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To meet the needs of the community today and in the future, Garfield County Hospital District is pleased to announce an enhanced Transitional Care program. This is a high quality, evidence-based program for patients who are well enough to leave a traditional hospital setting but still have nursing, therapy, or respiratory needs that may not be optimally met in their homes or skilled nursing facilities. Some examples of these needs would include frequent intravenous medications, wound care, breathing treatments, nursing assessment and care of multiple medical needs, or daily rehabilitation therapy.

The facility has partnered with Allevant Solutions, a joint venture of Mayo Clinic and Select Medical, to develop their Transitional Care program. Modeled on the Mayo Clinic’s successful efforts in Wisconsin and Minnesota and created by Mayo Clinic pulmonologist and Allevant Medical Director, Mark Lindsay, M.D., the program is designed to provide access to high quality post-acute services to rural America, the most persistently underserved region in modern healthcare.

“Currently, most patients with post-acute needs receive their care in a skilled nursing facility. Hospital-based Transitional Care programs offer a number of important advantages such two to three times more nurse hours per patient than most skilled nursing facilities, strong team culture, the ability to address sudden changes in condition with hospital physicians, radiology, and laboratory, and most importantly, a patient-centered approach that involves patients and families in virtual or in-person team rounds on a regular schedule. Hospital-based Transitional Care is the ideal setting for patients with complex health conditions and post-acute needs. By offering these services in rural hospitals, patients and families can get high quality post-acute care close to home,” Lindsay said. Garfield County Hospital District has the staff, the facilities, and the commitment to deliver exceptional Transitional Care. We are excited to join them on this journey to offer another post-acute care choice to residents of Pomeroy and the region.

The Garfield County Hospital District staff will be implementing new processes and participating in Allevant clinical education. Most patients receiving this care at Garfield County Hospital District will be covered by the Medicare Swing Bed reimbursement program, although other insurers may participate as well.

As the nation’s population ages, there will be an increasing need for facilities with the expertise and capability to care for patients with medically complex conditions, especially in our rural communities. By enhancing our ability to provide this care, we are not only meeting the post-acute care needs of our current and future patients, but also providing increased stability and excellent employment opportunities for our community as a whole.

In addition to local patients being able to return to Pomeroy after receiving care at larger facilities, we anticipate that our program will also attract patients from other communities who prefer to receive their post-acute care at Garfield County Hospital District due to our proven record of quality, our team model of care, and the conveniences offered by our small town setting. Because we have full choice over how many Transitional Care patients to admit at any given time, we will be able to guarantee that the program will not limit our ability to take care of the day-to-day needs of our local patients, yet still take full advantage of the capacity of our facility and staff. This is a win for our patients, our employees, and our community.