NCCH Community Forum to be held Tuesday, Oct. 9 Northern Cochise Community Hospital will hold a community forum on Tuesday, Oct. 9, at Valley TeleCom's meeting room, at 752 E. Maley St. Chief Executive Officer Roland Knox will talk to community members about NCCH's strategic initiatives, quality of care, resources projects and plans for the coming year. Ainslee Wittig NCCH Communit Relations NCCH has improved on its HCAHPS (Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems) score which give reactions from patients v phone survey by an outside company. The hospital also did very well in the Arizona Department of Health Services survey of an The event is free and open to the public Strategic Initiatives "However in the last five months particularly summer, the lack of admissions has drained our cash," he We are also taking the lead on emergency planning, as we are the first hospital in Cochise County to hold its own exe After a difficult summer financiall NCCH has looked at the business model it has been using for years, which has included more patients admitted to the hospital. said, and the organization beganlooking with numerous other agencies.1 proactively for a more sustainable business model. type of training is part of quality of care in how we react to things that come our NCCH is now focusing more on "Since May, we have had fewer patients on our medical floor," he said. "This i a business model that we can no longer outpatient services to expand our market penetration," he said. This focus is NCCH is also looking at improving patient care through community programs. referred to as a micro-hospital model, Which is becoming more prevalent around the country as it is more sustainable due to changes in healthcare insurance Knox explained that claims for patients being admitted onto the floor were oftern denied by insurance companies, so he took action. have a lot of patients returning often to the hospital on a regular basis and we are looking at a Community Wellness Program to help break that cycle and help patients manage their health." With the micro-hospital model and other advance planning, NCCH is following our four strategic initiatives, including: Having a sustainable business model; We hired an outside firm to make sure that we were consistent and correct in our criteria to admit these patients, and we Healthcare remains available locally found that we were. We have since gotten Remaining independent and, Updating our pre-authorizations done beforehand our facility and Sharyn Payne, our case manager, has been pre-empting denials by sending clinicals prior to admission. Our denials It is our job to balance quality with people are down 100-percent "We are learning more about how to help ourselves and our communit 8There is much more to learn about NCCH so please come and hear more about our future on Tuesday, Oct. 9, at 5:30 p.m., in the Valley TeleCom meeting room! Quality of Care and resources, Knox said Paid content 87865