Adventist Health Tulare

Adventist Health Tulare (AHTR) provides quality medical healthcare regardless of race, creed, sex, national origin, handicap, age, or ability to pay.Although, reimbursement for services rendered is critical to the operation and stability of Adventist Health Tulare, the organization recognizes that not all individuals possess the ability to pay for essential medical services.Adventist Healths vision is to enhance the health of the communities where we live and serve by engaging our communities and our patients in a new definition of and partnership for personal community health. In keeping with this commitment to serve all members of the community, the following coverage will be considered when individuals who need health care cannot afford to pay: Free care and/or subsidized care Care to persons covered by governmental programs at/or below cost Health/wellness activities and community education programsNot only does Adventist Health Tulare provide low-cost care to individuals covered by government programs, and those unable to afford healthcare, it also helps patients find and access private and governmental resources for healthcare benefits.AHTR recognizes below-cost reimbursement as charity and uncompensated care in meeting its mission to the entire community. The unreimbursed cost of providing care to these patients in 2022 was $24,668,558.The following Inpatient services were provided to all our patients:244 babies delivered466 surgeries performed9,091 patient days The following Outpatient services were provided to all our patients:32,047 emergency department visits2,301 outpatient surgeries performed16,884 outpatient visits AHTR recognizes it has an obligation to provide human services above and beyond its role as a healing facility. Schedule H provides more details on the tangible ways in which the organization is fulfilling its mission. The total unreimbursed cost of these community benefits in 2022 was $83,190.Adventist Healths mission statement of living Gods love by inspiring health, wholeness and hope is coupled with a vision to transform the health experience of our communities through collaborative programs, community investments and community outreach. We are inspired by the healing ministry, as represented by the life of Jesus Christ, and believe we are called to live out our mission intentionally in the communities we serve. In the small towns, suburbs, and inner cities we serve, we continue our journey to provide quality healthcare until every person made in Gods image has experienced the best health today, hope for tomorrow, and Gods love that endures forever.The following story illustrates how Adventist Health Tulare is able to provide quality care for our community in an extraordinary way:Angela Gutierrez, a medical assistant on Adventist Healths mobile care unit, was putting materials away after an event when a woman approached. Excuse me, maam, would you be able to take my blood pressure? the woman asked. Im not feeling well. She was shaking and said she felt dizzy.Angela immediately grabbed her blood pressure cuff to check her and read the numbers out loud. 280 over 180. Thats within the range of having a stroke. Angela helped the patient get to the closest emergency department, where she was admitted and treated.That was a close one, Angela says. If we hadnt been there, Id hate to think what wouldve happened to her. Once she was discharged, the woman returned to the Mobile Care unit with hugs and snacks. She knew we had saved her life and was so grateful we were there. For many of our community members who face transportation barriers, getting to the doctors office isnt always easy. Our mobile unit allows us to meet our community where they are and provide care physically and mentally. This program is entirely funded by donors and grants, and we need your help to keep it rolling. Were taking the best of what we have in our hospitals and our clinics, and we have equipped this mobile unit to go out into the areas that have not been seen before, explains Raul Ayala, MD, Ambulatory Medical Officer at Adventist Health Central Valley Network . We have towns that are less than 500 people or 1,000 people, and the next healthcare provider is maybe 30, 50 or even 100 miles away . The mobile unit is one part of our vision to bring healthcare including a growing number of medical specialties to clinics and sites throughout the region. This vision also includes the family medicine residency program at Adventist Health in the Central Valley and clinic rotations for medical assistant, physician assistant and nurse practitioner students from over 50 schools.Dr. Joseph Maddela, a third-year resident at Adventist Health, is grateful for the opportunity to serve in the mobile clinic. Having grown up in a rural community, its been my dream to give back to the people who raised me. Dr. Maddela and his colleagues provide care at clinics throughout the area and on the mobile unit, which travels across a 200-mile area and is fully equipped with the exam rooms, equipment and technology needed to provide care. I enjoyed getting to know the patients, learning what gives them hope, what makes them happy, and seeing their improvement through our care, he says. The mobile clinic also has increased the number of experiences and opportunities for students to learn more about Adventist Health, to learn more about the community, to learn more about how they can make a difference, says Dr. Ayala.Our mobile care unit visits schools, farms, homeless shelters and churches. This will allow us to find those patients that are in need, who dont visit a doctor, dont have access to good health care. and we will be that bridge that brings them from the community, into a medical home, because I know we provide the best health care in this Valley. God has given us this calling, and we need the community's support, says Dr. Ayala. Our dream is to have a mobile unit traveling north, east, south and west, serving our hard-to-reach communities. We have one unit, and it is doing incredible things and we are planning to add more units as the funds allow.Compassionate, high-quality patient care; life-saving and life-preserving medical and surgical services; advanced treatments in a community-based hospital; essential emergency services-these are the reasons we are in our community.Websites for our community benefit information: httpswwwadventisthealthorgaboutus...