PMC Prepares for Pink Events for October & Site Expansion Plans

Prowers Medical Center board members are moving forward with building site plans to upgrade various hospital facilities for patients and employees.  The board is researching their best options for securing bonds to finance the overall construction project, estimated at up to $10 million.   The PMC Foundation will also take an active role in securing funding.

A design/construction company, CPI, has been hired to produce a design-build program for several projects, while a contract agreement was reached with Honeywell Building Solutions for construction work on several aspects of the master site plan.  At this point, the agreement with CPI is to develop design services for expansion and renovations to the emergency room and surgery departments.  Honeywell will begin work installing a code approved smoke evacuation system for the operating room as well as future HVAC upgrades in portions of the hospital.  During the board’s monthly meeting on Wednesday, September 25, CEO Craig Loveless said some of the initial work can be paid for out of hospital reserve funds, which will be repaid once the bonding initiative has been approved by hospital district voters.   

Ron Cline, QHR consultant for Prowers Medical Center, provided a synopsis for the hospital’s evaluation as a Rural Health Clinic.  PMC is adopting a system of electronic health records from the Greenway Company, which provides a variety of software programs for daily hospital and patient functions.  Cline said PMC employees are enthusiastic about the changeover and readily adapting to the new programs.  One package, Cline explained, uses an interactive web portal which allows patients to make their own appointments, check on prescriptions, billing, medical records and lab results.  He said this is a time savings device for both patients and medical providers and is being used increasingly in the medical field across the country.  One other aspect of the system is a simple patient reminder call back program.  He said if you can keep the medical appointment, you press one number on your phone, if you can’t, simply press another to cancel. 

Mike Mullins, also from QHR, said his firm is recommending that their hospitals begin factoring the probable impact the Affordable Care Act may have on 2014 finances and budgets.  He said critical care access hospitals are seeing their funding cut from the federal level. 

CEO Loveless informed the board that Prowers Medical Center is now fully staffed for mid level medical care providers and recruiting continues for a part time surgeon to provide time off for Dr. Smith.  He said he has an October meeting scheduled with the Colorado University medical department regarding physician recruitment to rural areas.  Under a long term agreement, PMC will partner with the university to recruit doctors who will contract earlier in their studies, to work at the hospital following their residency.  The first such doctor will be available in 2018.  Loveless said he’s continuing to work on a similar program that commits high school graduates to a hospital following their BA-BS and Medical degrees. 

Karen Bryant, hospital Chief Operating Officer informed the board that October will be a busy month for the 2013 Linked in Pink campaign.  Various Well Woman Clinics have been scheduled for each Wednesday and Thursday through the month for High Plains, Prowers Medical Group and the Wiley Clinic.  Other events are set for October 5 at the Oktoberfest, a women’s luncheon and discussion on health matters for October 14 at the Cultural Events Center from 11am to 1pm and a community walk scheduled for the Enchanted Forest on East Beech Street for 9am on October 26.

By Russ Baldwin