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At the center of every community is something whose activity
keeps it vital. Something whose strong, rhythmic beat can be
used as a measure of the community's health. Something that
sets the standard for human caring and compassion. Something
that helps us grow, helps us reach, helps us learn, helps us
live.
Every community has a heart. Sturgis
Hospital is ours. And, like your heart, our community's
heart works best when we keep it healthy. How can you do that?
Make Sturgis Hospital your first choice for the services at
which it excels. There are many of them ... and many reasons
to trust them:
 Sturgis
Hospital has earned the Gold Seal of Approval accreditation
from The Joint Commission. It has also been named by one of
the foremost independent ranking services as one of the top
100 community hospitals in the country. And many of our areas
of practice and support services have been recognized for their
quality.
Many
of the highly skilled specialists based in Kalamazoo's major
medical centers also offer their services right here at Sturgis
Hospital.
The
nurses, technicians and other support staff at Sturgis Hospital
are highly experienced ... with an average of nearly 20 years
of service.
As a smaller hospital, serving a smaller population, the doctors
and staff at Sturgis Hospital can offer you more in-depth and
personalized care.
It's your hospital, and it can only care for you if you care
for it. Nourish it with your attention, your time and your contributions.
Pay
attention to what's going on. Learn more about the hospital,
its operations, its people and the business in which it operates.
Offer
your time, through any number of volunteer opportunities. From
helping patients complete forms to securing toys for hospitalized
children, volunteers are integral to Sturgis Hospital's success.
Find out more about them here.
Make
a financial contribution. As costs escalate and reimbursements
shrink, contributions become an even more important element
in the hospital financial picture. Your contributions to the
Sturgis Hospital Foundation Fund are tax-deductible ... and
help in a variety of ways.
Between the marketing efforts of major regional medical centers
and the oversimplified view of television medical dramas, the
public loses sight of the roles of different kinds of hospitals
and medical care ... and the special rules they live by.
Sturgis
Hospital is a community hospital. It is designed, equipped and
staffed to offer high-quality, personalized local care for the
most common needs of the local community.
Advanced specialty care, on the other hand, is best left to
institutions which are designed, equipped and staffed for it.
Sturgis Hospital serves as a gateway to those services - its
role is assisting in preparatory and follow-up care.
Sturgis
Hospital also serves as a delivery system for specialists. It
has ready access to many of the same major medical center specialists,
who frequently offer services right here in Sturgis.
What
hospitals collect for patient stays, diagnostic and surgical
procedures and other services are determined not by what they
actually cost the hospital, but by what Medicare, Medicaid and
insurance companies are willing to pay. Sturgis Hospital charges
an average of $10,236 for treatment for 11 common diagnoses,
as tracked by HealthGrades. Medicare reimbursements for them
average $7,399; private insurance pays $9,927.
Nonprofit
hospitals are required to provide care for anyone who needs
it - regardless of whether or not the patient can pay. Between
shortfalls in Medicare and Medicaid payments, charges that could
not be collected, or "charity care" - care given to people with
no ability to pay - Sturgis Hospital's unpaid cost for patient
care in fiscal 2007 was $4.5 million.
The biggest challenge facing small community hospitals is a
shift in what's called "payer mix." Patients with higher-paying
insurance programs often choose to go to major-market medical
centers, feeling they'll receive "better" care resulting in
community hospitals serving more patients with Medicare, Medicaid
or no coverage at all. That leaves the community hospitals with
ever-escalating costs of providing care, with an ever-shrinking
pool of reimbursement to pay for it.
The phenomenon is not unique to healthcare. We shop at the big
box chain stores, yet bemoan the loss of our local, "mom & pop"
retailers.
The big difference, in this case, is that Sturgis Hospital is
not just another "mom & pop" retailer. For 12,000-plus people,
it is the nearby, local provider of 24-hour emergency care.
It is one of the largest employers in the county. And it is
an essential element in the area's future economic development.
Passing up your community hospital for the major medical center
in hopes of receiving better care is wise for complex or rare
conditions that require highly qualified specialists. But, ironically,
for the most common diagnostic and treatment procedures, you'll
probably receive "better" care from your community hospital.
The major medical center is generally far less personal, as
doctors and nurses tend to a much larger number of patients.
Except for all but the most advanced or complicated cases, much
of the direct care is provided by students and residents. And
the care is farther away from your support network - family
and friends.
Sturgis Hospital's patient satisfaction surveys confirm that.
So do Medicare's Hospital Compare ratings.
Every commuity has a heart. Sturgis Hospital is ours. For more
than 80 years, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, the heart
of our community has been beating strongly. And it will continue
to beat for generations to come -- if you support it.
If you'd like to know more, contact the Sturgis Hospital Marketing
and Public Relations office at (269) 659-4385, or send your
questions or comments via email to pyouga@sturgishospital.com.
Materials are available to help you learn more about:
The
importance of Sturgis Hospital to the local economy
How
hospital finance is different from most other businesses
How
Sturgis Hospital's financial team is meeting difficult challenges
The
importance of the community hospital in the continuum of care
View our Flash
Presentation (60MB)
Download
the PowerPoint presentation (29MB)
Download
the Advertorials
Listen to our audio files!
• Advertorial 1 Sturgis without SH
• Advertorial 2 New Knee
• Advertorial 3 Dollars are tight
• Advertorial 4 Being a non-profit
• Advertorial 6 Health Care Math
• Advertorial 7 Every Community has a Heart
• Advertorial 8 One thing to Sturgis People
• Advertorial 9 Goverment Bailout
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