Little Falls Hospital

Programs: Inpatient servicesthe inpatient occupancy rate for inpatient and observation services was 65% for an average daily inpatient daily census of 17 patients. As a critical access hospital (cah) provider, our inpatient daily services include; observation care, extended swingbed rehab services, and acute care services. This diversity of patient care allows for our residents to remain local for medically appropriate services. In 2016, little falls hospital was also rated a four star (****) hospital by "hospital consumer assessment of healthcare providers and systems" (hcahps). A four star rating indicates high patient satisfaction in their patient care as measured by patient survey instruments.

little falls hospital operates an emergency department with twenty four hours of physician coverage, seven days per week. The emergency department provided access to care for approximately 15,000 patients in 2016. The emergency department participated in a nys medicaid accelerated exchange (max) program to reduce avoidable visits to an emergency department. Our success was a 39% reduction for the patients selected for the program reducing emergency department visits by 225. The max program is consistent with the changing payment systems to transform to a "pay for performance" instead of the current status of reimbursement recognized as "fee for service". These care re-design measures are consistent with nys department of health medicaid care re-design initiatives, administered under the "delivery system reform incentive payment (dsrip) program". A goal of this program is to reduce by 25% over five years, avoidable hospital emergency department visits and hospital admissions.

total ambulatory outpatient service visits were approximately 33,000 in 2016. Our ambulatory services include rehab / wellness program, ambulatory surgery / gi services, womens imaging service, diagnostic imaging services, and primary care services. Our dolgeville and newport health centers and ambulatory surgery program were recognized as "guardian of excellence award" by press ganey. This award recognizes service performance whereby patient satisfaction was measured at a level of 95% of peers within a four quarter measurement period. Our women's imaging center inlcudes newly purchased state-of-the-art 3d digital mammography to improve diagnostic testing for breast cancer screenings.

the hospital continued efforts with supporting our role as a nys defined safety-net provider. In 2016 we received vital access provider (vap) awards to strengthen our patient delivery systems. Some of these initiatives continue to rely on recruitment of primary care providers to our region. We are also a partner in the leatherstocking collaborative health partners (lchp), llc whose activities are associated with coordinating improvements in population health outcomes outlined in the nys department of health "delivery system reform incentive payment" (dsrip) program. In 2016 little falls hospital received funding for our dsrip initiatives of $83,000. Our activities for improving population health included increasing wellness visits in our health centers, education protocols used for asthmatic patients, and increasing mental health screens.