Employee Handbook

The Handbook provides the framework to guide employees to become familiar with policies, procedures, benefits and other information relevant to employment at RHD and its affiliated facilities. In addition to being published in a handy-sized booklet, the Employee Handbook is also available online, at the RHD website under the Human Resources tab.

Topics covered in the Handbook include the Employment Process, Hours of Work and Pay, Benefits, Leaves of Absence, Communication, Expectations and Accountability and Standards of Employee Conduct.

The background on the cover of the Handbook features the words spelling out “C-H-E-E-R,” the core beliefs of Rural Healthcare Developers – Customer Service, Healthcare Services, Excellence, Effort and Responsibility.

All employees of RHD and its affiliated facilities have an annual orientation on the Employee Handbook.

The 10-bed renovation of a wing of the hilltop hospital is set to open Feb. 1 in response to the population trend in Houston County.

“It fills a need,” said Patrick Fields, Regional Director of Behavioral Health for Patients’ Choice. “The fastest-growing demographic in Houston County is age 65 and over, and it projects that way for the next 30 years.”

Kent Strum, the Chief Executive Officer at Patients’ Choice, said, “We could see from the outpatient program we’ve had for some time that we needed an inpatient program, too. We’re very happy about it and we think it will fit well with the community.”

Fields said the center will treat patients both physically and psychologically.

“We’ll have a holistic type of care,” Fields said. “We’ll treat our patients medically and behaviorally. With a psychiatrist, a psychiatric nurse practitioner and medical doctors, we’ll figure out what’s going on with the patients and help them.”

Fields said he has helped open senior care centers in other places and has found them to be “so beneficial.”

The Erin renovation has been under way for about a year, with Patients’ Choice maintenance men Billy Burgess and Larry Traylor doing the work. It has been an on-again, off-again proposition.

“We always have other projects come up,” Burgess said.

“We’re about finished,” Traylor said.

The senior center, which increases the hospital’s capacity from 25 to 35 beds, occupies rooms once used for the delivery of babies, for general patient care and for a doctors’ lounge.

“We’re very excited,” Fields said. “We want this to be a place where you’d bring your mom or your dad … or even yourself.”

Patients’ Choice, formerly Trinity Hospital, is owned by Rural Healthcare Developers, which is based in Tupelo, Miss., and operates hospitals in Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana and Georgia.

Rural Healthcare Developers assumed management of the 49-bed facility on November 1. At that time RHD staff helped Flint River in reworking its CON application. With an occupancy rate of 20% in 2009, the hospital was looking for a way to convert beds to a more useful purpose.

CON applications are considered on the basis of need in the health district. With the loss of an adult psychiatric program at Phoebe Sumter Hospital in Americus, GA following its destruction by a tornado in 2007, Flint River is now able to absorb the region’s shortage with the new 12-bed facility.

RHD CEO Ray Shoemaker is serving as interim administrator in Montezuma.  Flint River Hospital is located between Columbus, GA and Macon, GA, about 106 miles south of Atlanta.

A Certified Public Accountant with over 35 years experience in medical and industry fields, Donna will supervise accounting in RHD facilities in the southwest region: PCMC-Claiborne County, South Cameron Memorial Hospital and Calcasieu Oaks Behavioral Center in Lake Charles, LA.

A graduate of the University of Southern Mississippi, she began her career as a staff accountant in Laurel, MS. Her experience has included lead accounting positions in five hospitals.

She was Director of Accounting at Forrest General Hospital in Hattiesburg; CFO at Crosby Memorial Hospital in Picayune; CFO at Puckett Laboratory in Hattiesburg; Controller at Stone County Hospital in Wiggins; CFO at Marion General Hospital in Columbia; and CFO at Patients’ Choice Medical Center in Port Gibson.

Flint River Hospital is a 49-bed acute care facility located between Columbus, GA and Macon, GA, about 106 miles south of Atlanta.
According to the contract, RHD will assume management of the facility November 1. 2010.

Flint River Hospital

Flint River Hospital provides services for Swing Bed, Emergency Department, Surgical Services, Radiology, Respiratory Therapy, PT/Rehab, Sleep Studies, Cardiology, Podiatry, Urology and Laboratory. Three Medicare approved Rural Health Clinics are included in the operations of the hospital.
The hopital has filed a Certificate of Need application with the Georgia Department of Health to establish a 12-bed adult psychiatric and chemical dependency program.

Flint River Hospital is accredited by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Operations. The hospital has 101 employees and 12 physicians have hospital privileges.

With the management contract with Flint River Hospital, Rural Healthcare Developers now manages, leases and owns seven hospitals in Mississippi, Louisiana, Tennessee and Georgia.

Hilcrest Clinic, P.C., located next to Patinets’ Choice Medical Center of Erin, announces the addition of Dr. Michael Carter to the medical staff.

Carter is a recent graduate of the University of Tennessee Family Medicine Residency in Jackson, and joins Dr. Daniel Martin, Dr. Erin Chambers, Dr. Mark Landis, Family Nurse Practitioner Robin Black, and Physician Assistants Winfield Winegar and Ross Van Trump as a provider for Hilcrest Clinic.

“We are so pleased that Dr. Carter has decided to come home and practice medicine at Hilcrest Clinic,” said Martin in a news release. Chambers added, “Dr. Carter fits in great with our staff. He rotated here during medical school so he’s hit the ground running from the very beginning. We are blessed to have him here.”

The son of Stanley and Judy Carter of Indian Mound, Carter was a 1999 graduate of Stewart County High School. He graduated from Austin Peay State University in 2003, and the University of Tennessee School of Medicine in 2007. Carter and his wife, Heather, have one son, Ryan.Hilcrest Clinic has served Houston, Stewart, and the surrounding counties for 28 years.

It is at 4891 E. Main St. in Erin, next door to Patients Choice Medical Center. For more information call 289-4201.

The telemetry unit was upgraded as an effort to provide a safer patient environment and better continuity of care for patients. It provides monitoring care to patients who require cardiac and respiratory monitoring as well as close nursing supervision.

“It is a great system as it immediately alerts us of any negative signs in a patient’s condition, allowing us to begin any needed corrective measures right away.” said Lynn Meyer, emergency department RN.

The hospital’s central telemetry monitoring station also increases the number of patients who can be monitored, from 6 to 15.  This new unit is able to be remotely accessed and has the ability to monitor patients across the entire hospital.  This means, for example, that a patient who comes in through the Emergency Department and is assigned to the Acute Care wing, can begin receiving monitoring and treatment in any place in the hospital, immediately without having to wait to transfer to a bed in another part of the hospital.

“The  continuity of care is a true benefit,” says Pam Miller, RN  “Patients who have a cardiac history, but not a cardiac problem at the time of admission, can get the monitoring their doctor wants while receiving treatment in an area that is more appropriate to their current situation.”

“This unit helps us better serve the population of Erin and the patients that require it,” said Kim Hardin, RN.

At Patients’ Choice Medical Center, we do it right.  We do it right here, in Erin, TN.   The telemetry unit represents the hospital’s continued investment in areas such as equipment, technology and talent.

A process which may take up to one year, the Strategic Plan will examine every aspect of the aging hospital’s clinical, financial and operational functions and make recommendations to enhance profitability and examine replacement options.

Cooper Green Mercy Hospital is 149-bed county-owned facility that has historically provided charity care for Jefferson County residents. The hospital is descended from a meeting of a group of women concerned about charity care for the poor. The group became the Lady Board of Managers that opened the Hospital of the United Charities in 1888.

The current facility was opened in 1972.  It provides short-term acute care, surgery and intensive care. There is also an 18-bed geriatric psychiatry unit and has 412 employees.

The following is a short excerpt from The Cheerleader, the book authored by Ray Shoemaker, CEO of Rural Healthcare Developers.

“As a cheerleader, you have to be progressive. You have to feel confident and excited charting uncharted territory. As a cheerleader, you have to be forward thinking and advocate forward thinking in others.

You can be happy where you and your organization are today, but you cannot be satisfied with where you and your organization are today.

A leader asks the question: How can we do more? How can we improve? How can we become bigger, faster, and stronger as an organization, whether you’re a one-man operation, a department head, a CEO, or anywhere in between?

“The status quo is a leader’s enemy.”

So how do you communicate this idea of forward thinking to the men and women throughout your organization? You communicate it early and often. You create a culture among the men and women on your team of anticipating new trends and new opportunities without losing sight of the job that has to be done today. You share your vision. You demonstrate your optimism. You nurture their enthusiasm. When you’re in a meeting, block out a certain amount of time to look ahead. Encourage your people to share their ideas. Make sure they know that nothing is too radical or too off the wall. Then, when you’re ready to propose a new idea, you do your homework. You evaluate your resources. You test the waters.

A cheerleader, especially one new to his or her position, spends a great deal of time changing the mindset of their organization, department or team. Complacency is an easy trap to fall into, especially when things seem to be moving along fine. Changing the status quo when the status quo seems comfortable is difficult. But the cheerleader’s job is to think about the long-term as well as the short-term, and your people are counting on this even when they’re drifting toward complacency.

The Cheerleader is available from Amazon.com. Price $12.44.

Patients' Choice of Smith County

Ray Shoemaker, CEO of Rural Healthcare Developers has announced that the company has entered into a contract with Guardian Angel Healthcare, Inc., for administrative and clinical management of Patients’ Choice Medical Center of Smith County

RHD assumed management of the 19-bed acute care hospital effective May 17, 2010.

Rural Healthcare had a prior association with the Raleigh, MS hospital, having provided expertise in meeting regulatory and licensing procedures to reopen the facility in 2007. RHD allowed continued use of its brand name “Patients’ Choice,” in the event RHD might have an opportunity to manage the hospital in the future.

A hospital with Joint Commission (JCAHO) certification, PCMC has retained its state and federal licenses and its Medicare certification.

RHD will have responsibility for supervising and managing all hospital operations. Maintenance of the hospital will be assumed by RHD as well as providing supplies and services required in the operation.

Rural Healthcare assumes the responsibility of providing staff sufficient to ensure efficient and effective operations. PCMC currently employs approximately 27 hospital personnel.

Guardian Angel will retain three beds in the hospital to continue its hospice services managed separately by Guardian Angel.

Rural Healthcare Developers is a healthcare management and development company that concentrates on medical facilities in rural communities. RHD manages three hospitals and owns two hospitals. It owns and manages inpatient and outpatient behavioral health programs. The company has operations in Louisiana, Tennessee, Arkansas and Mississippi.