Pocahontas Memorial Hospital, West Virginia

Patton – Fuller community hospital’s network system consist of two major parts, the first part is the executive part that connects the hospitals executive management, human resources department, operations, IT and data center, etc., the first network is connected using a 1000base-T Gigabyte network connection that uses a typical Cat6 cabling (Apollo Group Inc., 2008), the second major part of the network connects the departments of radiology, operating room, wards, ICU’s, etc. using a 1000base F fiber optic based connection, this connection is a

An organization such as the Pocahontas Memorial Hospital (PMH) is established to be a primary care source for a rural community, serving 5% of the state’s population (Pocahontas Memorial Hospital, 2013). PMH wishes to deliver compassionate care and promote healthy lifestyles through working collaboratively with other healthcare facilities, and delivering adequate patient education, while sustaining financial viability (Pocahontas Memorial Hospital, 2016). This organization would like to offer a comprehensive satellite health clinic within Pocahontas County, as the strategy to intervene existing weaknesses and threats to the health of the community of Pocahontas County.

The Methodist hospital of Indiana was undergoing organizational and leadership change in 1988. Their longtime head had retired and William J. Loveday became their new CEO. He brought in a whole new management team to help him implement new ideas and create a new culture there. His new CFO was in charge of the IS department and after discovering that the department was in shambles with no real direction, he hired Walter C. Zerrener to become the Chief Information Officer. Zerrener found that the Methodist Hospital had spent about $20 million to install a state-of-the-art proprietary patient management system called TDS in 1970s but had done no upgradation after that . The IS department was solely focused on keeping the TDS

Pocahontas Memorial Hospital is a rural county hospital located in Buckeye, West Virginia meant to be the first choice in integrated healthcare for the community they are serving (Pocahontas Memorial Hospital, 2014). Due to the limited amount of hospital beds and rural status of the community that it is serving, a market analysis is needed to determine the true needs of the community. Therefore, the market analysis will ensure that the small amount of money they have will go to the correct products, services, and ventures that are truly needed.

Similar to my home state of Louisiana, Tennessee has also struggled with a chronic shortage of rural primary care physicians. While this statistic does depict a true challenge for our two states, over the years Meharry Medical College has done an exceptional job in inspiring medical students to one-day practice in a rural setting and bring about better health care to underserved individuals, regardless of race or ethnicity. This aspect

(NIH, 2002-2006) Health disparities are defined as “differences in the incidence, prevalence, mortality, and burden of diseases and other adverse health conditions that exist among specific population groups in the United States”. Health care access is the ability of a person to receive health care services as a function of access to medical personnel, supplies and the ability to pay for those services. The Appalachian region consists of thirteen states and 420 counties, in which the entire state of West Virginia is in Appalachia, along with the mountainous portions of

The nurses at Memorial Hospital work a regular schedule of four 10-hour days per week. The average regulartime pay across all nursing grades is $12.00 per hour. Overtime may be scheduled when necessary. However, because of the intensity of the demands placed on nurses, only a limited amount of overtime is permitted per week. Nurses may be scheduled for as many as 12 hours per day for a maximum of five days per week. Overtime is compensated at a rate of $18.00 per hour. In periods of extremely high demand, temporary part-time nurses may be hired for a limited period of time. Temporary nurses are paid $15.00 per hour. Memorial Hospital has a policy that limits the proportion of temporary nurses to 15 percent of the

Attica Memorial Hospital (AMH) is a non-profit acute care facility located in Norton County. The organization purchased and absorbed its competitor, Delphi Hospital in 2001, which also enabled it to acquire the reputable and well-known Ingelson Burn Center.

In the same county of Etowah, there are three competitors: Gadsden Regional Medical Center, HealthSouth Corporation and Mountain View Hospital. Of the three mentioned institutes, Gadsden Regional medical Center (GRMC) is the main competitor that targets the same population as Riverview Regional Medical Center (RRMC). Both centers share medical professional privileges and both share the same geographic location. However, RRMC maintains the advantage of being owned and managed by Health Management Associates (HMA) which has proven to be reliable and successful in the management of rural health care organizations and continuously improve revenue.

The most direct threat to ELH is the strong community competitor, Creekside Trails Hospital. It is a 45-bed, for-profit facility located 35 miles away on the other end of the lake and is 50 years newer than ELH having been opened in 1995. It is a for-profit organization and offers more specialty services, namely cardiology care. This threatens ELH’s livelihood not only by creating a more appealing alternative for citizen seeking medical attention but also by becoming a viable option for current ELH staff looking for a more stable and promising place of employment.

Significant health disparities between rural and urban populations have been a major concern in the United States. One prominent factor contributing to the disparities is lack of access to quality care in rural areas which is closely associated with challenges faced by rural health care providers (National Rural Health Association, 2007). Rural hospitals are the key health care provider in rural areas, offering essential health care services to nearly 54 million people (American Hospital Association, 2006). They face a series of challenges such as workforce shortages, rise in health care costs, difficulty in finding access to capital, difficulty in

Rural Americans face an exclusive combination of issues that create disparities in health care that are not found in urban areas. Many complications met by healthcare providers and patients in rural arears are massively different than those located in urban areas. Financial factors, cultural and social variances, educational deficiencies, lack of acknowledgement by delegates and the absolute isolation of living in remote rural areas all combined to hinder rural Americans in their struggle to lead a normal, healthy life. Rural hospitals located in rural areas faces many disadvantages, such as; minimum resources, shortcoming or unprepared professionals, and financial disparities. Although many of these challenges could be solved

Healthcare changes occur rapidly, and it’s a costly venture to constantly pay staff to research trends, and assist with implementation procedures. Organizations such as OAHHS have been developed to help remove that pressure individually, and allow Oregon hospitals to utilize the information that is provided and advocated for at the state level. Hospitals that take advantage of such programs benefit from this growing organization, which continues to hire new staff, are able to tackle specific projects that are of importance to those digesting information to tailor it for specialties.

The mission of Hawaii Health Systems Corporation is to provide accessible, comprehensive healthcare services that are quality-driven, customer-focused, and cost-effective. The vision of the organization is to be the provider of choice for the communities it serves, the employer of choice for its staff, and the system of choice for its physicians (www.hhsc.org, 2014). The organization works with the physician base along with other service providers to plan and implement business ventures that will enhance the services offered to its patients. Employees and community leaders are included in the decision making processes to ensure adequate representation. Each facility has its own separate mission and vision statement that integrates into the overarching statement of Hawaii Health Systems Corporation.

Columbus Regional Hospital (CRH), a non-for-profit organization with 225 beds, is the system’s star facility (Columbus Regional Health, n.d.). CRH has a Privacy Excellence Award, and the National Committee for Quality Assurance recognized CRH for outstanding patient-centered medical home practices (Columbus Regional Health, n.d.). Additionally, the Becker’s Hospital Review named CRH as a great community hospital, and Thomson Reuters acknowledged CRH in the top 100 hospitals (Columbus Regional Health, n.d.). Moreover, CRH is one of the most beautiful hospitals in America (Columbus Regional Health, n.d.). They provide emergency and surgical services and comprehensive care in many specialty areas, such as, mental health (Columbus Regional Health, n.d.).