At Hancock Regional Hospital, we offer a state-of-the-art outpatient wound care clinic specializing in all types of skin and wound care including, burns, lacerations, pressure injuries, ulcers, and surgical wounds. We also treat many people with chronic, non-healing wounds, often associated with complications from diabetes and related vascular disorders.

Expectant mothers present a unique set of challenges for the providers who care for them; aside from their own health, clinicians are also tracking and responding to the needs of their unborn babies.

In 2014, there were 28 million patient discharges in U.S. hospitals. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services estimates that in 2017, six million senior citizens were readmitted to hospitals, which cost an average of $15-20 million.

Delivering effective care to homebound patients carries a number of challenges — from scheduling aides to providing up-to-date care instructions to transmitting information back to the doctor’s office or hospital.

In facing these challenges, Kalispell Regional Healthcare (KRH), a network of three hospitals, 32 clinics, and 20 affiliated outreach clinics in northwestern Montana, weighed the benefits of a new system with the potential costs.

In 2014, Parkview Medical Center realized that it needed to reduce its readmission rate significantly while also fixing a communication gap between home health care agencies and other post-acute facilities. To address these issues, my director and a team of other leaders joined together to pilot a new transition care center that went live in 2016.