By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post
Hays has a new service that brings radiology services directly to patients wherever they may be.
Wichita-based Kansas Mobile Solutions started offering services in Hays and the surrounding area this spring. Patients who can’t be easily moved to a hospital or clinic can have X-rays and EKGs done at their bedsides.
Lachelle Peterson,n director of business development/account services, said the company often works with nursing homes, detention facilities, rehabilitation facilities and even private clients through home health and serve clients within a two-hour radius of Hays. The service is performing 30 to 40 services per month, but hopes to grow that number.
Moving a patient for an exam is often not in the best interest of the patient, Peterson said. If weather is icy or dangerously hot, a patient has dementia or Alzheimer’s or a patient is obese and would be hard to move, allowing the patient to stay where they are can be beneficial.
Tina Brown, director of mobile operations, said, “We are dealing with an elderly population who are in a facility for a reason. There is some reason they are there. They cannot live on their own or it is difficult for their family members to care for them.
“So when we can come in and be able to ease their confusion — their pain whatever it might be and they can stay right there in their bed in the comfort of their own home, it is very less traumatizing on the patient in so many aspects.”
The service can eliminate transportation costs and costly ER visits, allow patients to be treated in their facility and reduce hospital readmission rates. All of this can reduce costs to Medicare.
In Wichita, a five-mile ambulance ride to Wesley can cost $600 one way. Eliminating this transport, saves Medicare at least $400.
ER costs add up quickly. There is the cost of staff to travel with the patient, cost of a doctor seeing the patient in the ER and other tests and treatment that may be done in the ER.
“When we come to the bedside, all they are charged is for the exam and the trip charge,” Peterson said.
The service can be used when a patient falls. Many facilities have to meet certain protocols within set time frames in evaluating a patient who has fallen. The mobile service can often be done more quickly than a service in the ER. It may prevent an unnecessary trip out of the facility if X-ray indicates no injury or result in a faster admission to the hospital if the patient is injured. The X-rays can be burned to a disc and be handed off to hospital staff when the patient arrives at the hospital.
Kansas Mobile Solutions does not seek to replace hospital, emergency rooms or clinics. It is there as an alternative when appropriate, Peterson said.
The company works with physicians and can quickly have X-rays and ultrasounds read through digital technology. The pictures pop on a laptop in the patient’s room and can be seen there. The tech hits send, and the image goes straight to the radiologist.
“Continuity of care is what we strive for,” Brown said. “Being digital and being able to send digital and the turn around time on our reports helps us to make quicker response times to the facility and for the patient so they are not having to wait so long in the ER or in a clinic.”
Kansas Mobile Solutions also is very concerned about quality and has equipment equal to or better than what can be found in a hospital, Peterson said. The technicians are specially trained to work in the field to use what they have available to capture the best images possible. The technicians also have special training working with patients with dementia and Alzheimer’s.
“If our quality was not good, the Wichita Radiological Group would not be standing behind us,” Brown said.
The company’s radiologists own stock in the company.
Kansas Mobile Solutions would like to expand its services in Hays to include ultrasound, but has had trouble finding qualified sonographers.
Sonograms can find blood clots, which can be treated immediately at the patient’s bedside.
The company offers services 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays. It will do call outs outside of normal hours if a technician is available. The Wichita branch works 24 hours, seven days a week. Hours could be expanded in Hays if demand increases.
Kansas Mobile Solutions can be reached at 316-722-3957 by emailing Peterson at [email protected] or visit the company’s website at http://ksmobilesolutions.com/.