HCHC officials praise new laboratory testing system

By BRYCE KELLY

Mt. Pleasant News

It?s been a more than smooth transition for one major addition to Henry County Health Center?s (HCHC) laboratory services department, according to health center officials.

In April, HCHC announced that it would officially partner with Great River Health Systems for use of their pathology services and Health Enterprises Medical Laboratory for reference lab services.

?We are really improving our turn around time for a lot of our tests results (due to the recent partnership),? said Brian Bockting, HCHC?s laboratory director as he gave a department update to the HCHC Board of Trustees on Tuesday. ?In the past, a test that might have taken three or four days to get results for now only takes roughly a day or less.?

Before, a bulk of HCHC?s laboratory testing was being sent to Cedar Rapids for analyzing, which meant slower courier times. In addition to faster service, this new partnership has also allowed for testing on Saturdays.

In an average month, HCHC will send out 500 to 700 tests to Health Enterprises or Great River Health Systems, which is only five percent of the overall lab testing that HCHC has to do monthly.

?Our goal is always to do the bulk of our testing locally, and at the very least, keep it in the state of Iowa,? said Bockting. ?We are a county hospital, so we are all about supporting local business, sustaining jobs in this area and keeping costs low for our patients. We think keeping our lab services close to home is one way we can do those things.?

HCHC officially began this new testing model on July 1 and plans to continue with it.

Besides hearing good news from laboratory services, HCHC?s Board of Trustees also reviewed a report from the Wayland and Winfield clinics, and overall it was positive news there as well.

In the Wayland clinic, 967 patient visits were recorded for fiscal year 2015, which is a growth rate of about 13 percent from last fiscal year. For the clinic in Winfield, there have been over 2,000 patient visits this fiscal year, resulting in about a four percent increase.

According to reports, much of the increase in patients for both clinics has been due to high patient satisfaction scores.

?Our providers in those clinics have cultivated very strong relationships with patients in the Wayland and Winfield areas, which is really a positive thing to see,? said HCHC CEO, Robb Gardner. ?Our goal for those clinics is to provide strong, primary health care in those two communities, and I think our staff does a great job of doing that.?

Outside of the health center?s medical departments, the board also voted to approve the purchase of property on 307 South White Street, directly north of the health center. This is one in a handful of other property purchases that the board has approved within the last several months.

According to HCHC officials, purchasing surrounding property has proven to be very beneficial for the health center as a whole.

?Past HCHC Boards of Trustees have purchased land, which were saved up until it was needed to do expansions to the hospital. Our current emergency department is the size that it is, in part, because we had bought additional land to build on,? said HCHC CFO Dave Muhs.

Right now, the house that sits on 307 South White Street will be maintained and rented out by the health center to tenants until such a time that the property becomes useful to the health center in other ways.

In other news, the board discussed the following items:

? Board member Joel Prottsman performed a hospital inspection and had no major concerns to report

? The board reviewed its self-assessment results

? Management reports from Gardner and Muhs were given

The board ended their regular meeting by entering into closed session to discuss the status of a medical staff member.