Brett Dearman Photo
MEEKER | Margie Joy kicked off the Pioneers Medical Center presentation at the Fairfield Community Center by making two announcements:
Upcoming Community Survey:
Joy said, “If you receive a call from Dan Jones & Assoc. in the next two-three weeks, it’s not a scam. Please take the time to give them honest feedback. It will help us get better at serving our community.”
Joy went on to announce the Colorado University mini-medical sessions. “Starting in September, CU will be presenting free, 90 minutes sessions regarding opportunities in medical field. If you have a high school student that may be interested in pursuing a career in the medical profession or if you are interested, they have a variety of topics that they will be covering via tele-conference in the PMC boardroom.”
In 2020, PMC will be celebrating 70 years of serving the community. In the last decade, PMC has come from being a county hospital to a fledged medical center. PMC staff moved into the new facility in 2015 and from December of 2014 to December of 2018, business has been booming.
– Annual clinic visits have increased from approximately 9,900 to nearly 10,700 and they anticipate more than 12,000 visits this year.
– Walbridge Wing average daily census has climbed from 20 to 28.
– ER visits have risen from approximately 1,350 to nearly 1,800.
– Hospital admissions have skyrocketed from a little over 100 to approximately 750.
– PMC now has 186 employees and 10 medical providers (family practice/ER) and five specialist physicians (orthopedics, general surgery, cardiology, gastrointestinal, etc.)
– The PMC board now has seven members and the Pioneers Healthcare Foundation board has seven members.
– Last year’s survey showed that 80% of residents are using the PMC facilities.
– Dealing with the challenges of operating a rural medical center:
Ken Harmon then took the podium, “Ten years ago, the board saw that there were a lot of problems coming up with rural small hospitals. There were 87 rural hospitals that have closed around the nation last year. This year, we’ve seen a dramatic number of hospital closures… one hospital a week. Colorado hasn’t had any yet, but many are struggling. Every year, state and federal governments are constantly looking at how they can lower their payments to us. We started having some discussions on how we can ensure that PMC is here to take care of patients and do it in a great way and still be here in five, 10, 20 years and beyond. We decided that we needed to have a diverse portfolio of primary care physicians and staff who are really able to take care of people. The board made some decisions to enable us to recruit some additional primary care physicians. We wanted to be able to create a good work-life balance. Physicians in the past were on call 24/7 and they were getting burned out. We developed a plan where we could provide enough primary care providers so that they could have enough time off so they could not feel completely overwhelmed.”
Harmon went on to say, “The board committed to developing a sustainable, viable entity by developing growth opportunities by not only providing medical care to the community, but by also providing services that would attract patients from outside of our community as well. Board also committed to “living within our means.” By doing so, there has been no increase to mill levy support since 2006. Currently, mill levy support accounts for 15-20% of PMC overall revenue. When the mill levy was first introduced, it provided around 40% of PMC revenue.” This means that PMC is now generating 80-85% of its own revenue stream by providing additional services.
Orthopedic Expansion:
There have been 177 orthopedic surgeries performed this year to date and anticipate another 40-50 surgeries by year end. The plan is to expand these orthopedic services by increasing the scope and availability of surgical services. To do this, an expansion of the hospital will be necessary to accommodate the increased volume of patients. The plan is to add two additional operating rooms, three additional post recovery rooms and six additional inpatient hospital rooms as well as the creation of orthopedic and specialist clinic space. Another part of the plan is to target patients from outside the Meeker area.
Economic Impact:
The 10-month expansion project is targeted for completion by July 2020. The project will provide 35-70 construction jobs with subcontractors being local or regional. The cost will be approximately $7 million for construction and equipment. It is estimated that for every dollar spent on the project will return three dollars to the community. The long-term impact of the PMC expansion project is estimated at 15 new local jobs.
In an interview, Dr. Kevin Borchard said, “We believe in relationship-based patient care.” This emphasis on positive patient outcome is clearly an ingredient that is raising the standard at PMC.
Pioneer Healthcare Foundation is helping PMC be its best. Between donations and grants, the Foundation has raised more than $480,000 for equipment and programs (scholarships, Meals on Wheels, cancer screenings, capital equipment and technology).
By BRETT DEARMAN | [email protected]
