Universal Service:What it means for Rural

Hospitals

Jason C. Wulf

Financial Analyst

Thursday, May 15, 2003, 3:45 to 5:00

About Avera Health

• Sponsored by the Presentation and Benedictine Sisters

• Located in 5 States, SD, ND, MN, IA, NE

• Hospitals in 26 communities

• Clinics in 59 communities

• Long-term care in 17 communities

• Home Medical Equipment businesses in 20 communities

• Rocky start

• Streamlined and more user friendly after Funding Year 3

• Online forms have greatly enhanced the process

• Help desk does exceptional job

• RHC willing to listen and make changes when necessary

Experience with RHC

Experience with RHC

• Rural telecommunication companies sometimes not familiar with RHC process or forms

• Big telecommunication companies shift paperwork responsibility around and things get lost in the shuffle

Benefits – Rural Community

• Telehealth– Educational sessions

• Freedom from smoking

• Diabetes club

– Expanded services• Specialists

– Reduced travel for rural citizens

Benefits – Rural Hospital

Expanded services and capabilities– Telehealth

• Education– Grand rounds, HIPAA Sessions, Mandatory In-services

• Telemedicine– Mental health, dermatology, pulmonology,

internal medicine, fetal ultrasounds, infectious disease

• Teleradiology

– Clinical and financial data systems– Internet– E-mail

Benefits – Rural Hospital

“The RHCD reimbursement makes the T1 line a little easier to afford for rural facilities.  This in turn means when we were making decisions for the connections via email, information system, teleradiology, teleconferencing equipment, etc. to our regional hospital, it makes it more affordable.  We get about $600 a month reimbursement from RHCD for our T1 line which means $7,200 annually which is quite a large amount for a small facility.”

Kayleen Lee – Administrator and Linda Jager – Business Office Manager, Avera Weskota Hospital, Wessington Springs, SD

Benefits – Health System

• Provide education and services to small hospitals – HIPAA sessions, Medicare A Newsline Review,

unified information systems platforms

• Enhanced communication– Videoconferencing when Telehealth is not in use

• Administrative meetings

– Negotiate better pricing on information technology projects due to large Wide-Area Network and interconnected systems

Benefits – Health System

• Significant savings – Year 1 - $ 128,819– Year 2 - $ 64,327– Year 3 - $ 244,534– Year 4 - $ 279,639 estimated– Year 5 - $ 395,081 projected– Total - $1,112,400 Directly back to the hospitals

• Roughly 55% - 60% savings off gross charges/year

• Covers 44 locations and 55 circuits across Avera Health

RHCD help line 1-800-229-5476

www.rhc.universalservice.org

Jason Wulf – Avera Health

605-322-4722