Great Plains of Ottawa Co Inc

The Hospital's primary program is the delivery of healthcare and related services to residents of Ottawa County, Kansas. Primary services include a rural health clinic; inpatient care (acute and swing-bed); outpatient and ancillary services (ER, observation, lab, radiology, rehabilitation therapies, etc.); intermediate swing-beds, and a community Wellness/Fitness Center. Our goal is to ensure that the community and surrounding area have access to necessary and needed healthcare services locally. During the 2024 fiscal year, the Hospital completed several projects and initiatives to improve the quality of care and increase the services offered to our patients. Most notably, Ottawa County Health Center ensured that the county and surrounding communities maintained local medical care by taking over the local physician's clinic in July 2023 and implementing a rural health clinic in October 2023 (see below). - In July 2023, the local clinic became the Family Care Clinic owned by Ottawa County Health Center. In FY2023 and FY2024, OCHC has taken steps not only to incorporate clinic operations into the hospital, but to improve the standard of care and the availability of care for our community. We have grown the clinic practice to five providers, including two physicians, two physician assistants, and one nurse practitioner. We continue to see new patients in the clinic both from Ottawa County and the surrounding communities. We were designated as a Rural Health Clinic in October 2023. Throughout FY24, OCHC has worked to effectively integrate the clinic into hospital operations but do so in a way that makes healthcare more effective and streamlined for our community. As we look into FY25, we will use this year of data gathering and process testing to make improvements and implement initiatives that improve healthcare in our community. Small, rural clinics are difficult to maintain due to declining population bases and low volumes, but these clinics are crucial to the survival of communities and local hospitals, and they are crucial to the overall health of the community. Despite the low volumes and high costs of providing care in the clinic, OCHC is committed to using resources to fund the local clinic to benefit the health of the community. Our goal continues to be ensuring that our community has access to quality healthcare close to home. - In addition to the local clinic in Minneapolis, the hospital continues to support an outreach clinic in the nearby Ottawa County community of Delphos. This area has a large elderly population, so the outreach clinic offers easier access to healthcare for these individuals. - To support the overall health and wellness of our community, the Wellness Center (fitness center and lap pool) is available to the community at reasonable monthly rates. The Wellness Center requires significant funding by the hospital beyond membership dues that are collected. The overall improvement in health that is possible from having a fitness center available in our small community is a great benefit to area residents. This has proved to be another means to help increase and encourage fitness and activity for our community. Over the last year, we have seen a drastic increase in Wellness Center usage and memberships. The increase in physical activity is a great benefit to our community and a worthwhile use of hospital resources to benefit the health of the community. - With the new clinic providers, we have seen a dramatic increase in our therapy volumes, particularly physical therapy. In FY24, OCHC purchased a traction unit and table for physical therapy patients. - Throughout the year, OCHC continued to improve facility safety by expanding our security system by adding cameras both inside and outside of the facility. This allows us to improve safety and security and ensure that all patients and visitors are entering through designated and monitored entry points. OCHC also added a new server for increased data security. - OCHC takes pride in the physical building and appearance of our facility as a crucial part of the economy and sustainability of Ottawa County. Various investments in our building and infrastructure were made throughout 2023 to maintain our facility. - OCHC continues to discuss quality initiatives and improvements throughout the facility and research new opportunities and services to offer to the members of our community. - Approximately $53,263 in charity care/financial assistance was provided to area residents in FY2024. - In addition to providing Financial Assistance, the hospital used operational funds to subsidize both the Family Care Clinic and the OCHC Wellness Center. In aggregate, this funding was $182,206, $114,581 and $67,625, respectively. Both the Family Care Clinic and the Wellness Center are crucial to the overall health and sustainability of our community.