Hospital Update 2010

Written by Bakersfield Magazine

Physical growth for Bakersfield hospitals was the big push for 2008. And while 2009 was the year of program development, it seems 2010 was the year of accreditation. Each of our area hospitals took major strides in the level of patient care they provide as more than one achieved the highest possible certifications and awards.

Mercy Hospitals of Bakersfield

In celebration of their 100th anniversary, Mercy and Mercy Southwest hosted a slew of events this year, from a gala event in May to mass at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church. As part of their plan to continue offering the best care possible, Mercy has been working on programs and policies in anticipation of healthcare reform. As a member of the Catholic Healthcare West hospital system, Mercy Hospitals of Bakersfield will be partnering in a new type of health plan in the community.

“On December 31 of last year, our agreement with GEMCare was finalized,” said Scott Thygerson, Vice President of Business Development. “There will be alignment between a health plan, local physicians, and area hospitals, and we’re proud to be a part of that. Doctors and hospitals will be working closer together to treat patients while appropriately managing the utilization and costs of that care. It’s the right care in the right settings.”

Proof of that motto is Mercy’s Orthopedic Clinic, where skilled orthopedic surgeons see patients in one convenient location. It opened last year and is busy and successful, Thygerson explained. “And the Neurosurgical Clinic we recently opened on Stockdale Highway will enhance access to those who are suffering with neurological conditions which require surgical procedures. The group of physicians is already established, but neurosurgeons here will be added to the group as 2011 progresses.”

San Joaquin Community Hospital

Also celebrating a century of care, San Joaquin Community Hospital (SJCH) used 2010 to expand many of their community services and add a few more.

“It’s been an amazing year for us,” said Vice President of Marketing and Development Jarrod McNaughton.

In 2010, SJCH’s Grossman Burn Center moved into its new home and has already seen over 400 patients this year.

“What that number indicated is that the Burn Center was a much-needed service for the area,” McNaughton added.

And since they intend to continue searching for and servicing the community’s medical needs, SJCH will be purchasing Quest Imaging sometime this month (December).

“We want to be partners with the best medical imaging center in town. Quest has an MRI machine with 3-Tesla (3T) magnetic strength, which is the only one in this area with that kind of power. The services will continue to take place at Quest’s facility, but the hospital’s presence will be there.”

Quest’s employees will add 100 more people to the SJCH workforce, which is very exciting.

This year has also seen SJCH receive another Gold Seal from the Joint Commission and the Gold Plus Award for their Stroke Center from the American Heart Association. SJCH also became the first hospital in the community to receive recognition from the Joint Commission for their Diabetes In-patient Program.

Bakersfield Memorial Hospital

As a fellow CHW hospital, Memorial is also a part of the new GEMCare health plan, but as Gary Frazier, Memorial’s Vice President of Business Development, explained, big things are happening all over the hospital.

“We are looking to open the doors to our Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) by spring 2011,” Frazier said. “But we are expanding our pediatric services across the board, in additional to the PICU. We have hired five pediatric hospitalists to staff our 12-bed pediatric unit.”

As Frazier explained, many children were sick enough to be in the hospital, but not sick enough to be in ICU, so Memorial has created a middle ground which allows them to care for more of the population.

Memorial is also the location of one of only two wound care centers in Bakersfield and they plan to expand those services in 2011.

“The center already has a podiatrist, a vascular surgeon, and a plastic surgeon—physicians on hand to help patients dealing with ulcers, infections, and diabetes-related problems, but we’re currently building an Amputation Prevention Center as an extension of the Wound Care Center. We want to help patients ‘save’ the limbs which may otherwise be lost due to infection or diabetes.

“Once you’ve built your facility to capacity, you look to the community’s needs and you begin expanding...not of the facility, but of the services you provide,” Frazier said.

Kern Medical Center

The big news at Kern Medical Center (KMC) in 2011 will be the implementation of their electronic medical records system.

“Currently, we are into the inter-operative/testing phase,” explained Paul Hensler, CEO.

“This will be a major milestone in patient care. After the holidays, we will begin five weeks of training on the new system so that come February, we are ready to launch.”

The benefits will be numerous. First and foremost, the patients will see changes in the amount of time it takes to either receive test results or a prescription.

“The average time for a physician to see a patient, prescribe a medication, get that prescription to the pharmacy, and have them fill it can take upwards of four hours,” Hensler elaborated. “With this new system, it’s a 15 minute process. A patient’s treatment can begin much faster.”

KMC is also preparing for healthcare reform by partnering with other public hospitals across the county and state. And Hensler explained that KMC will also be furthering its relationship with UCLA Medical Center.

“This was our first year of hosting UCLA medical students. We’ll be conducting some joint programs to work with high school students and encourage them to [enter the medical field]. And as part of our partnership with UCLA, we’ll be announcing some additional clinical programs and offering more subspecialties,” Hensler continued.

HealthSouth Rehabilitation Hospital

The year 2010 has been big for HealthSouth. In addition to implementing some much-needed speciality programs for the community, they’ve also been recognized for their efforts.

“We received the Gold Seal of Approval from the Joint Commission in May of 2010 for our Stroke Rehabilitation Program,” said Tara deMontmorency, Director of Marketing Operations.

“We were also awarded with the National Presidents’ Circle Award for our clinical development. HealthSouth Bakersfield is one of only 12 hospitals in HealthSouth’s network of more than 100 hospitals to receive this prestigious award,” deMontmorency added.

They have designed a pulmonary program; a stroke program; and a multiple sclerosis program, which offers support for those newly diagnosed as well as therapy for those where the disease has progressed.

With all these new programs, it makes sense that they’ll need to be able to take on more capacity, so HealthSouth is looking to do a structural expansion soon. While the newly-remodeled courtyard has aesthetic value for the patients, deMontmorency said that the organization is planning on adding 20 additional beds over the course of the next couple of years to allow more patients to be treated.

Bakersfield Heart Hospital

“It’s been a good year—we’ve stayed very busy,” began Randy Rolfe, President of Bakersfield Heart Hospital. “Our Emergency Room volume is up 18 percent and we finished the fiscal year with a 98 percent occupancy.”

Those numbers indicate that Bakersfield Heart Hospital’s focus of putting patient care and satisfaction first has been paying off.

Bakersfield Heart Hospital has been receiving other accolades this past year. For the past three years, they have received a 5-Star rating for heart attack treatment by Healthgrades, in addition to being ranked among the top five percent in the nation for Coronary Interventional Procedures in 2010, being ranked among the top 10 hospitals in California for Overall Cardiac Services, and rating in the top 10 percent in the nation for patient safety by CareChex.

Bakersfield Heart Hospital has received numerous patient satisfaction awards, including being listed in the top 10 percent in the nation for patient, emergency department, and out-patient satisfaction.

While the hospital is known as a place to receive cardiac care, their emergency department stands ready to care for all patients and because of the short wait time, patients receive faster care. A fact that has been recognized by CareChex when they ranked Bakersfield Heart Hospital in the top 10 percent in the state for Overall Medical Care.

Good Samaritan Hospital

“We saw a 48 percent growth in services, including growth in our psychiatric services,” said COO Noel Cabezzas. “And we have been recognized as both the largest and the premier provider for psychiatric services for the counties of Central California.”

Good Samaritan also did quite a bit of expansion. For starters, they expanded their Chemical Dependency Program at the White Lane facility, which included adding 12 beds and more physicians to supervise patients.

Since Good Samaritan has the largest children and adolescent psychiatric program in the Central Valley, 2010 saw them opening a second floor to accommodate those numbers.

“At the Olive Drive facility, we upgraded our ICU rooms with state-of-the-art pulmonary equipment so that we are now equipped to accept patients with pulmonary conditions,” Cabezzas elaborated.

“Additionally, we’ve upgraded the surgical suites at the Olive Drive facility and our Orthopedic Program so that we can now perform joint replacement surgeries.”

Good Samaritan added a Urological Program, and their urologist is one of only four board certified urologists in Kern County.

“During all of this growth, we were successful in lowering the average length of stay for our patients and improving their satisfaction,” Cabezzas explained. “All the while, keeping up with healthcare reform.”

The coming year will see upgraded imaging equipment including a new QUAD CT for diagnosis and the expansion of a Geriatric Psychiatric Program.

All in all, it seems each of our local hospitals are on the right track for another amazing year in 2011.

Article appeared in our 27-5 Issue - December 2010