To Our Community…

Hutchinson Regional Medical Center (HRMC) is a not-for-profit, 190-licensed bed, acute-care hospital serving the health needs of the residents of Reno county and the surrounding Central Kansas region. Hutchinson Regional Medical Center offers several specialty services, including the Heart and Vascular Center, Chalmers Cancer Treatment Center, The Birthing Center, Wound Care and Hyperbaric Center and the Sleep Diagnostic Center. HRMC is accredited by the Joint Commission and their pioneering spirit has made them leaders in the healthcare field.

Hutchinson Regional Medical Center is a locally-owned and governed community hospital. More than 40 years ago a group of visionary leaders made history when they successfully combined two competing hospitals into one united entity that could serve all the healthcare needs of the area. In 1975, the merger was one of the first of its kind in the nation.

The mission of Hutchinson Regional Medical Center (HRMC) is to strengthen the health and well-being of the greater Reno County region through high-quality, compassionate care provided to all who need it. We are pleased to present our 2021 Community Benefit Report, which outlines many of the community-focused programs and services that enable us to achieve our mission and improve the health of our community. As a community not-for-profit organization, we take seriously our responsibility to invest our resources and energies into understanding and meeting the diverse health care needs of all, and ensure that everyone, regardless of their ability to pay, receives the care they need. Our team of passionate and dedicated health care professionals, along with many partners throughout the Reno County region, helped us contribute significantly to the health and well-being of our community.

This report offers a glimpse of how we touch and improve the health and the lives of people throughout the region. It is a testimony to the commitment and leadership of our medical staff, board of trustees, employees, volunteers, and community partners, whose dedication to service touches many lives and makes our community a better place.

As HRMC and our community watched the coronavirus pandemic play out on a global scale, it was easy to feel helpless. Healthcare workers were being tested physically and emotionally. However, the healthcare providers of Reno County made it a priority to support each other and our community. A Reno County COVID clinical committee was created and meet frequently (at times weekly) sharing resources and information to ensure we were meeting the community’s needs. This meant sharing testing supplies, vaccines, and manpower. Starting in December, 2020, it became a priority to vaccinate our healthcare workers and then our residents. Our staff members committed to vaccinating healthcare workers in our facility, and volunteering approximately 840 hours helping Reno County Health Department execute multiple vaccine distribution clinics for the community.

Hutchinson Regional Medical Center garnered national attention by our high usage of therapeutic monoclonal antibodies for treating outpatient COVID-19 patients. HRMC was an early adopter of this treatment for COVID-positive individuals whom have risk factors that increase the chance of severe illness and hospitalization. Operation Warp Speed wanted to know what local health providers were doing to enable its efficient use. Operation Warp Speed is a public-private partnership initiated by the U.S. government to facilitate and accelerate the development, manufacturing, and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics. The advantage Reno County possesses is the close relationships of local health providers.

One of HRMC’s focuses this year is providing smoking cessation education to our staff members and patients. Reno County has an adult smoking rate of 17%. Working with the Reno County Health Department, education was provided to respiratory services, cardiac rehabilitation, pulmonary rehabilitation, and behavior health staff members focusing on the KanQuit program. The Kansas Tobacco QuitLine (KanQuit) is a free online service available to eligible residents. It connects individuals with support coaches, research-based information, and a community of others trying to live tobacco free. By providing staff with this education, they can provide concise resources for patients assisting them in achieving optimal levels of health.

A second area of priority is the opioid crisis. Throughout the year, HRMC worked with Reno Recovery Collaboration to provide resources and leadership to fight substance misuse to improve quality of life for all. Within the hospital, the Pain Management and Opioid Stewardship committee has worked on house-wide improvements such as appropriate pain reassessments, effectiveness of pain management, and non-pharmacologic pain interventions. HRMC has created a K-TRACs link within our electronic health record for physicians and advanced practice providers (APPs) to utilize when prescribing controlled substances and other drugs of concern. K-TRACS is a prescription drug monitoring program for the state of Kansas. It is used by prescribers and pharmacists as a clinical decision-making tool to promote patient safety and healthy communities through prevention of prescription drug misuse, abuse, and diversion. Nursing services has implemented the Michigan Opioid Safety Score (MOSS) across the hospital as an assessment tool in June, 2021. The MOSS assessment was developed to incorporate patient risk, respiratory rate, and sedation into one bedside score that can be used to improve patient safety during opioid therapy. Since implementation, the MOSS is utilized 600-750 times per month, increasing patient safety.

Forty-four percent of Reno County residents suffer from chronic illness such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and respiratory disease. HRMC has focused on education for congestive heart failure (CHF) patients. Heart failure is the leading cause of hospitalization among older adults (>65 years of age) and has the highest 30-day readmission rates of Medicare beneficiaries. Nurse delivered teaching increases patient self-care measure adherence and improved clinical outcomes. Cardiac Rehab has created CHF specific education covering sodium management, daily weights, medication management, and daily symptom tracking. They have provided education to telemetry staff within the hospital and to a community home health agency.0