Appalachian Regional Healthcare (ARH)

With 14 hospitals located in barbourville, hazard, harlan, hyden, martin, mcdowell, middlesboro, paintsville, prestonsburg, west liberty, whitesburg, and south williamson in Kentucky, and beckley and hinton in west Virginia, as well as multi-specialty physician practices, home health agencies, home medical equipment stores, and retail pharmacies, the not-for-profit Appalachian Regional Healthcare system (arh) provides residents living within these communities the security of knowing that whether they need primary care or the most advanced medical care services, an arh facility won't be too far away. Arh is proud to be the single largest employer in southeastern Kentucky and the third-largest private employer in southern west Virginia. However, arh would not be the trusted source of Healthcare that it is without the care and commitment shown by its more than 6,700 team members and 1,300 medical staff members. The dedication of these medical professionals has firmly established arh as the region's largest provider of care. In the past fiscal year, arh continued to grow to meet the ever-changing Healthcare needs of central appalachia with the addition of new services and outreach initiatives within the communities it serves.arh is consistently looking for ways to make accessing care quicker and easier for our patients. Transportation, especially in the mountainous regions of eastern Kentucky and southern west Virginia, is not always easy. That's why arh partnered with air evac lifeteam to establish an emergency flight program to transport patients throughout the two regions. An arh-branded, air evac-owned helicopter and a specially trained medical transport team are stationed at the hazard airport and provide service to critically ill and injured patients.the hazard arh Regional medical center was one of only two hospitals chosen from more than 700 applicants to receive a cms rural home hospital waiver and participate in a study by harvard and massgeneral brigham. Throughout the one-year study, arh treated 75 patients for a variety of diagnoses, including pneumonia, copd, chf, complicated utis, and cellulitis. Upon completion of the study in july 2023, arh received a 9.7 out of 10 patient global satisfaction score. The patients treated through the program have, on average, been treated and discharged from the program in fewer days than those treated in the hospital.arh was also awarded $400,000 in Appalachian Regional commission (arc) funding for the purchase of a mobile clinic to provide non-emergency, on-site care. Through the mobile clinic, which will be stationed in floyd county, residents will have increased and more regular access to care as the mobile clinic is taken out to areas they frequent, such as local businesses, schools, housing developments, community events, and more. Additionally, the mobile clinic, which will also serve bell, floyd, harlan, johnson, knox, leslie, letcher, morgan, perry, and pike counties, will allow arh to provide quick and convenient access to medical care following an emergency or disaster such as flooding, a tornado, winter storm or other hazardous situations. Tug valley arh opened its new comprehensive wound care center that offers a variety of specialized treatments as well as the more advanced hyperbaric oxygen therapy, hbo therapy, which is administered inside one of the center's two hyperbaric oxygen chambers and is designed to care for wounds that have not responded well to traditional treatment.arh has utilized expanded state-funding to improve programming and services across the organizations' inpatient behavioral health units. The funding has helped increase therapeutic programming, improve staffing, and complete $1.1 million in renovations to the inpatient behavioral health centers located at highlands, harlan, and hazard. Arh currently operates four inpatient psychiatric units and ten outpatient clinics across Kentucky and west virginia.arh is consistently recognized for its medical excellence. Over the past year, our system and hospitals have received an abundance of accolades, including being listed as one of forbes' america's best-in-state employers 2023. The prestigious award is presented by forbes and statista inc., the world-leading statistics portal and industry ranking provider. America's best-in-state employers 2023 were identified based on 2.1 million employer recommendations from employees working for companies with more than 500 employees in the united states. The beckley arh hospital, harlan arh hospital, hazard arh Regional medical center, and tug valley arh Regional medical center were named by u.s. news & world report to its 2023-2024 best hospitals as high performing hospitals for the treatment of congestive heart failure and/or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (copd). This is the highest distinction a hospital can earn for u.s. news' best hospitals procedures & conditions ratings. For the fourth year in a row, arh earned the college of Healthcare information management executives (chime) digital health most wired recognition as a certified level 8 in the ambulatory and acute care settings. The chime digital health most wired program conducts an annual survey to assess how effectively Healthcare organizations apply core and advanced technologies into their clinical and business programs to improve health and care in their communities.highlands arh, mcdowell arh, arh our lady of the way, and morgan county arh were recognized by the american heart association "get with the guidelines" for demonstrating a commitment to following up-to-date, research-based guidelines for the treatment of stroke. Additionally, hazard arh Regional medical center received four american heart association "get with the guidelines" achievement awards.as the region's largest provider of care, we continued our mission to not only treat patients when they are ill but also to go out into our communities to teach the importance of preventative screenings and provide education designed to help our residents lead healthier lives. Those efforts, in the past year alone, provided more than $8 million in community benefits.some major initiatives included addressing food insecurity since a huge percentage of our service area is considered fresh fruit and vegetable deserts/food deserts. It takes more than 10 minutes or 10 miles to reach a grocery store for most people, and stores they have closest access to (such as dollar generals, of which there are 600 in our service area) may not have fresh foods.through a senior produce voucher program in harlan in partnership with a local produce market, one hundred seniors have received a $25 voucher to be spent on fruits and vegetables. Each of these individuals is screened for social determinants of health and referred to Healthcare when appropriate. In 2024, the program will expand with additional partner funding to provide vouchers each week for one month, with a1c and blood pressure tracked throughout for changes. Additionally, in partnership with god's pantry, an in-hospital food bank is being piloted in morgan county, with hopes to expand to other facilities. Arh is a founding partner in the food as health alliance, a project of the university of Kentucky college of agriculture, food and environment. The alliance plans to create food as medicine interventions, expand research efforts, and address food insecurity across the commonwealth. Arh is committed to collaborating on a food as health symposium, educating providers and the community about nutrition as preventative medicine, and participating in pilot research projects. As part of this project, arh and uk are implementing a meal delivery/voucher program in partnership with food city in perry, floyd, and harlan counties. 180 people with diabetes and/or high blood pressure will receive healthy food boxes every week for 12 weeks, with those health indicators tracked throughout the program.arh has worked to bring farmers markets on-site to many of their facilities over the past two years. This allows our employees, patients, and visitors access to healthy, affordable local produce throughout the summer. We have also partnered with farmer's markets in some areas to sponsor carrot cash, a voucher program that allows children to shop at the markets, and a voucher program for participants in diabetes support groups.