• Munson Healthcare will be regionalizing some inpatient services to ensure it has the right services and staffing levels at the right time and location for the right patient care need. • Community hospitals (Manistee, Paul Oliver, Grayling and Charlevoix) will still have emergency room care, observation care and limited inpatient care, outpatient services and outpatient surgery. • Regional hospitals (Otsego Memorial/Gaylord and Cadillac) will have emergency room care, observation care, outpatient and inpatient services. Those needing higher levels of care may be required to go to either a regional hospital or Munson Medical Center in Traverse City depending on their condition or need. Source: Munson Healthcare
• Munson Healthcare is focused on what its communities need. Munson Healthcare listened to their feedback and looked at the numbers, including inpatient daily admissions (i.e. someone who is admitted and needs a bed at a hospital) at of its our hospitals. • The data shows that Munson Healthcare doesn’t need as much inpatient care as it may have historically provided. At the same time, Munson Healthcare knows its patients are looking for more outpatient and primary care services. • To ensure Munson Healthcare has the right staffing and resources to meet patient demands, it needs to regionalize inpatient services and grow outpatient care. • For example, in Manistee, in-patient admissions have declined 40%. In Charlevoix, the average daily in-patient admissions are less than five people. • At the same time, Munson Healthcare recognized that patients struggle to get an appointment with a primary care doctor or receive a timely MRI. The current model isn’t sustainable for communities. They are seeking more and better outpatient care, and this transformation will help meet that demand. Source: Munson Healthcare
CADILLAC — Munson Healthcare is about to undertake some big changes system-wide, including changes at Munson Healthcare Cadillac Hospital.
On Wednesday, Munson Healthcare unveiled its three-year plan that it hopes will allow the Northern Michigan medical provider to care for residents for the next 100 years and beyond.
During a webinar Wednesday morning, the three-year Regional Care Transformation Plan was the topic of discussion. The plan is designed to provide more and better patient access to healthcare services across the region and preserve care close to home.
“The healthcare industry and our patient needs have changed significantly since the start of the global pandemic, and this is our opportunity to reinvent healthcare in Northern Michigan to better meet patient needs and keep care close to home,” said Ed Ness, president and CEO of Munson Healthcare. “We spend a lot of time listening to feedback from our patients — they are asking us for an easier and more efficient patient experience; and more outpatient, virtual and primary care services, and this plan will achieve that.”
Peter Marinoff has been the community president of Munson Healthcare Cadillac Hospital since 2021 and he said the catalyst for these big changes started during the COVID-19 pandemic. It was during the pandemic that Munson Healthcare discovered there were ways to better utilize its hospitals on a regional basis.
Over the past few years, Cadillac Hospital has taken on a more regional role and what was announced Wednesday is just a continuation of that process both in Cadillac and system-wide, according to Marinoff.
“For Cadillac, it is making sure we are well-positioned to care for people, but what we need to understand is what resources are needed to continue to deliver the best care,” he said. “I think for our community, the Cadillac community in particular, it means more access to various specialists and more access to services they need closer to home. In Cadillac, it means an expansion to access of services.”
He said that means things like the hospital adding a second CT scan machine to help deliver care in the Emergency Department but also for outpatient care. The second CT scan machine should be installed in November.
The newly announced plan also includes five pieces, including adopting a more patient-centric model; expanding Munson’s outpatient footprint, enhancing virtual care, regionalizing in-patient services and elevating Munson Medical Center in Traverse City to a high-level specialty care center.
Some examples of patient benefits include more timely appointments for annual physicals, primary care and urgent care. The new plan also ensures community members have a consistent, quality experience regardless of which Munson front door patients go through.
Among the first improvements patients will notice is the transition to one patient record system to be completed by 2024, which will mean fewer forms to fill out and a faster check-in process. It will also ensure better coordination of care across all Munson locations.
The plan will also regionalize some services in Munson’s East Region, which serves Grayling, Gaylord and Charlevoix and in the South Region, which serves Cadillac, Frankfort and Manistee. Lower patient volumes and scarce staffing resources are two issues all rural healthcare systems are facing and the plan addresses those while also preserving healthcare close to home.
Emergency services, observation care and outpatient services will remain at all seven Munson Healthcare hospitals. In the South Region, Cadillac will become a regional hospital, while Manistee and Paul Oliver Memorial Hospital in Frankfort will become community hospitals. The hospitals in Manistee and Frankfort will be focused on more outpatient services with limited inpatient care.
While the announcement was just made Wednesday, Marinoff said he believes the plan will evolve as needs and things like access to technology and the internet improve.
“What we are looking to do is deliver high-quality healthcare close to home and provide more access points to the community,” he said. “Moving forward with the plan will get us closer to the goal and the community will have better satisfaction with the service we deliver.”
• This is a three-year plan. Munson Healthcare announced the vision and the foundation of the plan, but communities will hear more in the months ahead. There will be many different milestones and checkpoints throughout the three-year timeline.
