Regionals: IHS management criticized by outgoing senator and more news ...

GREAT BEND, Kan.—Central Kansas Medical Center will cease inpatient care and change its name to St. Rose Ambulatory and Surgery Center, according to a news release. The 61-bed hospital is part of Catholic Health Initiatives, Denver. The change is prompted by the shift of services to outpatient settings, which cover 80% of the services offered at the hospital already, according to the release. The hospital has been averaging about eight patients staying overnight per day. Between the main campus and a cancer center, services will include urgent care, surgery, cancer care, physician clinics, imaging, a laboratory and other services. The name reflects the original St. Rose Hospital that eventually became Central Kansas Medical Center, according to the release. CHI tried to close what was then St. Joseph Memorial Hospital in nearby Larned, Kan., in 2009. A local group fought the closure and sought to take over the facility and its critical-access status. CHI relented and handed it over in March 2010 as part of a settlement of a lawsuit filed by the Kansas attorney general. The 55-bed hospital, renamed Pawnee Valley Community Hospital, is managed under contract by Hays (Kan.) Medical Center.

ANN ARBOR, Mich.—St. Joseph Mercy Health System, an Ann Arbor-based division of Trinity Health, completed its acquisition of Michigan Heart, a physician-owned cardiovascular practice with 33 cardiologists practicing in eight Southeast Michigan locations. Michigan Heart is based at the Michigan Heart & Vascular Institute at St. Joseph Mercy Ann Arbor. The deal, first announced Nov. 18, calls for the 326 employees of Michigan Heart to become employees of St. Joseph Mercy. Keith Burmeister, formerly the CEO of Michigan Heart, becomes the vice president of clinical service lines for St. Joseph Mercy and will oversee orthopedic and oncology services as well as cardiology, according to a St. Joseph Mercy news release. Financial terms were not disclosed. Michigan Heart patients “will continue to be cared for at the hospital of their choice,” according to the release. “The transaction fits with our strategy to develop an aligned network of the region's top primary-care physicians and specialists and positions both organizations to succeed under future healthcare reform measures,” Rob Casalou, president and CEO of St. Joseph Mercy Ann Arbor, Livingston and Saline hospitals, said in a release when the Michigan Heart deal was announced. Last month, St. Joseph Mercy completed its acquisition of IHA, a 156-physician multispecialty group with 32 practices in the Ann Arbor region.

ABERDEEN, N.D.—The Indian Health Service was criticized for poor management in a report released by outgoing Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.), who was chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs. Dorgan retired at the end of the 2010 session after 18 years in the Senate representing North Dakota, a state with the country's seventh largest Native American population. Dorgan's report cited the IHS' Aberdeen Area for mismanagement, lack of employee accountability and financial integrity, and insufficient oversight of facilities. “Our investigation found a chronic state of crisis at the Indian Health Service's Aberdeen Area,” Dorgan said in a news release. “It requires urgent and immediate corrective action across a broad front,” Dorgan said. The Aberdeen Area, which includes 18 tribes and nine IHS service units and facilities in four states, has an annual budget of $293 million, according to the report. The report is part of a formal investigation started in June that followed what Dorgan said was years of hearing from patients and employees about substandard care and mismanagement.