By May, Central Kansas Medical Center of Great Bend, Kan., plans to discontinue inpatient care and focus on outpatient services. The facility is part of Denver-based Catholic Health Initiatives.
With the shift, Central Kansas plans to change its name to St. Rose Ambulatory and Surgery Center. Operating in two locations, St. Rose, which is named for a Peruvian saint, will offer urgent care, surgery, cancer services, clinics, home health and hospice. It plans to invest in new technology.
Administrators said the change reflects shifts in the health system, with more care now delivered on an outpatient basis. While Central Kansas is licensed for 99 beds, fewer than eight patients per day on average stay overnight, according to medical center statistics.
The next-closest inpatient facility is the 36-bed Great Bend Regional Hospital, about a mile away from Central Kansas.
Medical center administrators are securing a license change from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, and they are meeting with hospital and community leaders to discuss the transition. They expect a staff reduction.
Jean Lambert, executive vice president of mission integration at CHI, said the shift is reminiscent of how the facility's founding sisters once adjusted their work to the dictates of the times.
"Like the sisters, we must be willing to put aside what we have always known and be prepared to translate our ministry in new forms in order to meet new needs," she said. "This doesn't take away that pain that comes with the change, but what it does do is give us a reason for the change."
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