At a
recent board meeting, the Board of Commissioners for Three Rivers Hospital reluctantly
voted to suspend services of the Cardiopulmonary Rehabilitation program, also
known as Cardiac Rehab, as of May 22, 2014.
This was not an easy decision by the Board, especially knowing it will
affect both the patients and our employees. Due to the situation created by new
Federal guidelines that require the Cardiac Rehabilitation program of critical
access hospitals be directly supervised by a physician, and the district
hospital and medical facilities experiencing a shortage of physicians,
scheduling direct supervision has become difficult. It was the Board’s decision that this closure
was required to avoid non-compliance with the Centers for Medicare and MedicaidServices (CMS) “Conditions of Participation” of the new guidelines.
According
to hospital Board Chairman Vicki Orford:
“This has not been a quick decision.
The Board has been reviewing the program since September of 2013. CEO Bud Hufnagel and I have been working with
local physicians to make the program work.
The physicians have come to the conclusion they do not have enough time
to supervise the program because of their own practices. This program needs to be stable, sustainable,
and in the best interest of the patient and it is not at this time. As more physicians begin to practice in our
district and as we look at the option of starting our own clinic, we will
review the program in the future.” 
Patients and physicians have been notified of the program
closure. If anyone would like more
information, please contact Rebecca Meadows at 509.689.2517, extension 3416.
