Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

VALLEY — EAMC-Lanier’s  transition to a rural emergency hospital (REH) is well under way and on track to be completed by December 1st. The hospital’s geriatric psych unit closed on Monday when the last patient being treated there was transferred out.

A total of 86 people who had been working at EAMC-Lanier will be transferred to the campus of the East Alabama Medical Center in Opelika. A few who have chosen to remain in Valley will be transferred into positions remaining at EAMC-Lanier.

EAMC-Lanier’s director of nursing, Melanie Mooney, was the guest speaker at Wednesday’s noon hour meeting of the Kiwanis Club of Valley and talked about the transition that’s taking place.

The rural emergency hospital, or REH, is a relatively new type of Medicare provider and was created by Congress in the aftermath of the Covid pandemic. Its creation was part of the 2021 Consolidated Appropriations Act. REHs are meant to reinforce access to outpatient medical services and to reduce health disparities in areas that may not be able to sustain a full-service hospital. The new REH designation aims to maintain access to emergency services, observation care and additional medical and outpatient services in lesser populated areas.

Lee County, where EAMC is located, has approximately 180,000 people. By contrast, EAMC is in nearby Chambers County, with an estimated 34,000 people.

The conversion to a rural emergency hospital is not the best of all possible worlds, but it’s far better than having the hospital close. What will remain at EAMC-Lanier is a full-service emergency room which should provide even better service than it has before.

“The nurses will be trained as trauma specialists,” Mooney explained. “This will be a big change. We have always stabilized people but haven’t been that much into trauma care.”

The Bruce Lanier Surgery Center should remain a busy place. Those seeking ambulatory surgery should like the ample parking outside the hospital and the ease of walking inside. It’s not that way at EAMC in Opelika, a mammoth place with hard-to-find parking spaces in close proximity to the main building.

For anyone who needs the kind of surgery when they can leave the same day, going to EAMC-Lanier will be a good option.

Mooney said that EAMC-Lanier will maintain outpatient services such as physical and occupational therapy, which will be moving to the hospital’s second floor.

EAMC-Lanier will be a facility offering one-day service. People coming to the emergency room, for example, can be stabilized for up to 24 hours. At that time, they can either be released or transferred to EAMC in Opelika if they need continued care.

The EAMC-Lanier emergency room will be providing expanded services. There will be six additional chairs for those who can be treated while sitting. The ER doctors will still be provided by EAMC. The local hospital will maintain MRI and x-ray services and will still be doing mammograms.

“Fewer people will be there, but quality services will be provided,” Mooney said. “There will be some visible changes. We are asking people to be patient with us. We gladly welcome volunteer services, and we’ll still have a Tree of Lights this year.”

The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 was designed to allow rural hospitals to continue operating with outpatient and emergency services only. This was seen as a far better alternative than closing altogether. Under this act, REHs can receive enhanced payments if they meet certain requirements.

Approximately one in seven Americans live in a rural community that faces distinct challenges including higher rates of some chronic diseases and limited access to health care. Some of these challenges have worsened in the last decade. Since 2010, nearly 140 rural hospitals across the nation have closed, and the financial viability of the remaining rural hospitals is an ongoing concern. The National Advisory Committee on Rural Health and Human Services notes that when a rural hospital closes, mortality in that community increases, the local community suffers and residents must travel farther to obtain medical care.