Citizens Memorial Healthcare was a 2010 honoree at Springfield Business Journal's 2010 Dynamic Dozen awards. Information was accurate at the time of the honor. Click here for information about this year's event.A combination of understanding community needs and a long-term vision are the biggest factors in the robust growth of Citizens Memorial Healthcare in Bolivar.
“It’s been very interesting because this area continues to grow – not just Bolivar, but all of the counties we serve – and we have to grow to take care of them,” said Donald J. Babb, the hospital’s executive director and CEO.
Babb points to the Carrie J. Babb Cancer Center, which opened in late 2008 in response to the community’s need to address an increasing rate of breast cancer.
“You have to have the vision and put pieces together and do it in a manner where you survive with what you do,” Babb said. “Health care planning is pretty difficult because there’s a lot of steps to it. You just have to make sure you’re doing the right things for you and your patients.”
CMH brought in $214.9 million in 2009 revenues, resulting in a three-year growth rate of 18 percent. The bulk of those funds come from inpatient and outpatient hospital services, followed by foundation funds, clinic services, nonpatient sources such as interest on investments and home care services.
To make sure the system is doing the right things amid growth, Babb said CMH reaches out to the community to gauge its needs and invite feedback.
“Most people are not bashful. They’ll tell you what the needs are,” Babb said.
“We do a lot of research to find out the needs of the community,” said Tamera Heitz-Peek, CMH’s director of marketing.
In the next couple of years, Babb said he predicts the health care system will see a couple of major additions: a new medical office building and a freestanding mental health clinic.
The addition of another office building is in response to a practical concern.
Among the health system’s 1,700 employees are 125 credentialed physicians and midlevel practitioners. With CMH adding 12 to 15 physicians annually, the two existing doctor buildings are rapidly filling up.
The mental health facility is an outgrowth of a joint venture started with Horizons Behavioral Health about 18 months ago to increase outpatient psychological programs and manage the geriatric wellness unit.
The hospital’s hope is to develop a clinic that will allow CMH to offer services for the psychiatric patients it sees in the emergency room every day.
At present, the most the hospital can offer is a 96-hour hold for people in the throes of a crisis.
Unless they seek long-term treatment in St. Louis, Kansas City, Columbia or another distant city that offers inpatient care, patients are often released back to the situation they were hoping to escape, without the care they need – and sometimes that means turning a patient back out on the streets.
A clinic would allow CMH to offer those patients treatment alternatives and support services that could help them lead happier, more productive lives.
“That’s a big focus,” Babb said, adding that he hoped that an inpatient unit could be in place within two years.
More initiatives will be examined each year, as the five-year plan is reviewed annually, Babb said.
“You’re only restricted in health care … by where you want to go and your planning,” he said. “Our focus is to plan what we want to do and then do it.”[[In-content Ad]]
