St. Luke Hospital certified as 'critical access'
By ROWENA PLETT
Staff writer
St. Luke Hospital recently received certification as a "critical access hospital."
This term is applied to small rural hospitals that provide access to health care for area residents.
"It's essential to the community to have care," explained Doug Newman, chief executive officer at St. Luke.
The federal government and Kansas Legislature approved the Critical Access Hospital Program in response to changes in the Medicare program in 1995 which unintentionally penalized small rural hospitals.
Medicare pays a set portion of the actual cost of treating a patient. The more Medicare patients a hospital has, the less income it receives while costs of treatment remain the same.
A hospital designated as a critical access facility is reimbursed by Medicare using a different formula than that for regular hospitals, resulting in a more reasonable return.
According to Newman, in 2001, approximately 40 to 43 percent of patients treated at St. Luke Hospital were enrolled in Medicare. At present, 65 to 70 percent are in Medicare. Thus, the hospital is becoming more dependent on Medicare reimbursements for sustenance.
Newman said under the new designation St. Luke stands to increase income from $200,000 to $300,000 per year.
"It's really going to help St. Luke in 2005," he said. That's the year its affiliation with Banner Health Systems will end. Newman noted the extra income will support the hospital if it becomes independent.
Newman said the hospital contributes about five to six million dollars to the local economy. Chief nursing officer, Debra Casey, said the hospital tries to use local businesses as much as possible.
St. Luke is one of about 65 or 66 rural hospitals in Kansas. Newman said small, rural hospitals are "kind of a Midwest thing."
In order to become a critical access hospital, administrators at St. Luke had to document policies and procedures complying with state regulations. Newman said it wasn't too difficult because Banner Health Systems already required much the same thing.
The hospital also had to submit a financial feasibility statement.
Another requirement was that St. Luke had to join another supporting hospital. A network of hospitals was formed including Via Christi hospitals in Wichita, St. Luke Hospital, Hillsboro Community Medical Center, and an Anthony hospital.
Network representatives meet monthly. The association allows the hospital to get services it doesn't normally provide.
Another requirement of attaining critical access status was inspection. The physical plant was inspected for sanitation and fire code compliance. In addition, a critical access team spent several days at the facility checking policies and procedures.
Approval of "critical access" status was granted in February.
Grants are available to the network. Recently, a $75,000 grant was sought to provide education in nutrition and prevention of diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. Newman wants that education to extend into local schools.
Newman said he received a $9,000 grant to make changes to the business office to allow more privacy when people register.
Newman is very optimistic about the future of the institution.
"We'll be fine," he said. "We were doing fine before and we'll be fine in the future."
