Positioning rural health care to continue meeting patient needs was a focal point of the most recent Board of Trustees meeting for Newman Regional Health.
The conversation dovetails with the National Rural Healthcare Association’s “Vision for Rural,” which has two major points: “effective healthcare today is increasingly understood as a collaborative venture extending beyond institutional boundaries” and “what matters most is a clear direction and the ability to adapt quickly.”
Chief Executive Officer Cathy Pimple says recent trends point out the value of — and need for — collaboration of regionalized services. A case in point: a critically-integrated network announced last month for critical access hospitals in Nebraska.
The board meeting discussion comes with Newman Regional Health improving its operating margin trend the last several years, starting at over -10 percent in 2022 or below the median Kansas hospital at almost -10 percent, but the margin remains negative: -2.5 percent last year, projected to be -0.90 percent this year. It also comes as hospital expense costs have increased by more than 35 percent since 2022 and, according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Kansas Hospital Association and other sources, Kansas hospitals need almost $80 million in additional county and city tax revenue to stay open because they handle over $1 billion in uncompensated care costs. How the One Big Beautiful Bill’s recent signature by President Donald Trump affects this picture remains to be seen.
The conversation also comes with two other notable developments — Newman Regional Health’s strategic partnership with University of Kansas Health System and LMH Health early this year and, more recently, Emporia City Commission approval of Stormont Vail Health’s plan to move out of the Newman Regional Medical Partners space in favor of a brand-new, nearly $45 million clinic and office building near West 18th and Road G. Pimple says collaborative efforts continue with its new strategic partners, smaller nearby hospitals like Coffey Health System and Morris County Hospital — and with Stormont Vail.
Given City Commission approval of a development agreement and final layout for Stormont Vail, along with Newman Regional’s ongoing concerns about the negative impact of duplicated services like imaging, Pimple says Newman Regional is looking to diversify its available services. It is also considering plans to build a new patient tower, as was mentioned periodically by previous CEO Bob Wright, and to meet other infrastructure needs.
Pimple and Chief Financial Officer Holly French are set to join KVOE’s Newsmaker 2 segment at 8:20 am Wednesday with more information.
