Phoebe financial outlook revised, update provided on Carlton Breast Health Center

ALBANY — A financial outlook for Phoebe Putney Health System has been revised, while Breast Cancer Awareness Month provided an opportunity for an update on the activity at the Carlton Breast Health Center.

Brian Church, chief financial officer for the health system, said at the Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital Board of Directors meeting on Wednesday that Standard & Poors (S&P) — one of the rating agencies monitoring Phoebe’s financial health — affirmed its bond rating of A+ on Sept. 19 with a revised stable outlook, instead of an A+ rating with a negative outlook.

The rating is meant to indicate that Phoebe has a strong ability to meet financial commitments.

“The change in outlook is due to recent financial and operational improvements,” Church said in his presentation. “The outlook change is also based on expectations of continued operational improvements. The bond rating and improved outlook are important to Phoebe’s overall credit rating and financial sustainability.”

The rating was based on 18 months of data and conversations with Phoebe leadership. Settlement of the Federal Trade Commission legal battle, consolidation of some services, lean management and targeted cost reductions were the reasons cited by S&P for the improved outlook, Church said.

Dr. Shailaja Sappati, medical director at the Carlton Breast Health Center, presented at Wednesday’s meeting an overview of the center, including advancements it’s made over the last year in technology and patient experience.

The center has performed a total of 17,784 exams, including 14,279 mammogram screenings. Some of those screenings have most recently been done with 3-D imaging technology, which Sappati said is known for greater accuracy and earlier detection of small cancers.

The center’s staff — at locations within Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital and Meredyth Place — includes two radiologists, three interventional radiologists, seven full-time technologists and two certified navigator breast nurses, Sappati said.

Sappati also made note of the weekly conferences that includes pathologists, radiation oncologists, surgeons and radiologists as part of a multi-disciplinary approach to handling individual breast cancer cases.

“It gives us an opportunity to talk about what our thoughts are,” she said.

Kimberly Fields, who had been serving on the hospital board, resigned last month due to a position she recently accepted in Virginia. Her resignation letter was presented to the board Wednesday.

It was also announced by Dr. Jay McAfee of Radiation Oncology Associates to the board that the new linear accelerator recently installed at ROA is likely to be ready to receive patients in December, a month earlier than originally planned.

Jeff Flowers, senior vice president of operations at Phoebe Putney Health System, said the construction of the Southwest Georgia Medical Student Housing Complex is on schedule. Construction of a primary care facility in Camilla has fallen behind schedule due to weather, but the concrete slab is expected to be poured this week, Flowers said.

Joel Wernick, the health system’s CEO, suggested that an inscribed brick, or paver, be placed in the walkway outside Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital in memory of former Albany Advocacy Resource Center Executive Director Annette Bowling, who passed away last week at the age of 80.