Dahl Memorial Clinic committee forwards LabDeck contract, staffing contract changes and weekend hours to board

The Dahl Memorial Clinic planning committee voted March 17 to send a proposed LabDeck laboratory information system contract, multiple medical assistant contract amendments and a recommendation to extend Saturday hours to the full board for approval.

The committee's chair, Lisa Mandeville, moved to forward the LabDeck contract after staff said the clinic's existing laboratory information system (LIS), Orchard, is no longer supported. Executive Director (staff member) told the committee Orchard 'is outdated' and that much lab work is still entered by hand because lab devices do not interface with the clinic's electronic health record, increasing the risk of transcription errors.

'Our current laboratory information system, the LIS, is Orchard. Orchard is outdated. We no longer have a contract with Orchard,' the Executive Director said. The director added the LabDeck proposal would connect roughly eight laboratory instruments to the EHR and reduce manual entry.

Committee discussion focused on price and implementation. The contract includes a large initial line listed as a deposit of about $53,000 and an annual software subscription in the neighborhood of $10,700; staff said some hardware and an on-site installation visit are included but warned mission creep and cost overruns can occur. The director noted the clinic's CLIA inspection is scheduled in April and that having an LIS contract on record would be useful for inspectors.

'Their deposit is required prior to scheduling,' the director said. 'I don't think you'll get that back. The $10,700 is a recurring annual subscription and there is additional hardware cost on top of that.'

Mandeville said the paperwork is being provided to 'prime the pump' because the full-board and municipal signature process can take weeks; the committee voted to forward the contract for board consideration.

The committee also approved two separate medical assistant contract amendments to send to the board. One amendment adds explicit overtime language (time-and-a-half) that staff described as an oversight in earlier contracts; the other changes one contractor from a day-rate to an hourly rate (with overtime and on-call pay) after staff said the day rate left the worker undercompensated for 24-hour shifts. Executive Director explained the amendments standardize pay language across MA contracts and do not create a new budget line: 'We have been paying him properly, so that's not a problem. The verbiage wasn't in the contract, so we need to make the amendment.'

Separately, the committee voted to recommend expanding Saturday clinic hours to 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. for the summer season (May through September). The director said the change would help absorb tourist-driven walk-ins and emergency-room referrals but acknowledged the clinic will need additional receptionist or staffing capacity if the extension is implemented.

Several other administrative policies were forwarded to the board on the committee's consent agenda, including the hours-of-operation policy, an obstetrical care policy (with conforming edits to attachments), a peer review policy, a protected health information policy and a quality improvement policy. Staff noted some attachments are being updated to reflect recent HRSA guidance; staff also said HRSA's earlier requirement that all FQHC staff have OB training had been rescinded.

All items discussed at the committee will be transmitted to the full board for formal consideration and signature as required by municipal procurement and municipal-signature processes; staff said some contracts will require the mayor's or borough manager's signature after board approval.

The planning committee did not record roll-call vote tallies for these motions; each was passed on the voice record as "motion passes" after discussion.