KCH's 'State of Hospital' Report Issued

J. Gary Rhodes, Vice President of UPMC Hamot and CEO of Kane Community Hospital (KCH) presented the annual state of the hospital at the weekly meeting of Kane Rotary last week.

At the conclusion of the 2011 fiscal year, that ended June 30, 2011, the bottom line was a net income of $1,353,181, a turn-around of $1.56 million from the previous fiscal year that ended with a loss of $209K.

“This is the best year our hospital has ever had since I’ve been here,” stated Rhodes, who came to KCH in 1987 and become its CEO in 1996.

In November of 2009 KCH became the first controlled affiliate of the Hamot Health Foundation. In February of this year, KCH became affiliated with UPMC by virtue of Hamot’s integration with the UPMC Health System.

UPMC, with home base in Pittsburgh, is the largest employer in Western Pennsylvania. Hamot is the largest medical facility to link with UPMC. Regarding KCH Rhodes stated, “We’re a UPMC hospital like any other UPMC hospital. The only difference is that we kept our name.”

Rhodes acknowledged the KCH Board of Directors for its “courageous decision and bold move” to affiliate with Hamot and ultimately UPMC. “It was definitely the right thing to do.”

“The major improvement in the KCH financial picture between Fiscal Year (FY) 2010 and FY 2011 is due to affiliation, that provides KCH with expanded resources and cost-saving avenues for purchases of supplies and equipment. A lot of services offered by KCH “would not be possible without the UPMC Hamot connection,” Rhodes added.

The full integration process with UPMC Hamot is an incremental one that is likely to take three or more years.

Rhodes reminded those attending of KCH’s Mission “to serve our patients and their families, our communities, and one another.”

The KCH Vision is to be recognized in the communities we serve as the provider of superior patient care and service and to provide access to nationally recognized specialty care through our affiliation with UPMC Hamot.

KCH is a health system that contains a 31-bed acute care hospital with an intensive care unit (ICU) and an ER that is UPMC Hamot physician staffed 24/7. KCH also includes “primary care” clinics in Kane, Mt. Jewett, Sheffield, Johnsonburg and Ridgway. A new clinic in Mt. Jewett is planned for 20-22 W. Main Street and is expected to open in early 2012. Site preparation began last week as well.

KCH features many diagnostic facilities, including State of the Art Diagnostic Imaging and a Women’s Breast Health Center that includes digital mammography, ultrasound, MRI and stereotactic breast biopsy.

KCH offers a Cardiac Rehabilitation and Wellness Center with aerobic equipment and supervised fitness center that is open for public membership.

During FY 2011, KCH made many advances in the delivery of healthcare to the community.

Among the accomplishments noted:

- Recruited a full-time Orthopedic surgeon.

- Established a new pain management clinic.

- Established the KCH Center for Orthopedics, Pain Management and Rehabilitation all in one location.

- Established a new gynecology clinic. Established a gastroenterology GI clinic with UPMC Hamot.

- Established employee engagement team and a nursing governance council.

- KCH was the 183rd hospital in the country (placing it among just 3.5% of U.S. hospitals) to achieve Stage 6 Certification of electronic medical record.

Changes in the operation of the emergency room have brought about greater patient satisfaction. The most recent survey shows 90% of patients treated in the KCH emergency room were satisfied with their care. Before changes were made, only 60% of patients were happy with their care.

Medicare patients account for nearly 70% of the KCH admissions, hospital officials are closely following proposed healthcare changes on Capitol Hill.

Rhodes noted that “serious changes” are needed in Medicare—regardless of which political party is in power in Washington.

Statistics in the report for the KCH fiscal year that ended June 30 include:

- Admission, 1,016

- Observations, 425

- Patient Days in hospital. 4,30

- Average Length of Stay, 4.24 days

- ER visits, 5,399

- Surgeries, 948

- Cardiac/respiratory tests, 23,865

- Lab tests, 121,142

- Radiology procedures, 17,717

- Rehabilitation Services, 10,613

- Outpatients, 31,892

- Clinic Visits, 30,264


“During observation stays, patients occupy a hospital bed, but are not considered admissions, allowing insurance reimbursements at a much lower rate than admission,” Rhodes noted.

KCH is the second largest employer in the Kane Area with more than 200 employees and a fulltime equivalent (FTE) of 145.

Salaries and benefits at KCH totaled $9, 345, 955 for the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2011.

In addition to Stage 6 achievement of the electronic medical record, KCH met the Stage 1 "meaningful use" benchmark in this area. As a result, KCH qualified for and received a $1.3 million “bonus” in August. The bottom line for the year ending June 30, 2011 was the result of patient care services. The "bonus" received by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Sevices (CMS) was applied to our current FY (2012) and puts the hospital in a strong position moving forward.

A UPMC Hamot-guided community assessment will gather input on needs on healthcare in the area and planning for the next decade of healthcare in the area.

Pictured, Gary Rhodes, Vice President of UPMC Hamot and CEO of Kane Community Hospital, presented KCH’s annual state of the hospital report at last week’s meeting of the Kane Rotary Club with Ron Carty, Rotary president.
Courtesy of KCH