12/06/2007

When the Ponca City hospital changed hands last May 1, it awoke almost overnight to become the vibrant Ponca City Medical Center, visibly demonstrating growth and change — especially in the Center's aging emergency room, now being briskly ushered into the 21st century of medical treatment, technology and management.

Cornerstone is its name, a new concept of emergency room management which promises patients faster admittance and quicker attention in a redesigned setting staffed with physicians, nurses and physician assistants specially trained in emergency medicine — all this and a new 10,000 square foot ER now being built.

As described by Dr. Rick Blubaugh, managing partner of this new-age ER system, "Cornerstone is a Missouri based corporation, owned and operated by physicians who form partnerships with hospitals and medical centers to upgrade, modernize and staff ERs with the best healthcare available."

Speaking at the Noon Lions vision support group recently, Blubaugh said the Ponca City Medical Center ER has a long-term, exclusive contract with Cornerstone to staff the ER with 11 specially trained Cornerstone physicians, nurse practitioners and physician assistants who work 12 hour shifts, seven days a week, year-round.

In addition to the Ponca City ER, Blubaugh said Cornerstone also staffs hospitals in Joplin and Branson, Mo.

"Cornerstone operates its own free-standing urgent care in Ozark, Mo.," he added. "It is staffed by a physician or mid-levels, nurses, techs, office manager and clerical staff."

To manage and staff the ERs at its four medical sites, Blubaugh said Cornerstone currently employs about 30 physicians who specialize in emergency or urgent care medicine. In addition, 10 nurse practitioners and physician assistants are employed to support the physicians' roles in the ERs, and they all work side-by-side, he said.

"The NPs are registered nurses and PAs are physician assistants, both of whom have earned masters or doctorate degrees in their disipline," Blubaugh said. He added that the PCMC also staffs the ER with their own nurses, technicians and clerical personnel.

Born in 1967 at the Ponca City Medical Center and raised in Tonkawa, Blubaugh explained that Cornerstone doctors, NPs and PAs are all hand-picked medics who have proven themselves as efficient, competent and up to date in medical knowledge and procedures.

"Many of our physicians have subspecialty expertise, such as toxicology (poison), occupational medicine, emergency ultrasound, research, medical informatics (computer programs), pre-hospital and disaster medicine (ambulance and fire department medical supervision)," he said. "All physicians are trained in advanced cardiac life support, many are trained in advanced trauma life support and advanced pediatric life support," said Blubaugh.

Physians Hold the Key

He added that Cornerstone physicians will play a key role in developing new processes, logistics and flow patterns of the ER in partnership with Ponca City's medical center staff.

"Cornerstone will team with the hospital to identify areas where efficiency can be improved, such as discharge, lab and x-ray times, for instance," he explained.

When Dr. Blubaugh arrived at the First Christian Church this month to speak to the Noon Lions vision group, he was met by his mother, Pat Blubaugh, a registered nurse and Certified Diabetes Educator at the Ponca City Medical Center. She also spoke at the vision group's meeting.

Dr. Blubaugh had extensive training and numerous assignments in emergency medicine before attending OSU at Tulsa where he earned his doctorate in medicine in 1999. Soon afterwards he was certified by the American Board of Osteopathic Emergency Medicine. He joined Cornerstone in 2006.

Last April, when Cornerstone assumed ER duties at PCMC, Dr. Jumbo Eaton was brought aboard from Bartlesville to become Cornerstone's Medical Director.

In his position, Jumbo, as he prefers to be called, oversees daily operations of the new ER system.

"Jumbo has had a tremendous impact on Ponca City Medical Center, working diligently with the hospital staff and administration to make sure that the goals and objectives of the renewed emergency department are being maximized," Blubaugh said.

Jumbo stated that the through-put times in the ER have already dropped by about one hour. Through-put is the time calculated from when the patient first sees the doctor to the time the patient is either discharged to go home or admitted to the hospital for further treatment.

"Also," he added, "recent surveys have indicated that patient satisfaction has reached the 92 percentile when compared to like-size hospitals in the region. We anticipate further progress with these and other quality measures as time progresses, notably with the expansion of the ER to accommodate more patient rooms, thereby allowing Cornerstone to move patients through the system in an even more efficient and expeditious manner," Jumbo said.

Expansion Details

The new, expanded ER is expected to be completed by summer 2008, according to PCMC CEO's office.

"The new ER will be about twice as large and will have state-of-the-art in ER equipment. With the new design of the area there will be 20 patient rooms instead of the current nine," Blubaugh explained. "It is being built in a racetrack pattern with the nurses' station in the center looking outward toward the patients' rooms," he said.

"Even though there will be more rooms and more open space in the ER, there will be more privacy for patients," he added.

Asked if the number of doctors, NPs and PAs would be increased with the expanded ER, Blubaugh said, "Staffing will be increased on a pre-established model that adjusts staffing for patient volume increases."

Most of Cornerstone's new ER staff are permanently residing in the Ponca City area while a few may rotate from time to time to other hospitals and medical centers Cornerstone staffs, the doctor said.

Blubaugh went on to say that Cornerstone also operates a separate nursing staffing company (Cornerstone Nursing Solutions) which employs registered nurses who specialize in emergency or critical care nursing for temporary staffing. Cornerstone Nursing Solutions has two full-time RN's who manage this branch located at Joplin, Mo.

"These nurses can be placed in any medical center for which there is a temporary need, not just Cornerstone staffed ER's," he explained.

In addition to his job as Cornerstone's managing partner, Blubaugh wears another hat as co-medical director at Skaggs Community Hospital in Branson, Mo., where he and his wife Tamara and two sons reside. His base of operation is in Ozark, Mo.

Sitting at Cornerstone's headquarters in Joplin is Perry Hewitt, the corporation's executive director of operations. A former employee of PCMC, Hewitt attends to daily operations, finances, payroll, personnel recruitment, business development and is advisor to Cornerstone's board of directors. There are five permanent board members who meet monthly in Joplin.

Billing for hospital and ER physician services is done through PCMC's billing services.

Blubaugh said the corporation meets all payrolls of its medical and administrative employees.

In many ways, Cornerstone is striving to make Ponca City's emergency room one of the most enviable in the country, Blubaugh said.

"All of our people are dedicated to making Ponca City Medical Center, together with the new, expanded ER, the community's first choice in medical care," Dr. Blubaugh said. "We plan to do this by consistently delivering state-of-the-art emergency medical care in an efficient and cost-effective manner," he said.

"We will treat patients with dignity and respect and will be good stewards of their time and money," Dr. Blubaugh pledged.