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Sacagawea Medical Center and Coal Country report staffing gains, new equipment and local service gaps
Summary
Hospital and community clinic officials told the Mercer County Commission they are financially stable, have fewer contract travelers, added imaging capacity and cite shortages of specialists, behavioral-health services, affordable housing and daycare in the county.
Sacagawea Medical Center and Coal Country Community Health told the Mercer County Commission on Wednesday that both facilities have improved staffing and ended the recent reliance on traveling clinicians, while adding new equipment to expand local services.
The update came during the commission’s morning session when Kurt (presenter) summarized operational and financial results for the county’s two health providers. He said the hospital employs about 139 staff and Coal Country about 143, and reported turnover rates of roughly 18% and 22%, respectively.
Kurt told commissioners neither facility is currently using traveling nurses or locum clinicians, reversing a trend from three to four years ago. He also described preliminary, unaudited operating results: Sacagawea had about a $1.4 million positive margin and Coal Country roughly $52,000 positive, noting audits remain in progress.
Why it matters: Local leaders told the commission these changes affect access to care and county finances. Both facilities are critical access providers that coordinate with the ambulance service and nursing home and depend on local capacity to retain patients and keep services locally available.
Hospital improvements and service lines: Kurt said the hospitals completed a three-year community health needs assessment and identified four primary local concerns: (1) availability of specialists (noting long waits in Bismarck), (2) mental-health services at all ages, (3) insufficient affordable housing and (4) limited child daycare. To expand care locally, the hospital installed a new CT scanner with coronary calcium scoring and moved to 3-D mammography with contrast. The hospital also plans to install a new chemistry analyzer and a chemotherapy hood in the pharmacy to support future oncology services.
Behavioral health and assisted living: Kurt described existing mental-health counseling embedded in local clinics and schools (Hazen and Beulah) and said Coal Country has worked to “grow our own” behavioral-health clinicians by hiring and training staff who initially could not bill. He warned of ongoing shortages of inpatient psychiatric beds statewide and said local emergency departments sometimes must hold behavioral-health patients while placement is sought. Kurt also said the county nursing home board approved a study of assisted-living demand to assess whether a local assisted-living option should be added; he noted Medicaid currently pays for basic care but not for assisted living and that a state task force is exploring combined licensure and a single payer source.
Daycare and workforce support: Commissioners and hospital leaders discussed daycare affordability and staffing. Kurt said the hospital participates in a local daycare cooperative with Basin and Knife River and helps with maintenance and other supports. He and commissioners discussed possible public–private options and local partnerships to make childcare more affordable for employees.
Commission response and next steps: Commissioners thanked the presenters and asked that the hospitals return with an annual update. The hospitals said they will continue implementing the facility master plan and will return to the commission with status reports as projects (equipment installations, the assisted-living study) progress.
Ending: The presentation closed with the commission noting the hospitals’ capital investments and urging continued coordination on behavioral-health capacity and workforce supports.
