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Highland Medical Center reviews goals
MONTEREY - Highland Medical Center presented its report for the fiscal year ending July 1 at a board meeting on June 23. This week, Dr. D. Bradley Drawbaugh, the center's new executive director and chief financial officer, highlighted some of the year's accomplishments.
Highland Medical Center made great strides toward its continued goal of offering high-level care to the residents of the county, Drawbaugh said.
The center received federal grant money from the Health Resources Service Administration Bureau of Health Care that will reimburse the Center for some of the cost of caring for patients with little or no insurance, Drawbaugh said.
"The federal grant is designed to assist us in providing quality care and access to health services to those who are underinsured and uninsured," he explained. "Those services can include the full scope of the services that we currently provide, which are medical and dental services."
Highland Medical Center also added a marketing campaign to promote a sliding-fee discount and medication-assistance program that helps patients lower medical bills.
"The sliding fee discount is a discount fee scale that is for medical and dental services that is based on the individual families' income level and their eligibility they can obtain discounts on their care whether it be medical or whether it be dental," Drawbaugh said. "This is another means by which we help to provide the uninsured and underinsured and even those who are insured but whose income meets the guidelines - affordable health care."
HMC also expanded patient services by renting space to local practitioners of healing arts and Complimentary Alternative Medicine, or CAM.
"We are also looking to add a certified acupuncturist who would be here one day a week to provide acupuncture services or acupuncture therapy, and we are also looking to provide ways that we can be supportive of our certified hypnotherapist, Trish," Drawbaugh said. "We certainly believe that, in addition to the more traditional Western approaches to medicine that there are other non-traditional approaches to medicine that do work for some people and that is also recognized by the American Medical Association, the National Institutes of Health and the Bureau of Primary Health Care."
"We want to be a place, in our county and a community, where people see this as a place of healing - to help make people whole and well again."
Finance
¦ Successful Uniform Data System report to Human
Resources Services Administration. The Uniform Data
System is the information collected and reviewed for HRSA
grant applicants for community medical centers.
¦ Successful BSV, or baseline scope verification, to the
HRSA - the HRSA substantiated the range of the grantfunded
HMC
Redeeming application (Federal Tort Claims Act
Coverage) - reduces the cost of health center malpractice
insurance premiums
¦ Completed medical provider re-credentialing by making
certain the professional licenses are up-to-date
¦ Grant - Johnson-Cox Fund, $2,000
¦ Grant - Virginia Department of Health and Virginia
Community Healthcare Association, $2,000
¦ Dental Grant - Virginia Health Care Foundation
(3-year), $297,500
¦ Improvements to dental residence - 164 Jackson
River Road
¦ Rented space on Lower Level to Yoga and Thai Yoga
Massage - Complimentary
Medical Services
¦ New three-year physician contracts with expanded
administrative and patient care hours.
¦ Began participation in nationally recognized Virginia
Cardiovascular Health Disparities Collaborative
¦ Improved mid-level supervision with Dr. Dawn
Alexander
¦ New medical staff by-laws
¦ New credentialing and privileging policies
¦ Organized medical staff meetings
¦ National Incident Management System clinical staff
training
¦ Basic Life Support, Pediatric Advanced Life Support,
and Advanced Cardiac Life Support clinical staff training
¦ Radiology training
¦ Successful annual health fair
¦ Safety checks at Highland County Schools for head
lice
¦ Methicillin-resistant Staphyloccoccus aureus (MRSA)
education and support to Highland County School District
¦ Expanded lab hours
¦ Combined pharmacy room and narcotics into pharmacy
area
¦ Walking Club
¦ Participation in Healthy Living Farmer's Market at
The Highland Center
¦ Patient education on radio and in newspaper
¦ New pediatric resuscitation kit
¦ New defibrillator
¦ New Physical Therapy/Wellness equipment
¦ Nursing Services
¦ New Nurse Manager, Leslie Armstrong, RN
¦ Re-assignment of nursing personnel duties
¦ Improved environment of care in medical suite - better
organization
¦ Added PRN - "as needed" nursing personnel
¦ Weekly nursing schedule and medical provider assignments
Dental Services
New dentist, assistant and front office coordinator
Report
¦ New endodontic and restorative dentistry equipment
¦ New autoclave
¦ New automated external defibrillator
¦ New patient education monitors and programming
¦ Added conscious sedation - nitrous oxide
Marketing & Development
¦ Participation in Highland County School District's
Career Fair
¦ Full-page presentation color ads in The Recorder
¦ Ads in Highland County High School Year Book &
County Fair
¦ Expanded feature and regular advertising in The
Recorder
¦ Corporate sponsorship of local radio - increased announcements
¦ Sliding fee discount, medication assistance program
announcements on radio, Town Crier, Department of Social
Services (Bath & Highland Counties), Senior Centers
(Bath & Highland) and Community Services Boards (Bath
& Highland County)
¦ New exterior signage at medical center
Patient Services
¦ Re-organization of front office personnel and functions
¦ Patient Satisfaction Forms
¦ Completed process mapping in preparation for new
electronic medical records
¦ Purchased and installed new health information management
system infrastructure upgrades - increased capacity,
functionality, connectivity, redundancy and security.
¦ New commercial dental contracts
¦ New Smiles for Children Virginia Medicaid provider
¦ CareCredit (18-month, interest-free payment plan)
(dental)
¦ New furnishings for patient lobby
¦ New ergonomic chairs for employees
¦ Business Office
¦ Coding audit through Community Care Network of
Virginia
¦ Patient revenue cycle analysis process improvements
¦ Improved claims denial tracking
¦ Updated medical and dental fee schedules based on
medical reimbursement methods
¦ Revised sliding-fee discount program
¦ Reduction in aged receivables over 120 days with
collection payment plan
¦ Valley Credit Services collection
¦ Consolidated pharmacy pickup, medical assistance
program
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