MDNews - Greater Kansas

KANSAS HOSPITALS KEEP KANSAS ECONOMY HEALTHY In 2018, the state's healthcare sector gener- ated $16.6 billion in income and $28.5 billion in sales, ranking it fifth among all economic sectors in the state, according to the Kansas Hospital Association's recent report, "The Importance of the Health Care Sector to the Kansas Economy." The entire health sector employs about 238,000 people or 12 percent of all jobs in Kansas. Hospitals were the sector's biggest con - tributor, generating $7.9 billion in income and $14.8 billion in sales. Hospitals employ more than 93,000 people, accounting for 4.7 percent of all jobs in Kansas. Hospitals also help other areas of the economy, according to the report. Hospitals help create other jobs — 0.91 jobs for every new job in the hospital sector — in other businesses and industries in Kansas, the report says. Hospitals are also consumers, generating nearly $3.7 billion in local retail sales, accord - ing to a KHA news release. The study found Kansas hospitals generate more than $6.7 billion in direct labor income. For every dollar of income generated in the hospital sector, another 59 cents was gener - ated in other sectors. The full report and links to county reports can be found at kha-net.org in the Data section. KAMU IS NOW COMMUNITY CARE NETWORK OF KANSAS The Kansas Association for the Medically Underserved (KAMU) is now the Community Care Network of Kansas. "Our new name brings our two most important ideals to the forefront — com - munity and care. We want whole-person, comprehensive care to be the standard of health care for all Kansans, with commu- nity care clinics leading this transforma- tion in the communities they serve," says Denise Cyzman, CEO, in a release on the name change. About 50 member organizations in the net - work — representing more than 40 primary care clinics in 100 locations in Kansas — serve the medical, dental and behavioral health care needs of one in 10 Kansans. MULLINS LEAVES ASCENSION VIA CHRISTI Mike Mullins has left his position as Senior Vice President, Ascension Healthcare, and Ministry Market Executive, Ascension Kansas-Oklahoma, to become the first president and CEO of Mountain Health Network, a newly created regional, nonprofit health system in West Virginia. Todd Conklin, Chief Operating Officer, is leading Ascension Kansas during the transition. Mullins began leading Ascension Via Christi in Kansas in 2016 and became responsible for Ascension's St. John Health System in Tulsa in 2017. He was instrumental in creating the combined ministry market in both states. A re - tired naval officer, he'd previously been an ex- ecutive with an Ascension Indiana provider and with a health-related business in Colorado. DISHMAN IS NEW CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER AT STORMONT VAIL HEALTH Kevin Dishman, MD, was named Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer for Stormont Vail Health in January. As CMO, Dr. Dishman also serves as President of the Medical Services Division medical staff. Dr. Dishman joined Stormont Vail in Topeka, Kansas, as a hospitalist and has served in many leadership roles, includ - ing most recently as the Vice President of Acute Care Services. HILLSBORO HOSPITAL IN RECEIVERSHIP A district court ruling in late January removed EmpowerHMS as the operator of Hillsboro Community Hospital and installed Cohesive Healthcare Management + Consulting, based in Shawnee, Oklahoma, as the tempo - rary administrator. The city of Hillsboro and the Bank of Hays had requested Geary County district judge Ryan Rosauer appoint a receiver in the hear- ing to keep the hospital running as it faces a foreclosure petition, brought by the Bank of Hays for a $9.7 million construction loan made in 2015. In 2017, the Hillsboro hospital, along with two other Kansas hospitals – in Horton and Oswego – came under the network of the Kansas City-based EmpowerHMS, which on its website calls itself "a leader in the management and ownership of rural hospitals throughout the nation." EmpowerHMS oper - ates more than a dozen hospitals nationwide, according to its website. The Hillsboro hospital experienced several financial difficulties under Empower HMS. In early January, the city of Hillsboro threatened to turn off power if the hospital didn't pay its nearly $16,645 delinquent utility bill to the city, which owns the utilities; the payment came just a couple of hours before the planned shutoff. The hospital has also been sued by other medical companies for alleged unpaid bills since its association with EmpowerHMS. The Hillsboro hospital had been among EmpowerHMS facilities in Kansas, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Arkansas that also expe - rienced some delayed payroll. In Kansas, only the Oswego hospital was not affected by delayed payroll payments in December or January, according to its CEO Bill Cochran. EmpowerHMS and its founder have been named in other lawsuits, too. Receivership requests have been filed for two other hospitals in its system – in Tennessee and Oklahoma, according to a Kansas City Star article. Last year, a Missouri couple who were part owners in hospitals taken over by EmpowerHMS brought a lawsuit against EmpowerHMS CEO Jorge Perez, alleg - ing a hospital billing scheme discovered by Missouri's state auditor in a hospital in that state was happening in other hospitals also connected to Perez. The couple alleged the scheme used the hospitals to submit reim - bursement claims for lab work not done at the hospitals but at other laboratories, accord- ing to the Associated Press. The lawsuit said the scheme took advantage of the hospitals' NEWS FROM AROUND THE STATE Todd Conklin M D N E W S . 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