Appalachian Regional Healthcare Inc

Programs: During fiscal year ending june 30, 2017, arh provided each of the communities it serves in eastern kentucky and southern west virginia an abundance of healthcare and community-oriented services. Arh strives not only to provide its communities exceptional medical care, but also to build public awareness of warning signs and tips for prevention of common health conditions in our area through free educational sessions. During many of these educational events, free health screenings are also offered to further improve the health of the residents arh serves. Arh strongly promotes the importance of preventative health screenings and each year arh facilities provide a number of free health screenings such as blood pressure checks, blood glucose, body mass index, pulse, cholesterol and stroke-risk screenings. To encourage women to get annual screening mammograms, arh also offers discounted mammograms during october's breast cancer awareness month which coincide with numerous awareness events held throughout the month. Arh has also continued its work to educate the region's youth about the importance of physical fitness to good health and keeps our seniors healthy through a senior wellness program. Below is a summary about some other accomplishments encountered by arh during the past fiscal year. Arh was among 10 health care systems across the commonwealth of kentucky to collectively form the kentucky health collaborative, whose primary objectives are raising the standards of care across the state, addressing the commonwealth's poor health statistics and reducing the cost of care through greater operational efficiencies. Arh hospitals throughout eastern kentucky and southern west virginia continued to respond to the needs of their communities by putting into place plans based on information compiled in community needs assessment reports. In an effort to measure the impact of current public health efforts, identify respective health concerns and priorities, and guide the appropriate use of local resources, arh with the assistance of the community and economic development initiative of kentucky (cedik) at the university of kentucky completed a community health needs assessment (chna) in each of its hospital communities. This assessment consisted of the formation of a local steering committee made up of members from community organizations and businesses, distribution and completion of over 1,000 surveys, and completion of several community focus groups. The results from all of these different forums were compiled, analyzed, and priorities established for the next three years. The independent hospital watchdog, the leapfrog group, shows how the strong commitment to patient safety has earned arh hospitals in harlan, hazard and whitesburg, ky, and beckley, wv, an 'a' grade in its elite national ratings program that rates hospitals on errors, injuries, accidents, and infections. The hospital safety score is the gold standard rating for patient safety, compiled under the guidance of the nation's leading patient safety experts and administered by the leapfrog group, a national, independent nonprofit. The first and only hospital safety rating to be peer-reviewed in the journal of patient safety, the hospital safety score is free to the public and designed to give consumers information they can use to protect themselves and their families when facing a hospital stay. Mcdowell arh was named one of the top 20 critical access hospitals (cahs) in the country for its overall quality. The top 20 critical access hospitals "best practice recipients-quality" which included mcdowell arh, scored best among critical access hospitals on ivantage health analytics' hospital strength index for quality. The top 20 critical access hospital "winners" are those hospitals who have achieved success in the overall performance based on a composite rating from nine indices of strength: inpatient market share, outpatient market share, population risk, cost, charge, quality, outcomes, patient perspectives, and financial stability. Arh continues to work to expand healthcare services in the communities it serves through the addition of state-of-the-art technology and advanced medical services. A number of advancements occurred during fy16, which include, but are not limited to:arh expanded the level of diagnostic services to women with the opening of the state-of-the-art arh breast center located at the arh medical mall imaging center. The center provides patients a one-stop shop for all their breast health and breast cancer needs. The arh breast center offers a full range of services, from routine mammograms, to second opinions and treatment options for breast cancer. The arh breast center can bring about a more timely and efficient diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer by bringing together a team of specialists including oncologists, radiologists, surgeons, pathologists, genetic counselors, and a nurse navigator. The goal of the arh breast center is to offer the most advanced breast cancer care in addition to emotional support while reducing the delays patients may experience in the course of diagnostic mammogram to treatment. A patient can have a mammogram, any follow-up imaging test, and a biopsy if needed, all in one day. With the addition of the breast tomosynthesis (3d mammography) imaging equipment, the arh breat center has the latest technology in the region. Hazard arh regional medical center opened a new outpatient wound care center with the goal to make a difference in the lives of local patients. The new outpatient center offers the community a comprehensive quality approach with the hospital providing state-of-the art clinical services to our fastest-growing medical demographic: patients with diabetes aged 60 years and older. The center also treats other types of wounds including, but not limited to venous ulcers, traumatic injury and compromised flaps/grafts to wounds resulting from raditation therapy, while maintaining the goal of successful healing and reducing the risk of amputation and/or disability. The center's hyperbanic chamber allows patients to receive pure oxygen to speed up the healing of their wounds, which provides a more advanced treatment option for those who qualify for the procedure. With the need for cancer treatment and infusion therapy services increasing, arh also has launched plans for additional infusion therapy suites as well as an expansion of the arh cancer center in hazard. The expansion will provide 8,000 additional square feet which will accommodate more patients and keep them close to home for cancer treatments. Additionally, arh continued to provide the residents it serves a wide-range of primary and specialty care services through its network of health facilities and partnerships with other health systems such as the renowned uk healthcare, virtually eliminating residents' need to leave the area for care.