16 more cases confirmed | Coronavirus | dailysentinel.com - Nacogdoches Daily Sentinel

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16 more cases confirmed | Coronavirus | dailysentinel.com - Nacogdoches Daily Sentinel Posted: 30 Jul 2020 02:23 PM PDT Nacogdoches County Emergency Management on Thursday announced 16 new positive cases of the coronavirus, all but one of which are patients in their 40s or younger. Two of the most recent cases, a girl in her teens and a man in his 30s, are from previously reported households. None were associated with long-term care facilities or with the county jail, where 43 inmates and staff have tested positive since the weekend. "The state did test the jail several weeks back, but this is an ever-evolving and ever-changing situation," County Emergency Management spokeswoman Amy Mehaffey said during a conference call with community leaders Tuesday.   Nacogdoches County's number of active cases, those testing positive who are still contagious, is estimated at 353. As of Thursday, 33 patients were hospitalized with COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus. Ten of those were in intensive care. A local call center also remains open from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday through Friday at 936-468-4787 for those with flu-like symptoms.   "We get about 10 calls a day," Mehaffey said. "A lot of people have figured out how to get tested, but we have people here every day to help answer questions and direct them to resources."

Memorial settles tech debt | Coronavirus | dailysentinel.com - Nacogdoches Daily Sentinel Posted: 29 Jul 2020 11:22 AM PDT Editor's note: This story was updated to reflect the hospital's ongoing relation with Cerner and correct debt and termination fees that were misstated during Tuesday's meeting. Nacogdoches Memorial Hospital in its latest step to manage its debts exited a contract with Cerner for a long-delayed information technology system. The debt from the Cerner contract totaled around $20 million and was "one of the largest if not the largest" obligations for the hospital, said attorney Deborah Williamson of debt reorganization firm Dykema. The hospital settled the debt for $2.07 million with a $1.01 million termination fee, she said. The money was to be wired to Cerner on Wednesday. "I think we're in a position much better than what we have been in years," hospital CEO Gary Stokes said. The hospital extended its existing contract with Cerner for Soarian, an clinical workflow software system, which hospital officials say they are pleased with. Williamson said she had been trying to negotiate with Cerner for months, though the health technology giant ignored her requests. "Cerner wouldn't talk to us for the longest time. They kept waiting to see who our partner was going to be," Williamson said. Memorial Hospital in April exited a contract with Juniper Advisory, the firm hired in July 2019 to strike a partnership deal. Hospital officials have made no public statement on whether they will continue to seek a partnership or operate as an independent agency. Completing Cerner's information technology system for medical records management was put off by the hospital on several occasions, the last of which delayed installation of the system until this year or beyond. The contract dates back to the time when Scott Street was hospital CEO. Street abruptly exited in 2017. Money to be used in the initiation was put into an escrow account, and the hospital had been making monthly payments to the company despite never following through with the multi-million dollar project.

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