MOUNT VERNON — Knox Community Hospital is one of 22 hospitals that will each receive $1.3 million to improve health care in rural communities.
The $1,377,479 comes from the federal Rural Health Transformation Program. Ohio Department of Health administers the awards.
Hospital CEO Bruce White said the money will help offset the $2.4 million cost of a new PET-CT scanner.
PET (positron emission tomography) and CT (computed tomography) scans provide cross-sectional X-rays of metabolic processes, organs and tissues. They help diagnose cancer tumors, heart disease and other conditions.
“With our cancer program here, PET is a really important service that we’ve been able to introduce in the community. But we’ve only been able to introduce it into the community through the use of a mobile unit once a week,” White said.
“As you can imagine, once a week isn’t the best access for the patients. On top of that, we’re having to lease the unit to have it brought here every week, and that’s an additional cost.”
Additionally, the hospital’s CT unit is nearing end of life and must be replaced.
“So it’s perfect timing to say if we’re going to have to replace that existing CT, let’s replace it with a PET-CT unit that can do both of those diagnostic imaging procedures,” White said.
White and Chief Operating Officer Cindy Russo met with representatives in Washington, D.C., in March. They sought seeking funding to offset the cost of a new unit but were unsuccessful.
“With the anouncement of the Rural Health Transformation Program, came another possible opportunity,” White said. “We are excited and moving forward with the necessary planning.”
White said decommissioning the existing CT unit and installing a new one is a major project. He expects to buy and install the unit in 2027.
KCH might be eligible for additional funds
Part of the $92 million the state released last week for health care projects includes $30.3 million for maternal care.
Six provider systems will receive varying amounts, including $24,952,221 for the Ohio High Value Network. The OHVN is a collaboration of independent Ohio hospitals.
White said KCH is an OHVN member, but he does not know how OHVN will distribute its funding.
The OHVN will also receive $24.98 million as one of seven clinically integrated networks (CINs) and rural health innovation hubs (RHIHs).
In a release announcing the rural health transformation awards last week, Gov. Mike DeWine said CINs and RHIHs are focused on creating “robust care models that provide high-qualitycare at a reasonable cost.”
Jeremy Normington-Slay is vice chair of OHVN and president/CEO of Firelands Health. He said the award recognizes what independent rural hospitals can accomplish when we work together.
“Through the Ohio High Value Network, nearly 3 million rural Ohioans will benefit from coordinated care that is stronger than any one of us could deliver along,” he said in the release.
“We are grateful to [Centers of Medicare and Medicaid] and the state of Ohio for their partnership and their confidence in our approach.”
Click here for a complete list of funded projects.
