Inclement Weather and Natural Disaster Notifications
On this page, you will find current information about any changes in services or operating hours due to inclement weather and natural disasters. KVH will do its best to maintain operations as usual as possible and keep our community and patients informed. Still, in the interest of safety and the welfare of our patients and employees, we may postpone or delay services. Updates will be posted on this page of our website and Facebook. Find more information here.
- Meeting Essential Health Services And Reimagining Obstetrics In A Rural Community
Case Study via AHA.org (American Hospital Association), Meeting Essential Health Services And Reimagining Obstetrics In A Rural Community (pdf), highlights women’s challenges in accessing healthcare services in rural areas like Kittitas County. It discusses the efforts made by KVH, a healthcare provider in the county, to improve women’s health services despite difficulties. The article emphasizes the importance of community support in providing quality healthcare to women in the region. It also encourages readers to join KVH in their efforts to support women’s health services in the community. The article calls for a collaborative effort to provide accessible and equitable healthcare services to women, particularly in rural areas.
- Building a Workforce
Kittitas Valley Healthcare (KVH) is leading the way to increase healthcare providers in Kittitas County.
The healthcare workforce shortage is not a new concern, but one that is on top of mind for our industry. Long before the COVID-19 pandemic, the expected number of nursing school graduates did not expect to exceed the number retiring. Add the stress of the pandemic and the emergency staffing needs for hospitals across the nation, and the problem has only been exasperated. Healthcare workers now have many options as healthcare systems across the country are desperate to fill staffing gaps. It is increasingly competitive to find and retain workers. KVH has worked hard on retention efforts for staff- offering free fitness and art classes, career development programs, decreasing benefits costs, and most recently implementing an $18 organizational minimum wage.
But is it enough to attract new healthcare professionals? In a rural community with limited education programs to develop healthcare workers, you aren’t just recruiting to your organization, you are recruiting to a new community or hoping people are willing to commute. This is why KVH took a different approach. Instead of waiting for applicants to happen to find us for opportunities, we are building our own workforce. This not only helps us recruit new staff but helps us develop and retain our own.
KVH now offers three apprentice programs with paid on the job training. The Medical Assistant program, which trains students to provide direct medical care in an outpatient clinic setting, is a year-long program where students work with a preceptor to provide supervised patient care with independent coursework. This has been a highly successful program that takes approximately one year to complete. To date, 50 students have completed the program and are employed at KVH. The pharmacy tech program is a 520-hour clinical rotation. Actual completion time is dependent on the pace of the individual. And, most recently, KVH just got approved to be a training site for a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA). KVH will be offering paid training for this six-week course to prepare trainees to apply for Patient Care Technician positions in our inpatient hospital units and Home Health.
We aren’t waiting. We are building our workforce, one employee at a time. Our patients need quality, trained healthcare professionals and our employees need an employer invested in their future.
Manda Scott, SPHR, MAOL, joined KVH in December 2019 as the Chief Human Resources Officer. With a background in healthcare and nonprofit, Manda’s focus at KVH includes communication, culture, and talent development. She oversees all HR functions for KVH staff, including recruiting and employment, benefits, wellness, labor negotiations, and staff development.
- National Doctors Day
By Dr. Kevin Martin, Chief Medical Officer KVH
March 30 will mark the 182nd anniversary of the first use of anesthesia in surgery by Dr. Crawford Williamson Long, and so that is the day we celebrate National Doctors Day. At Kittitas Valley Healthcare, we take that as an opportunity to celebrate all of our providers and thank them for their commitment to our health and our community.
All the healing professions have an oath, pledge, or declaration that promises to respect and serve people. Mine, The Declaration of Geneva – 1994, started, “I SOLEMNLY PLEDGE myself to consecrate my life to the service of humanity.” Osteopathic physicians, physicians’ assistants, and nurse practitioners make similar promises.
Healing work, our service, takes many forms. It might be fixing a surgical problem, or diagnosing a medical one, or facilitating life’s inevitable transitions. It was the latter that drew me to family medicine, delivering babies and providing hospice care. Each of us finds the work that fulfills us, but that work is always about humanity.
When I started in private practice in 1998, probably 90% of my time at work was spent in the exam room with patients and families. I would come out of a room, spend a couple of minutes with a Dictaphone, and head to the next room. If I had someone in the hospital, I would make rounds at 7:00, at lunch, and at 5:30. I routinely saw 25-30 patients a day and was home for dinner or a kid’s game or recital. Primary care providers (PCPs) in a mature practice would have up to 3,000 people in their care. A workforce of 20 PCPs and a handful of surgeons, gynecologists, and other specialists could easily care for today’s population of Kittitas County.
That is not the work today. There is much more that we are expected to document at every visit. Some of the requirements come from the government and many more from insurers. Typing at a computer is slower than dictating. Studies and procedures need prior authorization from payers. Studies have shown that today’s primary care doctors spend 1-2 hours outside the exam room for every hour they spend in it, and the same is true to some extent across all specialties. High functioning primary care providers see 16-18 patients a day, frequently work into the night from home, and can only care for perhaps 1,500 people; 1,250 is probably a better number. The care that 20 PCPs could do before 2000 now needs at least 40, probably closer to 45.
Many providers are retiring earlier, especially since 2021, and we are not graduating new doctors fast enough to keep up. In 2023, the American Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC) reported that 83% of practicing physicians are over 40 and 23% are over 65. Nationally, some estimate we are short up to 30,000 providers, and AAMC expects that shortage to grow to as much as 139,000 by 2036. The shortage hit rural areas in the South and West hardest, and we feel it.
Every year at KVH, we put a table in the lobby for the month March with note cards and pens. If a provider has helped you, has impressed you, please share that. We share the cards with each provider. It’s a little thing, but it helps remind us why we do this work and for whom we do it. You can also thank your provider by visiting: https://qrco.de/drday24.
- KVH Chief Ancillary Officer and Roslyn community member Rhonda Holden named to new Federal Advisory Committee
On Tuesday, December 13 the Biden-Harris Administration announced that local resident Rhonda Holden, RN, BSN, MSN was one of 17 individuals throughout the country selected to join the Ground Ambulance and Patient Billing (GAPB) Advisory Committee. This new federal advisory committee was created in November of 2021 to improve the disclosure of charges and fees for ground ambulance services and to better inform consumers of insurance options for such services and protect consumers from balance billing.
Ms. Holden will provide the committee with insight into the unique needs of rural communities that rely on ground ambulance services, not only to respond to accidents and emergencies but also to transport patients long distances to a higher level of care. “I believe we can work together to revise the payment structure for ground ambulance transports which will ultimately alleviate burdensome financial challenges for consumers. Financial concerns should not be a barrier to access life-saving care for any American,” states Holden.
Rhonda’s career as a registered nurse has been spent largely serving rural communities. She is a long time resident of Roslyn with an in-depth experience in advisory roles. She currently serves as the Chief Ancillary Officer at Kittitas Valley Healthcare (KVH) and is the Director of Strategic Initiatives for Kittitas County Public Hospital District #2, which operates Medic One, the only advanced life support (ALS) ambulance service in Upper County.
“Ms. Holden is well qualified to articulate the unique challenges that rural ground ambulance consumers and providers experience and will represent the rural perspective,” stated KVH Commissioner Robert Davis in her nomination letter. Ms. Holden’s nomination was supported by Kittitas County Hospital District 1 and 2’s Boards of Commissioners, the Legislators of Washington State’s 13th District, the Washington State Hospital Association, the Washington State EMS and Trauma Steering Committee, the Washington State Emergency Cardiac and Stroke Technical Advisory Committee and the American Hospital Association’s Rural Health Services.
For more information on the Ground Ambulance and Patient Billing Advisory Committee appointments see Members of New Federal Advisory Committee Named to Help Improve Ground Ambulance Disclosure and Billing Practices for Consumers | CMS and 2022-27263.pdf (federalregister.gov).
For information on the GAPB committee and charter see Advisory Committee on Ground Ambulance and Patient Billing (GAPB) | CMS
For inquiries on the GAPB please contact press@cms.hhs.gov
- Get With The Guidelines® Award
Kittitas Valley Healthcare has been nationally recognized for its commitment to providing high-quality stroke care
The American Heart Association presents the Get With The Guidelines®-Stroke Gold Plus Award for proven dedication to ensuring all stroke patients have access to best practices and life-saving care
Kittitas Valley Healthcare has received the American Heart Association’s 2022 Get With The Guidelines®-Stroke Gold Plus Award for its commitment to ensuring stroke patients receive the most appropriate treatment according to nationally recognized, research-based guidelines, ultimately leading to more lives saved and reduced disability.
Stroke is the No. 5 cause of death and a leading cause of disability in the U.S. A stroke occurs when a blood vessel that carries oxygen and nutrients to the brain is either blocked by a clot or bursts. When that happens, part of the brain cannot get the blood and oxygen it needs, so brain cells die. Early stroke detection and treatment are key to improving survival, minimizing disability and accelerating recovery times.
Get With The Guidelines puts the expertise of the American Heart Association and American Stroke Association to work for hospitals nationwide, helping ensure patient care is aligned with the latest research- and evidence-based guidelines. Get With The Guidelines – Stroke is an in-hospital program for improving stroke care by promoting consistent adherence to these guidelines, which can minimize the long-term effects of a stroke and even prevent death.
The Mission: Lifeline and Get With The Guidelines programs make it easier for our teams to put proven knowledge and guidelines to work on a daily basis, which helps us ensure more people in central Washington experience longer, healthier lives.
About Get With The Guidelines
Get With The Guidelines® is the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s hospital-based quality improvement program that provides hospitals with the latest research-based guidelines. Developed with the goal of saving lives and hastening recovery, Get With The Guidelines has touched the lives of more than 12 million patients since 2001. For more information, visit heart.org.
Frequently Asked Questions
Resources
• Use the Patient Portal to contact your doctor, view appointments, and access test results
• Consider a Virtual Visit if your clinic offers this service.
• Insurance Services like “on-call nurse” or “24/7 Nurse Line” (see your insurance providers website or app)
• Check Road Conditions: Washington State Department of Transportation