Good Timing in Tough Times

Huron Regional Medical Center

By Alex Strauss

Erick Larson, CEO of Huron Regional Medical Center, joined HRMC in August 2020, just as the word "pandemic" was becoming a regular part of our vocabulary. Like everyone else, he had no idea what was coming, or that Huron itself would soon become "ground zero" for community spread of SARS-CoV2 in South Dakota. 

What he did know was that the staff and providers of HRMC were well-equipped to handle whatever came their way.  

"These people come from hardy stock," says Larson. "Most of them come from a long line of people who are used to putting their nose to the grindstone and getting things done. They know they can do hard things."

Larson himself has had to do plenty of hard things in the last two years, too, not only navigating the ship through the pandemic, but also making critical, time-sensitive decisions about expansions, acquisitions, staffing, technology, and other things that would have implications far beyond the immediate crisis. 

"Despite what's going on, there always needs to be incremental progress," says Larson. "We have to still be looking to what's the next right answer, regardless of what else is going on in the world. I think our timing was pretty good."

Upgrading Spaces and Technology

Less than a year after Larson joined the team, and with much of the rest of the region still struggling with pandemic overwhelm, HRMC embarked on three construction projects, including an expansion of their Physicians Clinic on the south side of the hospital, an expansion of the Emergency Room and outpatient treatment areas, and a new imaging center. 

The Clinic expansion, which is due to be completed later this year, adds a second level to the one-story building, doubling the space to house up to 20 physicians. Some of those physicians are coming from the longstanding Tschetter Hohm Clinic after HRMC assumed operations last summer in anticipation of several physician retirements. 

"The initiation of the second floor did work out really nicely," says HRMC Chief Medical Officer Cy Haatvedt, MD, a semi-retired general surgeon who worked with the Tschetter Hohm clinic for 27 years. "By the time the building would be completed, our providers would be able to move right in."

And the timing was good from another standpoint, too. Larson says the board's decision to pull the trigger on this project when it did, despite the uncertainty of the continuing pandemic, kept it from being bogged down by construction supply chain issues that have since affected so much of the country. 

"If we had waited, we would certainly be in that boat," says Larson. "But we rolled the dice a little bit and decided to go ahead and do it. We had the dollars in the bank, so that helped, too."

The timing of the ER expansion and the imaging center project, which included the purchase of a Philips Ingenia Ambition 1.5T open MRI and 3D mammography technology, was similarly fortuitous. 

"We had the bandwidth because we scaled back on elective surgeries for a while," says Larson. "So we had people with some time available." The same factors also made it a good time to implement a single EHR system for the three clinics and the hospital that each had their own.

"At the end of the day, we needed the efficiency that being on the same page provides." says Larson." EHR implementation is not always easy but, because of the situation, we were able to put it in place and start optimizing it pretty quickly." 

Recruiting and Supporting Staff

HRMC's recent expansions, the EHR implementation, and a hospitalist program started last year are timely for another reason, as well. As rural hospitals across the region struggle to recruit and maintain staff, these kinds of upgrades boost morale among current staff and help attract prospective employees. 

"These investments and the fact that we have added horsepower to our quality department show that we are serious about the quality that we provide," says Larson. "That is attractive to healthcare professionals considering working here."

"We are building a young medical staff and one of our big challenges will be to retain those people," agrees Dr. Haatvedt. 

To that end, Larson has implemented new performance measures and recognition programs for those who excel, as well as "softer" benefits like loosening of the dress code and paternity leave for fathers. 

As CMO, Haatvedt is finding ways to foster a sense of community and engagement among the medical staff with things like get-togethers and internal directories. It helps that many of the doctors and nurses who work here now or are coming in the next few years are actually from the Huron community.

As part of its "grow your own" philosophy, HRMC seeks out and works with local or regional students who want to return to the area to practice. Medical students who commit can enjoy incentives like stipends and loan forgiveness, sign-on bonuses, housing allowance, competitive salaries, and practice support when they arrive. 

HRMC was also the first recipient of a SD Department of Labor Health Care Apprenticeship Grant which has allowed them to offer LPN, CNA, and tech apprenticeships. And, at a time when many hospitals have had to bring in traveling nurses to supplement their staff, HRMC cut its budget for traveling nurses in half last year by working with area colleges and offering scholarships to bring in new RNs. 

"It is a pretty exciting time to be here," says Haatvedt. Even given the challenges of the last two years, with new technology, remodeled spaces, new doctors, and a staff committed to keeping care local, Haatvedt says everything "seems to be meshing together" for HRMC.

"We are tired like everyone else," says Larson. "But we are not going to be victims. We are going to be the captains of our own destiny. We owe that to our community."