CLEARFIELD – The administration and board of directors of both Penn Highlands Healthcare and Penn Highlands Clearfield understand the community is concerned about the healthcare environment and the changes that have been implemented at Penn Highlands Clearfield.
The board of directors, administration and Staff of Penn Highlands Clearfield are focused on providing high quality, safe care to the community, and will continue to move forward with Penn Highlands Healthcare as their partner.
Changes that have taken place at Penn Highlands Clearfield during the past three years, while difficult and not popular, included discontinuing the obstetrics, radiation oncology and intensive care services due to the clinical and financial viability of operating these services with low patient volumes, reduced reimbursements and limited physician resources.
Penn Highlands Clearfield was fortunate in that it could partner with its sister hospital in DuBois to ensure access to those services locally.
All of these decisions were made in response to a very difficult and challenging environment with influencing factors beyond the health system’s control, and all have been done to specifically ensure the survival of Penn Highlands Clearfield.
All changes were fully supported by thorough analysis, were well-executed and compliant with all relevant regulations. All decisions were approved by the boards of directors of both Penn Highlands Healthcare and Penn Highlands Clearfield.
Both boards are representative of the community and are made up of community leaders, business owners and professionals, physicians and other healthcare professionals; all serve in a volunteer capacity.
Penn Highlands Healthcare has been fully transparent with its decisions, including with the board, medical staff, employees, volunteers, the auxiliary, elected leaders and the media, all in an effort to explain every action that has been taken.
To reiterate from past communications for those who are still unclear as to the challenges Penn Highlands is facing – steep decreases in inpatient volumes, shorter lengths of stay, reduced reimbursement from government and private insurers and a sustained shift toward outpatient procedures have significantly reduced hospital revenues.
These decreases have not only been seen at Penn Highlands’ facilities, but statewide and across the country. According to Hospital Council of Western Pennsylvania, hospital inpatient admissions for western Pennsylvania decreased 1.67 percent for the first 6 months of Fiscal Year 2015. This is a continuing trend, having had a decrease of 3.24 percent throughout Fiscal Year 2014.
Further, one-third of Pennsylvania’s hospitals lost money last year, according to a recent report by Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council.
Many of these challenges are attributable to healthcare reform and have resulted in mergers, acquisitions and the need for hospitals and health systems to fundamentally change the way they do business.
At the same time, expenses associated with providing medical care continue to increase, as does uncompensated care, which is the total amount of healthcare services provided to patients who are either unable or unwilling to pay. Last year, Penn Highlands Clearfield’s uncompensated care alone totaled $4.1 million.
All of these factors led to a bottom line loss of $4.7 million at Penn Highlands Clearfield in Fiscal Year 2014. In total, Penn Highlands Clearfield has lost more than $28 million since 2008.
The goal of the restructuring process at Penn Highlands Clearfield is to bring the hospital back to profitability so reinvestment can be made in the hospital and, therefore, in the community. Realigning resources, while protecting patient access by combining local and regional healthcare resources, will help to meet that goal.
While Penn Highlands Clearfield has experienced challenging times, the hospital is looking toward the future with optimism.
As part of its 2015-16 strategic plan, Penn Highlands Healthcare plans to implement a number of initiatives designed to expand patients’ access to physician specialists and mid-level practitioners.
Recruiting physicians to rural communities is a challenge as there is a nationwide physician shortage, but Penn Highlands Healthcare realized much success during the past year in recruiting a number of new physicians, including cardiovascular surgeons, orthopedic surgeons, family practitioners and women’s care specialists.
In 2014 alone, Penn Highlands Clearfield added several new physicians to its staff, including Dr. Wilkerson Compere, an internal medicine physician; Dr. Traceyan Mendez, a family practice physician; Dr. Maofu Fu, medical oncologist at the Nathaniel D. Yingling, M.D., Cancer Center; Drs. Naehal Marra and Mary Clare Ocampo, pediatricians; and Drs. Clifford Neal and David Bundy, emergency medicine specialists.
At least three new physicians will be joining Penn Highlands Clearfield this summer.
Working with the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine, Penn Highlands Healthcare plans to establish a Graduate Medical Education Program with residency programs in internal medicine, family practice, emergency medicine and surgery.
Penn Highlands will also be working with several medical schools to facilitate the rotation of medical students at all four of the system’s hospitals. By serving as a pathway for medical students, Penn Highlands hopes to encourage these students to remain and practice in the region.
In addition to adding more healthcare providers, Penn Highlands Healthcare plans to launch several initiatives at Penn Highlands Clearfield that will help redefine the hospital’s mission, improve customer service, enhance quality and increase access to care.
These plans include a new pain clinic, a new outpatient diagnostic center and walk-in clinic on the Clearfield campus, a new outpatient medical building in Moshannon Valley, quality initiatives and updates to the emergency department, among others.
All of these initiatives represent a significant investment by Penn Highlands Healthcare in the Clearfield and Moshannon Valley markets. Further, the health system has been awarded approximately $3 million in grant funding to offset the cost of the Moshannon Valley project, and has secured an additional $4 million in financing to invest in upgrades and initiatives at the Clearfield campus.
As for Wednesday’s meeting, Penn Highlands Healthcare is disappointed that there were inaccurate statements made during the meeting, but looks forward to the opportunity to address those issues going forward.
Penn Highlands Clearfield remains a full-functioning community hospital providing most primary and secondary services, safely caring for and treating thousands of patients, employing nearly 400, with more than 100 physicians on staff and generating $105 million annually in the regional economy.