Happy Hospital Week!

As we celebrate Hospital Week (May 7 – 13) at Harrison County Community Hospital, we want to express our gratitude to the patients who trust us to provide their care. Nothing brings greater satisfaction than meeting the needs of our patients and their families. Caring for patients is more than a job. It is a calling. Twenty-four hours per day, seven days per week, we dedicate ourselves to providing exceptional patient care.

Hospital week is also an opportunity to reflect on our successes. Over the past year, the dream of building a new hospital facility has come even closer to reality. Department Directors and Building Committee members worked with architects to complete the new facility design, and construction documents are expected to be ready for the bid process in May. In January 2023, USDA Rural Development awarded HCCH with a $47 million loan for use in constructing the new hospital. With estimates for the hospital totaling $63.2 million, the remainder of the financing will come from internal equity and the issuance of $14.2 million in revenue bonds, which are currently being negotiated with regional banks.

We currently have 29 specialists from 18 specialties seeing patients and are excited to add ENT services beginning in June 2023.

HCCH was honored to be named a Chartis’ “Top 100 Critical Access Hospital,” one of four critical access hospitals in Missouri. The Top 100 is based on the Chartis Rural Hospital Performance INDEX results. This is the 13th year for the INDEX which is based entirely on publicly available data sets and encompasses all 1,300 Critical Access Hospitals and ~800 Rural and Community facilities. Chartis percentile ranks performance across 8 pillars (inpatient market share, outpatient market share, quality, outcomes, patient perspective, cost, charge, and finance). The hospitals with the 100 highest overall scores earn the Top 100 award.

Also receiving accolades for outstanding service, Glenn Dale Cox was named Missouri Hospital Association’s Trustee of the Year and was honored at the annual convention in November 2022.

The medical staff welcomed neurologist Muhammad Shoaib, MD, Lauren Guilkey, PLPC, behavioral health, Mike Aberger, MD and Susan Sweat, MD for urology, and Zachery Mahler, MD for endoscopy. 

Approximately 1,200 patients pass through HCCH hospital and medical clinics weekly, generating over $27 million in yearly net revenues. Providing over 200 jobs in the area, HCCH pays more than $17 million in annual salaries and benefits. Each year, the District’s approximately $670,000 in property tax is typically used for capital expenditures. In fiscal year 2023, those expenditures totaled $419,000. In fiscal year 2022, the expenses were $476,894. Last year, capital purchases included Radiology PACS, and Windows 10 software.  The inpatient and Emergency departments replaced their telemetry system and obtained a teledoc health computer for tele neurology services.  The outpatient specialty clinic and OR departments added urology scopes, medical beds, an anesthesia monitor, and an endorectal scanner. The laboratory benefited from the purchase of a new microscope. Ensuring that our population has affordable access to prescription medications is a high priority; therefore, HCCH continues to participate in the 340b prescription drug program at the local Walmart and Hy-Vee pharmacies.

Giving back has always been a focus of HCCH. This past year, our employees helped provide 551 Harrison County residents with a Thanksgiving meal, raised money to purchase Valentine’s gifts for Crestview residents, offered free sports physicals to Harrison County school athletes, and logged over 120 volunteer hours. In addition, the HCCH Foundation donated Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) to all ballparks in Harrison County and held the Miles for Miles Cancer Walk that raised $7,182.85 for the Harrison County Cancer Transportation Fund. Thank you for allowing us to serve you. On behalf of the board of directors, medical staff, and employees, Happy Hospital Week.