THE VALUED VOICE

As with previous years, this year’s Wisconsin Rural Health Conference agenda is relevant and compelling. Here is a preview of what you can expect from the first session of breakout presentations:
 
1A – Overcoming Behavioral Health Challenges in Rural Hospital Markets
        Stephanie Weatherly, DNP, PMH RN-BC, FACH, Chief Clinical Officer, Psychiatric Medical Care

Rural health systems across America struggle to meet the growing demands for behavioral healthcare in their communities leading to delays in patient care, overutilization of emergency departments, overstressed staff, and reimbursement challenges. This presentation explores successful programs that have overcome barriers to behavioral healthcare, both clinically and financially, in rural markets. These barriers include a lack of mental health providers and stigma surrounding mental health. Case studies will be shared from four different care models used in rural health systems: Inpatient psychiatry, Intensive outpatient psychiatry, Rural health clinics, and ED management. These case studies examine the sustained change that occurs with behavioral health programming such as reduction in ED throughput, reduced recidivism, reduced psychosomatic PCP visits, polypharmacy reduction, positive community support for the program, and positive financial outcomes. Participants will develop an understanding of the case studies and come away with actionable steps to improve behavioral healthcare access in their communities. They’ll be able to evaluate presented solutions to determine which would be the most beneficial in their healthcare market.

1B - CommYOUnity: Healthy Buildings + Healthy People
        Jen Voigt, Senior Design Architect and Dave Hubka, Practice Leader – Sustainability, EUA

We’ve all heard of sick building syndrome, but this session will focus on the flip side: Exciting ways our buildings can actually make our people and communities healthier. WELL is an approach that applies the science of physical and social environments to benefit people's health, well-being and productivity. It’s uniquely positioned at the convergence of sustainability, organizational culture, and community impact. We’ll talk through the attributes that make up WELL buildings and how our hospitals and clinics can have a healthier and more engaged workforce by focusing on even a few of these components. Equally applicable to new and existing buildings, there are scalable strategies for rural healthcare campuses to support inclusive, integrated, resilient communities.

1C - Setting Up Your Emergency Department Processes To Successfully Navigate EMTALA  (Board of Trustee Track)
        Sarah E. Coyne, Partner and Jon R. Kammerzelt, Partner, Quarles & Brady LLP

For rural hospitals with limited resources and the current state of decreased options for transfer, EMTALA becomes a minefield. This presentation identifies the hard questions and provides practical solutions. What do you do with a patient needing a higher level of care but nobody to accept that patient? When do you need to report to CMS? What do you do with physicians who are untimely or absent while on call? When and where do the EMTALA obligations trigger and which aspects of your campus are affected? We will provide these answers and more, including helpful and user-friendly documents.
 
To learn more about the conference, including registration and hotel room reservation information, please click here.
 
Sponsoring and exhibiting opportunities are available to WHA Corporate Members only. For questions regarding this and any other aspect of the conference, contact education@wha.org.