. Financial consultant Nancy Layton said she was already preparing the records and data that the auditor traditionally needs to do the work.
