Great River Health's Annual Checkup

The healthcare industry has always been both challenging and rewarding, and the past year was no exception. We at Great River Health value the role we play in the health and lives of the communities we serve. From welcoming new babies into the world, to holding the hand of someone’s loved one as they leave this world, we appreciate the opportunity to be part of those tender moments and all the moments in between.

We offer our heartfelt appreciation to our patients who trusted us with their good health; to our community partners for supporting our work; to our employees and medical staff for bringing their best selves to work every day providing first-class healthcare with compassion and expertise; and to our volunteer Board of Directors for your commitment to ensuring comprehensive healthcare services remain in Southeast Iowa. It is the goal of Great River Health staff to make each person who comes through the doors of one of our hospitals or clinics feel valued and understood.   

2024 Highlights

Looking back over 2024, I want to highlight some of our key accomplishments as a health system. We continue to focus on maintaining service lines and recruiting top-notch medical professionals.

Recruiting Exceptional Providers

Recruiting and retaining a qualified and motivated workforce remains a top priority at Great River Health. By implementing the Right Choice Internal Resource Pool, we have improved our hiring ability for nursing staff and decreased our dependence on travelers. This program was just expanded to include diagnostic imaging employees, with laboratory positions to be added in 2025.

In 2024, we employed 35 new physicians and advanced practice professionals throughout the health system including the addition of two new specialists, a bariatric surgeon (Dr. Salimath), and a joint-trained orthopedic surgeon (Dr. Shah).  When recruiting medical staff, 70% of the eligible candidates invited onsite for an interview sign a contract with us. This is a testament to the organization's culture and our welcoming communities. 

4-Star CMS Rating

A shining moment came when Southeast Iowa Regional Medical Center received a 4-star Overall Hospital Quality Rating from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released in July. The Overall Hospital Quality Star Rating summarizes a variety of measures across five areas of quality into a single-star rating with scores ranging from 1-5 stars. The energy invested by our employees in providing quality care in a safe environment continues to make a difference in the care of our patients. 

New Healthcare Technology

Staying ahead of advancements in healthcare technology is a constant journey.  Great River Health replaced the seven 3D mammogram machines throughout the health system. The updated machines bring the latest innovation, comfort, and clarity to our Diagnostic Imaging departments. With the addition of the Mako SmartRobotics™ system, robotic-arm-assisted surgeries are now a possibility for Dr. Shah’s orthopedic patients.  We look forward to expanding the use of this technology in 2025.

Reopening Skilled Care at Klein

We have also added to our offerings at the Klein Center, our long-term care facility.  During the pandemic, communities were shut down due to staffing challenges. We reopened Madison Avenue, our skilled rehabilitation unit in January, with the River Junction community reopening in November. This increased our capacity by 32 private rooms, allowing more local residents to make the 5-star facility their new home, whether for the short term or longer.

Successful Partnerships

Community partnerships are key to our success. We were honored to receive the 2024 Outstanding Business & Partnership Award from the Community Colleges of Iowa. We were nominated by Southeastern Community College for the work we have done together to enhance and expand SCC’s health programming. In addition to providing nursing students monetary stipends for the past three years, totaling $1.2 million, we partnered to launch a new radiologic technology program. The 24-month program welcomed its first class in the fall with sixteen students on the SEIRMC, West Burlington campus.  Also new this year was our partnership with A.T. Still University (ATSU) in Kirksville, Missouri. Three medical students are completing their clinical rotations at Great River Health. They will spend the next two years rotating between the different specialties we offer, spending one month in each area.  These students will gain hands-on experience from the medical providers throughout the health system. These partnerships will help us grow and maintain home-grown talent which is important as we move into the future.

Celebrating our Dedicated Employees

Throughout 2024, we have had many opportunities to celebrate the positive impact our employees are making every day on our patients, their co-workers, and the community.   Deborah Marlin, RN, Case Manager, Chaplain, Southeast Iowa Regional Home Health & Hospice was honored as one of only eleven hospital employees across Iowa as a Hospital Hero at the Iowa Hospital Association Annual Meeting in October. Her nomination explained how she is more than a hospice nurse; she's a beacon of compassion and joy for patients and their families during their most challenging times. In February, we held our Extraordinary Achievement Awards Banquet honoring eight of our employees: Emma Kruse, Tiffany Rhoades, Rebecca Crew, Brandi Settles, Gabrielle Kemper, Shauna Freitag, Dr. Loren Reed, and Shane Tapper for their Excellence in Practice as nominated and selected by their peers.  At this same banquet, we recognized our 310 Great River Health employees reaching 45-to-5-year service milestones.   

Great River Health awarded the DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses® to three registered nurses in 2024. The award is part of the International DAISY Foundation's mission to recognize the extraordinary, compassionate nursing care nurses provide patients and families every day.  Those recognized were Dana Strawhacker, Emma Nehring, and Marissa Gibb. 

While we mark 2024 with significant accomplishments and celebrations, we also acknowledge there were some bumps along the way. Healthcare is challenging and achieving a positive bottom line remains a focus for Great River Health. With over 2,600 employees, we feel a strong responsibility to provide them with a competitive wage, and a safe work environment so they in turn can support the communities where they live. Recruiting medical staff, keeping our technology up-to-date, and maintaining our facilities all add to the bottom line but are crucial for us to continue to deliver the quality care our patients deserve, locally.

The Future

As we move into 2025, Great River Health will invest in a new electronic health record (EHR) platform switching from Oracle (Cerner) to Epic. This will be the first major project undertaken as a health system, bringing our resources together to accomplish a shared outcome. The change to Epic will improve the patient experience through a better patient portal with MyChart, improved patient outcomes, increased care coordination, and better population health management. Increased efficiency and standardization with better processes and reporting utilizing data-driven decision-making will contribute to operational improvements. It will increase staff productivity, and aid in recruiting and retaining staff and providers, as 90% of medical students in the US are trained on Epic.  

Looking ahead, we are excited to continue building upon our commitment to invest in our communities by bringing quality healthcare to our family, friends, and neighbors. Thank you for being a vital part of our journey, and here's to a bright and prosperous new year.