ACH beefing up therapy depts.

In an effort to beef up the hospital’s physical, occupation and speech therapy departments, hospital trustees agreed Tuesday night to hire the services of Rehab Visions to oversee the departments.
“This is an organization that can help us visualize new resources, including updated equipment and expanded services,” said Ron Baker, chief executive officer of Allen County Hospital.
The hospital’s rehabilitative services had been managed in-house. The hospital’s six employees who work in rehab and with home health services will be offered positions with Rehab Visions.
“In a review of our program, officials with Rehab Visions viewed all of our current employees as valuable and would like them to serve as the core of an expanded department,” Baker said.
Trustees agreed to pursue a two-year contract with Rehab Visions, which will include a benefits package for those six employees. Rehab Visions operates within a wide swath of hospitals throughout the Midwest, Baker said, including McPherson and in the Ozarks. Baker said it has more than 600 employees.

RICHARD CHASE, former Iola school administrator, gave a gift to the hospital’s foundation. Hospital trustees recognized Chase at Tuesday night’s meeting. Patient room 123 will be named the Richard A. Chase Family room in honor of the financial gift. The spacious room is on the south end of the new hospital and looks over hospital grounds.
Chase’s Allen County roots run deep. Both his maternal and paternal great-grandparents settled in the area, as did his grandparents. Chase grew up in Independence, moving to Iola in 1981 when he took on with the school system as assistant superintendent.

PLANS TO ABSORB Preferred Medical Associate remain on track, Baker said.  Transfer of ownership will be June 30. Its entire staff has been offered employment with Allen County Regional Hospital.
“The only difference patients will see is the absence of Dr. Earl Walter, who is retiring,” Baker said.

LEARNING the ropes of a new benefits plan remains a work in process. Hospital administrators have scheduled three days of meetings with hospital employees this week to discuss health insurance, voluntary plans such as coverage for cancer, dental and vision plans, and lastly, retirement plans.
Baker said employees would see a small increase in their health insurance premiums and higher deductibles when the hospital moves out of Hospital Corporation of America’s coverage at the end of June.
“We had a lot of utilization” of HCA’s health coverage plan compared to similar-sized hospitals, Baker said. “Then, we could spread the cost of our plan among the whole HCA organization. Now, it’s up to us to take care of our own.”
A $500 deductible was eliminated, Baker said, in favor of a $1,000 or $2,000 deductible. The hospital will cover an estimated 80 percent of employee health benefits.
“It’s not as good as what they had with HCA, but overall, most employees have said they are pleased with the plan,” Baker said. “Our objective was to keep things as close as possible to what HCA offered. The health insurance plan was our biggest challenge.”

CATHY DREHER, medical staff coordinator, briefed trustees on their responsibility of ensuring the hospital’s medical providers are “qualified and competent.” Trustees are one of several committees who oversee a process called credentialing that ensures a high standard of professionalism.
“There are several checks and balances — lots of eyes to see the recommendations during this process,” Dreher said.
When the hospital breaks away from HCA at the end of June, all of its physicians must be recredentialed.
The process is one of the biggest responsibilities of hospital trustees, Dreher said. Not only do qualified medical personnel help protect the hospital from liability, they also promote good patient care.
Because the process is confidential and patients are unaware of a physician’s background, the inherent trust placed on trustees for their decisions is paramount, Dreher said.
About 50 reviews are in order, Dreher said. They include all physicians and midlevels who have hospital privileges.
Baker reported the hospital has gained two specialists. Dr. Cinderella Chavez will see patients in oncology; Dr. Harold Hess specializes in neurology.

TIM MOORE of Murray Construction said work crews are “comfortably on schedule.” Wires for the parking lot lighting fixtures are being “pulled through,” he said, and a “pretty extensive irrigation system,” is in the beginning phases.
Water in the pond to the south of the new hospital will not be used for irrigation purposes, Moore said. Rather, that water will be used as backup support for fire engines in case of an emergency. “We don’t want to deplete that as a water source,” he said.
All water used for irrigation purposes will be tracked through a separate meter, Moore said, and billed separately.
Construction should enter the “punch list phase by September,” Moore said with Murray Construction prepared to leave the keys with the hospital by Oct. 1.
During October, hospital employees will make the transfer of equipment, with the doors of the new Allen County Regional Hospital officially open for business on Nov. 1.