Horn Memorial Hospital
held an employer/community engagement forum for area businesses and community
leaders on Tuesday, September 16 through a live WebEx. Guest speakers included Kirk Norris,
President of the Iowa Hospital Association; Mike Ralston, President of the Iowa
Association of Business and Industry; and Elliott Smith, Executive Director of
the Iowa Business Council. Twenty-five business
leaders from surrounding communities were in attendance to learn more about the
challenges and opportunities we face with the future of healthcare. The WebEx focused on the Affordable Care Act
and how it affects the landscape of both healthcare and business. Following the live WebEx, attendees received
an update by Chris Nichols, CEO, on the future of Horn Memorial Hospital.
Nichols reported that the
hospital is doing well in many areas. He
shared that surgery cases are up 40% from 2013; notable contributors to this
are Benjamin Bissel, orthopedic surgeon from CNOS, who has begun performing
shoulder surgeries this year as well as the pain injection program led by
Charlie Delaney, CRNA. Horn Memorial’s
average census is 10-11, which is very strong for a hospital and community our
size. Nichols stated, “Even with a
building project in our future there are many great aspects of our building,
the final piece is to update the original 1966 patient rooms and corridor for
both the comfort of our patients as well as improved efficiency for our staff. We have recently toured several hospitals to
help us better visualize what our options are for an inpatient room
remodel. We do not intend to make any
final decisions immediately nor do we plan to break ground in the next year,
but we are excited about our options and look forward to the future of Horn
Memorial Hospital.”
