Mosaic Matters – Having a hospital in Nodaway County offers first hand healthcare

Editor’s note: This article is the second in a series that will speak to news events surrounding Mosaic Medical Center – Maryville.

Maryville and the region were close to not having a hospital a couple of years ago. The announcement of Mosaic Life Care healthcare system’s intent to purchase the SSM Health St. Francis Hospital – Maryville came in mid-December 2018.

While the transfer of ownership and operations took several months with staff changes throughout the Maryville hospital, the Mosaic ownership has enabled the Maryville community and the Northwest Missouri area to have access to a variety of specialists whose expertise allows healthcare for Northwest Missouri residents to remain local for the most part.

One of the more recent changes has been for Mosaic Medical Center – Maryville to employ their own hospitalists and emergency room physicians. In the past, these positions were contracted and had little contact or knowledge with the physicians and surgeons within the local hospital system.

“This allows the four hospitalists and ER doctors to steer the patient to the right care at the right time within the Mosaic Life Care system,” said Mosaic Medical Center – Maryville President Nate Blackford. “We have invested in these professionals, which many times allows area patients to stay in Maryville.”

Blackford noted the shared electronic medical records with others doctors in the system as well as the world-renown Mayo Clinic Care Network has increased the level of care for Northwest Missouri patients.

The Mosaic Medical Center – Maryville emergency room rate of admittance to the Maryville hospital has moved to 25 percent versus the mid-teens percent from the recent past. As an example, cardiac patients who were always transferred away can receive care in Maryville. Now there are three cardiac specialty physicians who are dedicated to the Maryville facility and its patients. This keeps the patient safe when he is close to home and their support family system with most of the testing capabilities and regular procedures available in Maryville.

Another factor Blackford shared with the new vision of local healthcare options is the readmissions rate, which has been lower than the system’s goal. This would indicate the patient is being treated with improved outcomes. Plus he noted there are better relationships between the emergency room doctors and the patient’s primary providers, between the emergency room doctors and the hospitalists and then of course, the emergency room doctors and specialist physicians.

The Maryville emergency room facility is now seeing an average of 25 patients each day and the current emergency room doctors are able to handle that workload with the staff efficiencies they have accessed. This “through-put” work allows more improvement in healthcare as there is less time in the emergency room and even a better statistic, a decreased wait time for the emergency room care. The emergency room doctors have voiced their amazement at the quality nursing staff with good communication equalling great patient care.

Then there is the possibility of telemedicine to consult with other experts from Mosaic Life Care or the Mayo Clinic Care Network. Telemedicine will allow the hospital to grow in volume and care for patients who have a more serious prognosis.