Caring Connections

Gateway to Care

Winning combination
Access, physician education improve care for uninsured

Focusing on compassionate care, health education and research, CoxHealth in Springfield found synergy between family medicine resident education and safety-net health care. Linking uninsured patients and new physicians, the health system’s small Family Medical Care Center is making a big difference for both.

Larry W. Halverson, M.D., senior faculty physician of the Family Medicine Residency Program, believes the clinic’s model improves care. New physicians can build their family practice expertise while the community’s uninsured can find an all-important health care home.

“The center is an important community asset,” Halverson said. “Physicians gain real-world experience — including exposure to indigent care and management of chronic conditions — at the clinic while patients receive access to regular, affordable care outside of the hospital’s emergency department. This contributes to long-term wellness.”

Intern and resident physicians, as well as full- and part-time faculty physicians from CoxHealth’s residency program, treat the insured, underinsured and uninsured at the clinic. In 2006, the average caseload for the clinic was 3,177 patients per month, with an average of 232 patients per month requiring hospital admission. The clinic’s obstetric practice averaged 44 deliveries per month.

The clinic provides a primary care venue for prevention, nonemergency care and chronic disease management for the uninsured. However, longterm benefits are not limited to education and patient health.

“The sense of service created at the clinic is strong,” Halverson said. “Most residents leave the program with a desire to continue serving communities in need and continue to care for Medicaid, Medicare and uninsured patients in private practice.”

By increasing access and reinforcing compassion, CoxHealth has created a Caring Connection with its community.

A driving mission
Transportation assistance offers a lifeline to care

The era of the house call may have passed, but patients with transportation challenges can request the next best thing from Liberty Hospital — a ride to their care. Established in 1987, the hospital’s transportation services program is designed to remove transportation as a barrier to care. Patients who have no other transportation options and who reside within 45 miles of the hospital can request assistance. They are picked up from their homes and taken to either the hospital or a hospital-affiliated physician’s office. The program is used regularly by patients during hospital admissions and discharges, for follow-up hospital visits and for regular checkup appointments at physicians’ offices. The service is provided free of charge to patients.

According to Joe Crossett, administrator of Liberty Hospital, the program is an important way for the hospital to connect the community with care.

“Over the years, we have found that the lack of transportation has prevented community members from obtaining timely preventive health care,” Crossett said. “We believe this service has significantly affected our community’s overall health because individuals can make appointments with their physicians to obtain regular health care services.”

The program’s successes are clearly evident and quantifiable. Initially organized around a single wheelchair-accessible van, the current fleet of three wheelchair-accessible vans and two cars has provided rides to more than 70,000 patients and logged more than 1.2 million miles since 2000. The service has been especially beneficial for wheelchair users who otherwise may not have access to convenient and wheelchair-accessible transportation.

Although the program’s cost to the hospital is approximately $350,000 per year, the service has proven invaluable to patients with limited transportation options. By investing in transportation assets to meet the community’s health access needs, Liberty Hospital has built a caring connection with its community.

Lending a helping hand
Hospital partners with local charity to improve care after discharge

Saint Luke’s Hospital needed a solution. Although patient recovery rarely ends at discharge, numerous patients who were well enough to leave the hospital had no safe and nurturing place to go for post-discharge recovery. When a patient is homeless or is returning to an unstable environment, recovery can be hampered. The hospital needed a way to ensure these vulnerable patients had an environment that provided stability and a path to improved health.

Through a partnership with the Salvation Army, Saint Luke’s is helping pave the way to recovery. Under the agreement, Saint Luke’s rents five beds at the Salvation Army’s Missouri Shield of Service drug and alcohol detoxification center in Kansas City for qualifying discharged patients. To ensure patients have the appropriate tools and care to heal properly, they receive access to home health services — medications, IV and wound treatment supplies, visiting nurses and therapists, and medical equipment — at the center.

According to Liz Levin, vice president of charity management at Saint Luke’s Health System, the program has been a great success for the patients and the partners.

“Through the partnership, patients are provided a safe and healing environment outside of the hospital, leading to improved health outcomes and reduced readmissions,” Levin said. “The program also opens beds for incoming acute care patients, allowing Saint Luke’s to continue to serve the health needs of the community.”

Under the partnership, patients’ needs are identified during the hospital discharge process. Qualifying patients are transported to the Salvation Army, where — in addition to home health services — they are provided shelter and access to social service programs for job placement, housing and drug and alcohol recovery during convalescence.

By providing access to care for vulnerable patients, Saint Luke’s Hospital is making a caring connection with its community. For more information about the partnership, contact Liz Levin at 816/932-2000.

Prescription for hope
Hospital foundation helps low-income patients access medications

Although the pennies aren’t from heaven, pocket change from employees at St. Mary’s Health Center in Jefferson City is helping to fund a program viewed as a God-send by many uninsured mid-Missourians.

Through the Sisters’ Medication Assistance Fund, qualifying uninsured and underinsured patients receive a $50 voucher for the hospital’s pharmacy to help obtain prescriptions when they are discharged. In 2006, the program provided free medication totaling $48,000 to 1,100 patients.

The fund, sponsored by the hospital’s foundation, is good for both the body and soul, according to Kathy Nelson, social work supervisor at St. Mary’s Health Center.

“When patients leave the hospital with the medication they need to recover, they avoid further emergency room visits or hospitalization,” Nelson said. “The program puts the short-term prescriptions — the antibiotics and pain medications that many of us take for granted — within their reach.

“Sometimes, people need a little help to get back on their feet,” she said. “The compassion we offer these patients — care during their hospital stay and a little help on the road to recovery — is what makes St. Mary’s Health Center really stand apart.”

The medication assistance program is funded by contributions from hospital employees and charitable donations from the community. However, the hospital’s social work staff is particularly active in both promoting the program to patients and soliciting donations. During National Social Work Month in March, hospital social workers carry baskets to solicit pocket change from co-workers. They emulate St. Mary’s founding order, the Franciscan Sisters of Mary, who carried simple straw baskets from which the poor could take what they needed while others gave what they could. In 2007, the social work staff raised several thousand dollars to support the program.

By converting pocket change to health and hope, St. Mary’s Health Center is building a caring connection with their community.

Texas-sized outreach
Community-focused services expand access to care, information

Although Missouri’s Texas County may be named for the “Lone Star State,” its sensibility is 100 percent pure Missouri Ozarks. In the rocky, rolling hills of southern Missouri, poverty and unemployment are higher than the state average while access to regular health care services is lower than average. Connecting patients to care can be challenging. As the sole community provider for hospital care in the region, Texas County Memorial Hospital’s “commitment to maximum health care” is a bold proposition. It’s also a mission that TCMH undertakes with “Show-Me” state enthusiasm.

Wes Murray, TCMH’s chief executive officer, believes the hospital should not only provide health education and services, but should offer the services in the community. In 2006, the hospital sponsored eight community health fairs and conducted nearly 1,000 free or low cost health screenings for area residents. To expand access to health information more than 100 hospital employees volunteered their time at 16 community events. For many area residents, these venues provided their only access to a health care provider.

“My parents and grandparents always lived in rural areas and only sought medical care when it was absolutely necessary,” Murray said. “We’ve turned health access on its head by bringing services to places where large groups of people gather — the county fair, the rural electric cooperative picnic and other events — to increase access to health care. Through our creative approach to outreach, we hope to spur area residents to be more proactive about their health.”

TCMH also promotes employee community service. To reward volunteerism, the hospital includes community service in employee annual performance appraisals.

“We know that our community faces health challenges,” Murray said. “But, we’re not going to let that stand in our way.”

By expanding access to health services, Texas County Memorial Hospital is building a Caring Connection with southern Missourians.