YOUR BUSINESS AUTHORITY
Springfield, MO
YOUR BUSINESS AUTHORITY
Springfield, MO
Center officials say the milestone was made possible by adaptation through the years.
“We’ve been around for 100 years because the system has been flexible and it has made changes as required,” said John Bennett, MRC manager of business development. “Health care continues to change, and every entity in health care either changes or goes out of business.”
MRC was founded in 1907 as the Missouri State Sanitorium, created with a $50,000 state appropriation to address the outbreak of tuberculosis. The sanatorium housed nearly 1,000 patients at one time, as people often spent months – or years – recuperating from tuberculosis.
In 1971, the state expanded the sanatorium’s mission to include all types of cardiac and pulmonary issues, and the hospital’s name was changed to the Missouri State Chest Hospital.
In 1985, the Missouri State Chest Hospital took on its current name, Missouri Rehabilitation Center, and expanded its mission to include patients seriously impaired by injury and those who have the potential for improvement with extensive rehabilitation. The facility added a traumatic brain injury program in 1986.
Today, the facility has 475 employees and 124 beds and regularly maintains a patient base of about 60.
Emphasis on pulmonary issues has remained a focus for MRC, which is nationally known for its ventilator weaning rates: MRC’s success rate of 78 percent exceeds the national rate of 51 percent.
“We are able to spend more time with the patients,” said Jill Finney, MRC information specialist. “We’re a small hospital for one. And, we’re a long-term hospital … . It could take months or years, but we’re able to spend that time with them.”
University ownership
In 1996, the Missouri General Assembly transferred ownership of MRC to the University of Missouri health care system, appropriating $14.1 million in general revenue to support the transition.
“Around that time is when the big (health maintenance organizations) became popular, and the small stand-alone hospitals were kind of floundering and needed to be part of a larger system,” Finney said.
MRC’s local governing body, a seven-member administrative council comprising MRC’s department heads, deals with day-to-day operations at the hospital. The council reports to the chief quality officer of University of Missouri Health Care with ultimate direction from the University’s Board of Curators.
Currently, the state appropriates $10 million to University of Missouri Health Care for MRC to provide traumatic brain and spinal cord injury rehabilitation and tuberculosis services. The hospital’s other funding is generated by patient revenues and through the university.
“This was a state hospital for a long time, and even though you had state appropriations, everybody ran pretty lean. In that respect, we’ve had more money spent in the building since we became a part of the university,” Bennett said.
In fiscal 2006, MRC total net revenues were $26.1 million, up from $17.2 million in 2001 and $9.5 million in 1997.
Mutual benefits
While MRC’s gains from the relationship with MU are largely in funding, the university also benefits from MRC. The school has adopted a wellness program that started at MRC. Both institutions also take advantage of a telemedicine program that allows patients to consult with physicians in Columbia via teleconference instead of traveling hours for short appointments.
Cutting travel time is important, considering MRC’s patients come from Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas and other countries.
Besides services relating to traumatic brain injury, rehabilitation from stroke and spinal cord injuries and ventilator weaning, the hospital offers a sleep laboratory, outpatient clinic, medically complex illness and injuries unit, inpatient hospice unit and orthopedic and vocational rehabilitation programs.
Bennett said MRC’s long-range plans focus on improving patient services. Two such projects on the horizon, depending on available funding, are constructing a gym and patient family housing on the hospital campus.
A Century of Care
1907 – First building for the facility, then named Missouri State Sanitorium, is completed for $20,000; first patient admitted Aug. 17.
1909 – 136 patients have been admitted; power plant built, first pediatric patients admitted.
1971 – Name changes to Missouri State Chest Hospital; mission expands to include all types of pulmonary issues.
1983 – Operating room closes; hospice unit opens for terminally ill patients and Missouri Veterans Home opens in leased space.
1984 – Hospital’s future is in jeopardy as closure is discussed.
1985 – Name changes to Missouri Rehabilitation Center; mission expands to include long-term rehabilitation for physically disabled patients and those with traumatic brain injuries.
1986 – First patient admitted to head-injury unit.
1990 – Space leased to Veterans Administration; Gene R. Taylor outpatient clinic opens.
1996 – Missouri General Assembly transfers ownership to University of Missouri health care system.
1997 – State-of-the art intensive care unit opens.
2007 – Centennial anniversary is celebrated with a communitywide event on Sept. 8 for patients, families, staff and guests.
Source: Missouri Rehabilitation Center[[In-content Ad]]
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