Today on Inland Journal, we talk with the chief executive of East Adams Healthcare in Ritzville about his facility’s struggle to stay solvent. Todd Nida says the hospital is working to overcome some past fiscal mismanagement, but also factors that challenge most rural hospitals in the Northwest.
"In a small rural community like Ritzville, it makes it very difficult because when you don't have large volumes, you don't have the ability to beef up ancillary services, other forms of clinic services, pain clinic, dermatology, cardiology, those type of things. Those are avenues where you can make better money in reimbursement through your payers and bolster your bottom line."
Last week, medical students around the country learned about their first professional assignments as new physicians. We hear from two Spokane medical students about their future plans.
"My dad was a small town primary care physician...and so I had Dr. Dad growing up, essentially, and I got to see his impact on our community, and that's really what kind of kick started and inspired me to go into, especially, family medicine specifically."
And we hear developments from two Spokane medical residency programs. One is long-standing program that is expanding. The second one is brand new.
"Residencies are really time-consuming and expensive to start. The accreditation process is onerous. The funding is not always straightforward. So to be able to have the opportunity to bring a high-caliber residency program to the Inland Northwest is an opportunity that's too good to pass up."
The doctor will see you now on today’s Inland Journal.
