New CEO Selected for Washakie Medical Center

Lance S. Maley, MHA, FACHE is the new Chief Executive Officer ( CEO ) at Banner Health Washakie Medical Center . He will accept his responsibilities as the hospital's top executive beginning May 1, 2006. Maley has over 20 years of experience in healthcare administration and comes to Worland from Austin , Texas where he served as Assistant Director of Business and Ancillary Services with University Health Services at the University of Texas . Maley served as Vice President of Hospital Operations at the Western Regional Medical Command & Madigan Army Medical Center in Tacoma , Washington and as Chief Operating Officer at Munson Army Health Center in Fort Leavenworth , Kansas . He has extensive leadership experience including Commander of a 40-bed field medical unit during Operation Desert Storm.

Wyoming's Meth Web Site

An updated state web site now gives Wyoming residents, policy makers and interested parties a comprehensive guide to learning about and combating substance abuse issues in their communities. First launched in conjunction with the “Wyoming Faces Meth” social marketing campaign just over two years ago, freeandtrue.com now offers a more complete menu of options for researching methamphetamine issues and solutions, complete with links to other national and regional sites. The site includes special downloads and interactive maps showing treatment and recovery resources, existing community coalitions across Wyoming, drug testing and cleanup guidelines for clandestine methamphetamine labs and more. The site includes the latest state research data, including downloads of the latest Methamphetamine Planning Study, the State of the State of Substance Abuse report, plus other Wyoming specific research documents. Links to other national resources, including the Partnership for a Drug Free America, the Office of National Drug Control Policy, are also included on the updated site.

Wyoming Hosts Series of Patient Safety Trainings in April 2006

A team of professionals who have been participating in the Patient Safety Improvement Corps (PSIC), a partnership program between the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and the Veterans Administration (VA), coordinated several training sessions throughout Wyoming “to improve patient safety by providing knowledge and skills.” Presenters included Jan Pope, Quality Improvement Director with Mountain-Pacific Quality Health – Wyoming; Linda Chasson, Administrator, and Clay Van Houten with the Preventive Health and Safety Division of the Wyoming Department of Health; Stuart Ruben, M.D., and Phyllis Schulz, Clinical Nurse Specialist, with Wyoming Medical Center in Casper; and Susan Ullrich, Quality/Patient Safety Manager, with Campbell County Memorial Hospital in Gillette. Topics included an overview of the PSIC; a discussion of Wyoming 's medical safety event reporting law and processes; an introduction to safety culture; an overview of the AHRQ's Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture; and a training session on failure mode and root cause analysis. For more information about the PSIC, visit http://www.ahrq.gov/About/psimpcorps.htm.

Health Executive To Showcase Wyoming Medical Center This Summer

A national healthcare magazine will spotlight Wyoming Medical Center in an upcoming issue this summer. Health Executive selected the hospital as a feature story because of its critical role in providing healthcare to the citizens of Wyoming , plus the innovative way that Wyoming Medical Center provides that care, according to Editor-in-Chief Jill Rose. The monthly magazine looks at issues of importance to the healthcare industry while talking to some of the leading minds about business treads, management concerns, and financial tactics and legal issues. Wyoming Medical Center will appear in one of the summer issues.

State Ranks High in Disciplining Doctors

Wyoming ranks among the top three states in terms of taking disciplinary action against doctors in response to citizen complaints, a national group reports. Washington-based Public Citizen issued a report last week stating that Wyoming ranks behind only Kentucky and Alaska in taking serious disciplinary action against doctors. Public Citizen calculated the number of serious disciplinary actions that state medical boards have imposed against doctors. It classifies serious actions as medical license revocations, surrenders, suspensions and probation/restrictions. By that standard, Wyoming had 8.19 actions per 1,000 doctors in 2005. Kentucky had 9.08 actions per thousand and Alaska had 8.49 actions per thousand. At the other end of the spectrum, Mississippi had the lowest rate of disciplinary action with 1.62 actions per thousand doctors. Carole Shotwell, executive secretary with the Wyoming Board of Medicine, said Wyoming has been at or near the top of such rankings for years.

Wyoming 's Kid Care CHIP Program Making A Difference

While the Wyoming Department of Health estimates between 14,000 and 17,000 Wyoming children do not have health insurance, the state's Kid Care CHIP program is making a difference by covering more than 5,000 previously uninsured children. In the past two years alone, the uninsured rate for Wyoming 's children has declined slightly due to increases in income eligibility for families applying for the program. Kid Care CHIP began in 1999 and was adjusted in 2005 to accommodate coverage from families with income up to 200 percent of poverty level guidelines. The Wyoming Legislature recently voted to expand insurance coverage to parents of Kid Care CHIP participants with a program that will be partly employer-sponsored. It is expected that the program will be up and running sometime in 2007.

Thermopolis Hospital Awarded Grant For Breast Cancer Treatment

The Wyoming Affiliate of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation has awarded $17,000 to Hot Springs County Memorial to use in the fight against breast cancer. The grant was written by hospital imaging staff technologist, Margie Triplett, RT, RDMS. The hospital will use the funds to develop the Mammography Reporting System, which allows for patient tracking, mammography quality control and medical auditing. The foundation has awarded more than $1.21 million to agencies throughout Wyoming to fight this disease. These funds were funds through the annual Komen Wyoming Race for the Cure and other events throughout the state.