BMH opens new center
Butler Health System took another step Wednesday in shifting its focus to preventive care by hosting an open house at its new Primary Care Resource Center at Butler Memorial Hospital.
The center will help patients suffering from illnesses, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and heart failure.
“The center will help transition patients from the hospital to their homes,” said Erin Stewart, the director of the center. “We really want to keep people healthy, and we’re excited to see the results of this effort.”
The center is funded by a three-year federal grant received by the Pittsburgh Regional Health Initiative. Butler is one of six hospitals to work with the initiative to create a center.
Dr. Keith Kanel, the chief medical officer for the initiative, said he was thrilled to see the Butler site.
“It’s kind of like seeing the birth of a child,” he said. “They took it beyond our dreams.”
The center will focus on preventive care and will act as an extension to primary physicians, Kanel said.
A staff of five will work with patients to ensure they are fully aware of everything they need to do to live a healthy life after leaving the hospital.
“The idea is the team will see patients when they arrive, through their stay, at discharge, and in their homes,” Kanel said.
An added emphasis has been placed on reducing readmissions due to the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which will penalize hospitals for readmissions through Medicare funding.
“In the past the hospital would get paid for every readmission,” said Ken DeFurio, president and CEO of the health system. “Now, we’re going to get penalized for readmissions.”
One of the primary goals of the center is to decrease the readmission rates by 40 percent by the end of the grant.
To help prevent readmissions, the hospital will be shifting its focus toward preventive care, DeFurio said.
“This is the future of health care,” he said. “And the center is a relatively safe way to figure out the impact preventive care can have.”
While the center made sense financially for the hospital, it also will benefit patients.
“This is just the right thing to do for the community,” DeFurio said.
The center consists of patient screening rooms, educational rooms and administrative offices in a previously unused section of the hospital.
