Gunderson Palmer Lutheran Hospital and Clinic

Palmer Lutheran Health Center is a 25-licensed bed critical access Hospital. The only Hospital in west union, Iowa, and employs about 235 employees. Palmer Lutheran Health Center also has three rural Health clinics in the communities of west union, fayette and postville, a home care department, hospice department, and home medical equipment department. In addition, Palmer operates an afterhours and weekend walk-in Clinic, allowing patients to be seen 7 days a week in this setting. This is offered to specifically meet community Health needs of working families. Annually, Palmer has about 375 admissions, 70 live births; over 3,300 emergency Center visits, about 21,000 patient visits in the clinics and performs over 620 surgeries (including ambulatory).accomplishments: when renovated, the Hospital was designed to achieve three goals - create a healing environment that welcomes and supports patients/families, design work areas to better accommodate current and future technologies, systems and approaches to care, and to comply more fully with hippa regulations. Palmer Lutheran Health Center leads delivery of healthcare to its region through over 215 associates (including 4 physicians, 4 physicians assistants, 4 nurse practitioners and 3 behavioral Health providers) which coordinate care to deliver patient care as an integrated unit. Palmer Lutheran Health Center and its affiliates also work seamlessly to meet the needs of the communities they serve. Requirements of the irs community benefit standards for tax-exempt organizations are integral to Palmer Lutheran Health Center's larger charitable mission of improving Health and quality of life. Specifically, Palmer Lutheran Health Center is governed by a board that includes 3 independent board members who are community leaders, consumer representatives, business experts, and clinical healthcare experts. The board has a history of commitment to acting with the highest of integrity for the benefit of the community. Palmer Lutheran Health Center also makes medical care accessible to the entire community it serves. Palmer operates a full-time emergency room and provides emergency care regardless of ability to pay. Palmer provides clinical services needed to operate the emergency Center and provides on-site emergency medical, rescue and medical transportation services. In addition, Palmer Lutheran Health Center, through its integrated network of providers, provides non-emergency services to the community it serves. It makes these services accessible to the community through participation in government programs like medicare and medicaid and by helping through Palmer's charity care policy, and social services department. Palmer Lutheran Health Center utilizes technology that provides a complete electronic medical record. Our electronic Health record is connected to gundersen Health system, which allows us to share test results and other patient information. This enhances the patient care at our facility, as well as other gundersen entities throughout the region. The Health Center does not pursue collection of amounts determined to qualify for charity care, they are not reported as revenue. The amounts of charges foregone for services provided under the Health Center's charity care policy were $961,841 for the ten months ended september 30, 2023. The estimated costs of the charges foregone, based upon an overall cost-to-charge ratio calculation were $609,457. The Health Center also commits significant time and resources to endeavors and critical services which meet otherwise unfulfilled community needs. Many of these activities are sponsored with the knowledge that they will not be self-supporting or financially viable. Palmer Lutheran Health Center takes its mission to improve Health and quality of life of the people it services a step further by reaching out to meet the broad Health needs of the community. It strives to identify community needs beyond basic healthcare, then respond to them, aiming to make a positive, life-enhancing difference in the community. Palmer Lutheran Health Center takes a strategic, community needs-based approach to delivering benefits to the community.