Big City Care, Small Town Heart

by: M. Michelle Spencer

For many who live in the Uinta Basin the occasional trip to "the city" is not an unheard of thing. In fact it is quite common when it comes to visiting certain types of medical specialists. Ashley Regional Medical Center is hard at work to change this by striving to provide a higher level of health care for the region. Not only are they being successful in their recruitment of new specialists to the hospital but they were just recognized for a job well done by LifePoint Hospitals Inc for their excellent performance in the 2010 year.

    "Our Staff is very focused on making sure each and every patient has a positive experience when they come to our hospital, " explained a very proud Si Hutt, CEO of Ashley Regional Medical Center. "The High Five Award is a big deal for our company, and our staff has worked very hard to earn this honor."

    And proud is one thing that Hutt should be of the staff that he currently oversees. The High Five Award is the highest honor awarded annually to one hospital in each of LifePoint's four divisions in order to recognize high overall performance by the hospitals on specific measures related to the Company's High Five guiding principles:

 Delivering compassionate, high quality patient care

 Supporting physicians

 Creating excellent workplaces for employees

 Strengthening the hospital's role in the community

 Ensuring fiscal responsibility

    In 2007 ARMC earned LifePoint's overall High Five award for the entire company. This year ARMC was once again awarded the High Five award, but this time for the American division which is where they are located.

    "There are 12 other hospitals in the American Division, including some nationally recognized leaders in quality and patient satisfaction, so there is tough competition. We make a constant effort to improve every year; until we are perfect, there is room to improve."

    In order to understand the competition that ARMC was up against, it should be known that the average size hospital in the American division supports 100 beds in contrast to ARMC's 39 beds. This says a lot about the superior health care that ARMC has been able to provide for this community. The American Division of LifePoint Hospitals Inc includes all of their hospitals in Louisiana, Tennessee, and Utah.

    Out of the 53 hospitals competing for the overall high five award, ARMC was ranked as 10th for employee satisfaction, 13th for physician support satisfaction and they were graded as 100% in completing the core measures set up by Medicare to judge quality care for pneumonia patients. This is a big achievement by itself considering how rough the 2010-2011 winter was with pneumonia and RSV, as well as other lung capacity illnesses that found their way into our community. ARMC saw a 14% growth in surgeries in the 2010 year and an overall growth of 4% in adjusted admissions, a measure of the number of patients for both inpatient and outpatient services. Much of this growth can be attributed to the new specialists that Hutt and the hospital administration have worked hard to recruit to ARMC. These specialists have afforded the residents of the Uinta Basin "big city" care with lots of "small town" heart.

    One of the exciting side benefits of ARMC receiving this award is the fact that it also comes with a $100,000 check that the hospital can use in the areas where they see fit. Hutt was excited to announce that ARMC plans on using this money to install a state of the art patient monitoring system in med surg. This new monitoring system will allow nurses to respond to patients needs in an even more timely manner.

    As Ashley Regional Medical Center continues to grow, Hutt emphasized that their main goal is to provide the highest level of care possible and still remain a strong, integral part of the community. From community health fairs and a number of event sponsorships to members of the staff helping with little league sports and boy scouts, being a part of the community is a priority for Ashley Regional.

    "We are very excited, not only to receive this recognition, but also for our future. Our goal is to provide any medical services that are viable for our community size. We are working hard to make sure that those services are provided locally and with high quality based on national standards. It is great for our physicians and staff to be recognized, not one time for a good job in one area, but rather for consistently doing a great job across the board."

    The year 2010 brought many new advances in technology for ARMC such as a new state-of-the-art nuclear medicine camera and expanded surgical capabilities. With 2011 off to such an amazing start, Si Hutt and his staff are excited to see what the future holds for not only Ashley Regional Medical Center, but for the Uinta Basin as a whole.