J. Roger Sumner turned over the gavel as chairman of the Floyd Health Management Inc. board Monday night after 16 years at the helm of the Floyd Medical Center’s primary governing body. In all, Sumner has served on one board or another at FMC for the past 30 years.

“I’ve watched this hospital rise up from a county hospital to where it is today,” said Sumner, who will remain a board member. “It’s become a beacon of light in Rome. It’s a shining light that has touched almost every life (in the county) at one time or another.”

Dr. George Bosworth, who succeeded Sumner as the management board chairman, likened his position to that of Ray Perkins, who followed Bear Bryant as the head football coach at the University of Alabama. “Floyd would not be where Floyd is without Roger Sumner,” Bosworth said.

FMC Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Rick Sheering reported that the emergency room visits at FMC set a new record in August with 6,861 visits.

Floyd Behavioral Health also set for record for average daily census with 42 patients on average across the month of August.

Sheerin also reported that the average daily census at the Polk Medical Center, which FMC took management control over in April of this year, is up 12 percent to 5.6 in-patients on a daily basis. Emergency room visits to the hospital in Cedartown are also up 4.9 percent over projections. Gross patient revenue at Polk is up 16.4 percent, while operating expenses are 5.3 percent less than anticipated, Sheerin said.

He also reported that Medicare and Medicaid revenue as a percentage of total revenue is running about 1.1 percent less than projected in Polk, which Sheerin said was a positive factor.

Polk Medical Center administrator Kim Scoggins said that the transition is still going well. “There has been no turnover and the staff has been real stable,” Scoggins said.

Dr. Robert Holcombe was recognized as the FMC Physician of the Month.