Olney Hamilton Hospital News Briefs
Olney hospital starts chronic care program
Olney Hamilton Hospital will unveil a new line of chronic care management this week, as a way to keep patients with chronic illnesses current on their medication and office visits. “This is a new revenue stream for us,” hospital administrator Michael Huff told the hospital board of directors at their June 24 meeting. Hospital staff will spend 20 minutes per month per patient checking on overall health and compliance with doctors’ orders and to schedule appointments and transportation to those appointments, Huff said.
Olney hospital preps Request for Proposal for new facility
The board of the Olney Hamilton Hospital has voted to hire a consultant to pen a request for proposal from architectural firms that are interested in designing a new hospital or hospital addition. The architects “will evaluate our needs” and help the 25-bed critical access hospital transition from its inpatient-focused design to serve a new purpose, hospital administrator Michael Huff told the board. About 85 percent of the hospital’s revenue now comes from outpatient care “and I don’t see that changing,” Huff said. The board is looking at adding to the existing facility, which was built in several stages - in 1927 and expanded in 1951 and 1964 - or building a new hospital, Huff said. The construction could be funded by revenue bonds, he said.
Hospital board approves new stress test machine
The Olney Hamilton Hospital board of directors voted to allow the hospital to spend $35,494 for a new stress test machine, after the facility’s existing machine “blew up,” hospital administrator Michael Huff said. “Even though this was not budgeted, we need it,” Huff said. The stress test machine, which looks like a souped-up treadmill, is a crucial diagnostic tool for the hospital’s visiting cardiologist, Dr Bruce Palmer, who practices out of Wichita Falls and treats OHH cardiology patients, Huff said.
Hospital will compensate some commuting employees for mileage
The hospital board voted to relieve the sting of high gas prices for employees who commute more than 30 miles, one way, to work at Olney Hamilton Hospital. OHH fears losing employees from Graham and Wichita Falls, “who drive 30 miles and drive past a hospital,” hospital administrator Michael Huff told the board. “This is a retention issue.” The board subsequently voted to pay 62.5 cents per mile for one leg of the commute for employees who travel more than 30 miles to work. The mileage payments are set to begin July 1 and end Dec. 31, at which time the board will evaluate whether to continue them.
“One of the most important things for me is it is temporary,” board member Lonnie Rue said. “I can’t see what gas prices will be but I hope they aren’t as high as they are now.”
The hospital has eight employees who commute from Graham, two from Seymour, six from Wichita Falls and one from Petrolia, Huff said.
Hospital to deploy telemedicine terminals
Olney Hamilton Hospital will start training personnel at local schools and businesses to operate six telemedicine terminals that it will deploy in July, hospital administrator Michael Huff said. Three of the six units will be sent to schools in Olney, Archer City and Newcastle, and two more to local businesses – possibly Tower Extrusions and Air Tractor, he said. The sixth may be used by hospital personnel making home visits. The units were funded by a federal grant and their use will be billed as office visits, Huff said. “If a child is running a fever at school, it can be treated there and mom won’t have to take off work,” he said. The program is part of the federal government’s efforts to improve its relationship with rural hospitals, Huff said.