pLOWVILLE — Lewis County General Hospital’s fiscal situation has improved over the past year or so, but quality of care is expected to play a major role in its future financial success./pp“That’s kind of the wave of the future, the value-based payment model,” Eric R. Burch, CEO of the county-owned hospital, said Friday during an interview on goals for 2016./ppUnder the state Delivery System Reform Incentive Payment Program, now in its second year, the health care delivery system is to be reformed with a specific goal of improving the health and health care of Medicaid patients as well as reducing avoidable hospitalizations by 25 percent over five years./ppThat means hospitals must focus their attention more on quality primary care and prevention measures and less on filling beds, Mr. Burch said./ppThrough its affiliation with St. Joseph’s Health, Syracuse, Lewis County General is participating in programs through both Medicare and Excellus in which — after establishing baseline costs for treatment of various illnesses — efforts are made to reduce those costs through improved or more appropriate care and protocols, he said./pp“If there are savings, we’ll share the savings,” Mr. Burch said./ppThe Central New York Care Collaborative — which includes more than 1,600 healthcare and community-based service providers in Lewis, Cayuga, Madison, Oneida, Onondaga and Oswego counties — has also identified 11 projects to create a more integrated health delivery system, better support patients with a high risk of readmission, improve access to health care resources and better manage several specific diseases./ppProgress on those will likely impact where state funding is allocated, Mr. Burch said./ppLewis County General recently learned that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services had given its certified home health program a perfect, five-star rating, while the nursing home was rated with four stars./pp“Our quality is the best-kept secret in the north country,” Mr. Burch said./ppTo help with that, improving communication is an ongoing goal./ppResidents should know areas in which the hospital is excelling, as well as areas that aren’t so positive and what hospital leaders are doing to improve them, Mr. Burch said./ppA series of informational meetings on the hospital was held throughout the county last year, and that will likely happen again, particularly if and when the hospital partners with more community service agencies, Mr. Burch said. While DSRIP funding is funneled primarily to hospitals, it covers mental health and additional services that are typically handled by other agencies, he said./ppMr. Burch said he has asked the Central New York coalition to develop a template form for hospitals to subcontract with other agencies, allowing them to be funded for services provided./ppLewis County General is offering telepsychiatry through its St. Joseph’s partnership, and the hope is to utilize the technology for other telemedicine applications, he said./ppThe local hospital also utilizes other services through St. Joseph’s, including a Medicare case management program for home health, and hopes to work with the Syracuse facility to possibly bring specialists and interested residents here on a rotational basis, Mr. Burch said./ppGeneral surgeon Dr. Nick H. Gabriel recently joined the staff, and a new orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Stephen Adcock, is slated to begin soon. That will give the hospital two general surgeons and two orthopedic surgeons./ppLCGH is also working with Carthage Area Hospital on cost-saving measures, including shared management of laboratory, nursing home and emergency services, Mr. Burch said./ppWhile receipt of a $6.58 million state grant for debt reduction was welcome news, the hospital did not receive any funding for capital projects, including a proposed assisted living facility, Mr. Burch said. The CEO said he would still like to see that project come to fruition, but it may have to be done in collaboration with another agency./ppMr. Burch said he is still waiting for release of nursing home intergovernmental transfer payments from 2014 and 2015, both expected to be around $4 million. The transfer payments are made by federal and county governments to reimburse health care facilities partially for losses incurred on Medicaid, uninsured and charity care patients./ppUncertainty over when that funding will be forthcoming, as well as whether an additional $1 million through the Vital Access Provider program from 2014 may be received, make financial planning more difficult, Mr. Burch said./ppHowever, he is hopeful that continuing efforts and strategic planning will pay off as health care delivery evolves and state gap funding programs dry up./pp“We’ve had a couple positive months, and we’re looking to build on that,” Mr. Burch said./p
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