Leading the Way; Healthcare Leadership in 2022
By Alex Strauss
As we do each December, we are excited to close out the year with a look back at some of the top stories featured in MED Magazine over the past 12 months. This year, we are focusing on community leadership - by individuals and institutions - as demonstrated by expansions, awards, new initiatives, promotions, grants, and, of course, selection for the cover of MED Magazine.
We realize that this is by no means an exhaustive list of the extraordinary leaders who provide and support medical care in our region, but we hope that it inspires you and makes you proud to continue to be a part of this vital and vibrant medical community.
These issues are always available for VIP list members to read. Join the VIP list at to receive a link to the entire archive.
January/February
Life at the Intersection of IT and Clinical Care
Stephanie Lahr, MD, Chief Information Officer, Monument Health
The COVID-19 pandemic presented challenges to every industry - but none more than healthcare. Within just a few months, care delivery approaches that had worked for decades were no longer adequate to meet the needs of medical facilities or the communities they served. That's where people like Stephanie Lahr, MD, Chief Information Officer and Chief Medical Information Officer at Monument Health come in. Board certified in both internal medicine and clinical informatics, Dr. Lahr walks the crucial line between medicine and technology to help her colleagues on both sides of that line navigate the largely uncharted waters of medicine in the digital age.
"My interest in clinical informatics really grew out of a belief that technology was going to be central to the evolution of patient care delivery over time," Lahr told MED. "If I wanted that to go well, I felt like I should be a part of making that happen and not standing on the sidelines."
But Lahr says technology is not just about efficiency; it's also about better relationships. By reducing friction and streamlining processes, Lahr believes it can help restore the joy of practicing medicine.
March
Good Timing in Tough Times
Huron Regional Medical Center
Less than a year after Huron Regional Medical Center CEO Eric Larson joined the team in August of 2020, 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 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 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.
April/May
Joining Forces, Improving Health
The Center for Neurosciences, Othopaedics & Spine
The Center for Neurosciences, Orthopaedics & Spine (CNOS) has a long history of providers joining forces to achieve their mission of improving health in the tri-state region of Iowa, Nebraska, and South Dakota.
Fourteen Siouxland-area neurologists, neurosurgeons, and orthopaedists - specialists that in some regions may even view each other as competitors - combined their practices in 1998 to form the original clinic in Dakota Dunes, South Dakota.
In the nearly 24 years since then, the team has expanded to 38 doctors, ten specialties, four clinic locations, 22 outreach sites, and more than 300 employees. Through partnerships with the Dunes Surgical Hospital, Mercy Medical Center and UnityPoint Health–St. Luke's, CNOS providers have contributed to HealthGrades 5-Star ratings in joint replacement, total knee replacement, total hip replacement, hip fracture repair, cervical spine and treatment of stroke.
Now, CNOS has formed yet another strategic alignment, this time with Tri-State Specialists, an independent multi-specialty practice in Sioux City.
June
Neurosurgical Care for South Dakota's Smallest Patients
Dr. Eric Trumble & Dr. Shawn Vuong of Sanford Children's
No parent wants to find themselves in Dr. Eric Trumble's officer at Sanford Children's. And Trumble can certainly empathize. In addition to being one of only two pediatric neurosurgeons in South Dakota, he is also a father of seven.
Along with pediatric neurosurgeon Shawn Vuong, MD, Trumble treats problems ranging from hydrocephalus, to epilepsy, cerebral palsy, spina bifida, complex brain tumors, and a host of other brain and spinal diseases and congenital abnormalities. Both doctors also treat adult patients.
"About fifty percent of all pediatric neurosurgery is done by adult neurosurgeons with an interest in pediatrics," says Dr. Trumble, who became the state's first board certified pediatric neurosurgeon when he joined Sanford in 2018. "Dr. Vuong and I have done an additional fellowship beyond our adult residency so we have more than an interest in pediatrics."
Vuong says he was drawn to pediatric neurosurgery not so much for its specificity as for its diversity.
"In pediatric neurosurgery, we can treat traumas, vascular issues, spinal problems, tumors, peripheral nerves, and more. I felt like a pediatric fellowship was going to allow me to expand as a neurosurgeon."
July/August
On the Road with Surgical Institute
SI Surgeons Meet Critical Rural Needs
In today's healthcare environment - with demand rising and the workforce shrinking - it's harder than ever to find timely access to quality care. But the challenge is often even greater for residents of our many rural communities, officially defined as towns of fewer than 2,500 people.
But access for these residents is critical, not only for preserving their health, but for the ongoing health and economic stability of their communities. Unfortunately, the logistics of trying to ensure adequate access for these residents can be formidable.
Enter Surgical Institute of South Dakota, PC, an independent Sioux Falls-based team of board-certified general surgeons. In addition to being on staff at Avera McKennan Hospital & University Medical Center, Sioux Falls Specialty Hospital, Avera Heart Hospital of South Dakota, and Sanford USD Medical Center, SI surgeons have also spent decades serving small, outlying hospitals and clinics. Today, those include Flandreau, Dell Rapids, and Freeman, South Dakota, and Hendricks and Tyler, Minnesota.
This article focused on Dr. David Strand and Dr. Donald Wingert, whose consistent presence in the towns they serve decreases the need for patients to travel for routine surgery, but it also provides backup for rural primary care providers and contributes to the overall financial health of rural hospitals.
September/October
Challenge Accepted
USD Stands Ready to Meeting Growing Healthcare Workforce Demands
Well before the pandemic triggered a mass exodus of healthcare workers, South Dakota's clinics and hospitals were already suffering from major workforce shortages, especially of nurses. Now, it's worse.
The University of South Dakota has recently expanded and transformed spaces for its School of Health Sciences programs in both Vermillion and Sioux Falls in an effort to help address the problem.
School of Health Sciences students hone their team-based skills in two primary buildings - the new, dedicated SHS building on the Vermillion campus, and the recently-transformed University of South Dakota-Sioux Falls building (formerly the Community College for Sioux Falls).
Both facilities are state-of-the-art and are designed to efficiently facilitate collaborative learning, accommodate larger class sizes, and offer true-to-life-clinical environments.
"Team-based teaching and learning are foundational to the way we provide education here," says School of Health Sciences Dean Haifa Abou Samra.
"The framework we use is that graduates need to have two types of skills. They need tech skills specific to their profession. But there are also cross-functional skills that all professions need. They are extremely important for the success of the graduate because they are related to patient safety and quality."
November
Advanced Stroke Care at Monument Health
Dr. Jae Kim and Dr. Lien Diep
Stroke can be debilitating - and even deadly - no matter where it occurs. But when a stroke happens in an area without ready access to neurointerventional stroke specialists and cutting-edge clot retrieval technology, the risk is even higher. Until recently, that was the situation for many Black Hills area stroke victims.
"In the time it takes to send someone to Sioux Falls for neurointerventional treatment, lives were being lost," says neurologist Lien Diep, MD, medical director of Monument Health's new stroke program.
One critical step on the path to a comprehensive stroke program in the Black Hills was the addition of interventional neurologist Jae Kim, MD. Dr. Kim moved from Sioux Falls to Rapid City last spring to join the Monument Health Neurology and Rehabilitation Clinic.
Another important piece was a new hybrid operating room, an advanced procedural space that combines a traditional operating room with an image-guided interventional suite. The room is home to a state-of-the art biplane cineangiography system which produces sophisticated real-time, three-dimensional imaging of vessels deeps in the head and neck.
”I came to Monument because I saw what they were creating and I wanted to be part of that growth," says Dr. Kim.
