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June 26, 2004 - Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Valley&State Backpage O&E Sports Archives Classifieds Faith&Beliefs Obituaries Revels May 10, 2004 ACH leads in advances By Steve Zimmerman Ashland Daily Tidings Ashland has a long and storied history. As a part of that history, Ashland Community Hospital was the first in the Rogue Valley. It has grown from a Victorian house on Main Street in 1908 to its present location at 280 Maple St. The hospital was built on its present site in 1961. Since that time, it has grown into one of the most progressive medical facilities in Oregon. Now, ACH is expanding to help it continue as a major medical center in Southern Oregon. "We are about to open a 7,000-square-foot addition in the middle of May, and a 35,000-square-foot addition is planned and going through planning at the city," Hospital Administrator James Watson said. "Recognizing that we are about a 70,000-square-foot plant now, that is going to increase by 50 percent." There are three hospitals in Jackson County: Rogue Valley Medical Center and Providence Medical Center, both in Medford, and Ashland Community Hospital, a small primary-care, acute-care center. Positioning Ashland Community Hospital Under the leadership of Watson, the hospital has carved out a niche within Ashland and the Rogue Valley. "We have positioned ourselves primarily as a surgery and diagnostic center," he noted. "Two decades ago, we were wrestling with our future. We have lost at least 2,000 hospitals nationwide and 18 in the state of Oregon, most of them rural, since the reductions in payments by Medicare in the early '80s." Ashland Community Hospital has enjoyed good financial success due to the implementation of some creative strategies. And that has helped the hospital attract some of the best surgeons in the country to Ashland. "Our role is clear and it is to meet the medical needs and improve the health of our neighbors and visitors," Watson said. "To that end, we have experienced a lot of growth in utilization. The south county is a very attractive place for medical practitioners to come and live. We have put a major emphasis on identifying opportunities within services that we can do very well, and seeking physicians to help do that." The problems But success did not come easily to the medical community in Ashland. "There have been challenges," Watson said. "Among them are government reductions in Medicare payments, the whole trauma of managed care and what that meant in revisions of buying doctors' and not buying doctors' practices and the medical malpractice crisis." One of those problems has been space, and the new expansion will address that issue. Using that space effectively has been priority one. "We see ourselves continuing in this vein, being very careful to not duplicate very expensive services that are available in Medford, while trying to work in concert with those community hospitals," Watson explained. "And we continue to find ways to keep ourselves fiscally sound so we can continue to provide services to the community." Another area of concern is people coming to the hospital for services from the emergency room, called uncompensated care. The emergency room generates the largest amount of bad debt in the hospital. At the same time, doctors are treating patients that are in dire need of medical care and cannot pay. "Doctors are writing and saying they have a patient that has a need for a medical procedure, most often surgery," Watson explained. "They need the surgery and the doctors ask what the hospital can do to make arrangements. It is a charity gift to this community. When it comes to us that there is no insurance and no way to pay, we enter into a payment agreement or it is written off as uncollectable." The one safety net in Oregon has been the Oregon Health Plan. But it is covering fewer residents because of budget reductions. Growth a surprise Watson has been somewhat surprised by the amount of growth within the medical profession in Ashland. "Because of the passion that you can feel in the hospital and the commitment of the staff and board, I felt we had a heck of a good chance [to grow], but we were going to have to take some chances," he said. Procuring the services of physicians like Dr. John Maurer in orthopedics and Dr. William Rodden in retina and vitreous care has helped drive the growth in medical services. Rodden said he came to Ashland after hearing about the work Maurer was doing in perfecting hip-replacement surgery. "I am not surprised that people here are willing to try new things and take a chance," Watson said. "Dr. Rodden could have gone anywhere on the face of the Earth. He was a very talented young surgeon when he came out of residency. He came to Ashland and introduced me to the very first laptop computer I had ever seen. And he had his entire business plan on his laptop. I looked at it and told him it was extremely impressive." New surgery theater "The new surgery theater allows us to grow in areas that we are physically limited in," he said. "We have had our second plastic surgeon come to town. We are struggling trying to find a way to get them operating-theater time. Our sixth orthopedist is coming from the Air Force Academy and will be a tremendous asset to this community. We draw orthopedic patients from a long way away and the retina patients come from nine counties in California and Oregon." Watson also said new Ob/Gyns are coming into the hospital, which is looking to bring beriatric surgery into the fold. "We are just starting to take patients into the (beriatric care) screening phase," he said. "This is not, nor will it be, a revenue producer for the hospital. It is a service and we do those things. We feel this is a great and growing need to get people a new shot at life in a new body. We have the skill and we have the talent and we are ready to go." Establishing a niche "I think for any little hospital to have a chance, unless they have a huge tax subsidy, which we don't have, hospitals our size have got to find niches," Watson stated. "Ours is primarily types of surgeries or doing surgeries in such a way that people find enough satisfaction to where they tell their friends, 'This is where you go for this.'" Watson said the hospital is taking the lead in the county in birthing. "We have the first family-oriented birthing center in the state," he noted. "And we were the first in Southern Oregon to put a Jacuzzi in and to have a water-birthing tub. ... "And that surprises us. Here is a town with shrinking populations in young people and our birth rate is going through the roof. It was not something we ever budgeted for or planned. I think word of mouth is a factor along with a very solid nursing team." Because the hospital has not had room it has never pursued urology and has been very limited in being able to do ear, nose and throat surgery. "We are now recruiting our second gastroenterologist to help give Dr. Chow a life," Watson said, laughing. "Bringing in talented surgeons and expanding our services is what is going to keep these doors open." DailyTidings.com Home Page Valley&State | Backpage | O&E | Sports | Archives | Weather | Classifieds Columnists | Faith&Beliefs | Obituaries | Revels | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2004 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Click Here Site Search: .:Advertisements:. RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams