HJAR Sep/Oct 2019

HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF ARKANSAS I  SEP / OCT 2019 13 health concerns. Same-day appointments are available, and you can schedule, or even check-in to an ER or urgent care cen- ter online. In addition to easy access to local ser- vices, our hospitals recognize the value of being part of larger system that can pro- vide more comprehensive care throughout so that each hospital doesn’t have to offer everything. For example, three of our hos- pitals provide OB services, and we have two NICUs, which is a higher level of service. Two of our hospitals provide open-heart surgery, again, a tertiary-level service that every hospital doesn’t need to provide. We are aggressively pursuing meeting the needs of our patients, and in the process, are cre- ating a much larger footprint for Northwest Health. Editor What are some of the challenges for hospitals, both nationally and specifically to your region of the state? Park There are three primary challenges we face—recruitment, reimbursement, and residencies (for recruiting more physi- cians). These are all certainly both local and national issues. Let’s start with residencies. Because fed- eral law caps financial support for residency slots to the number a facility had in 1996, there is no more federal money to pay for residencies in Northwest Arkansas because we have reached our cap. Additional resi- dencies have to be paid for with private or state money. We know the region needs to increase its number of residency slots from about 60 to 200 to accommodate future growth. We are working as a collaborative group here in Northwest Arkansas to come up with creative solutions to address this concern. Every hospital is challenged now to fill key clinical positions, including nursing. Our RN residency and internship programs are certainly helping us with that, but there are shortages nationwide that will be exac- erbated as our population continues aging. We have to set ourselves apart to find suc- cess in recruitment and retaining our staff. Reimbursements continue to decline, which challenges all health care providers when it comes to paying staff and invest- ing in new technology. Our vendors con- tinue to demand higher prices for the lat- est medical technological advancements, the supply and demand of our staffing leads CEO Denten Park discussing the 3-D Printing Technology used by Dr. Thai to help rebuild a crushed skull.