By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post
HaysMed recently released a tentative timeline for its new PET/CT scanner and discussed how the equipment will improve care for its patients.
HaysMed was awarded a $2.48 million federal grant through the Rural Health Transformation Program.
Shae Veach, vice president of regional operations, said the new scanner is scheduled to be in place by September 2027.
The hospital has used a mobile PET/CT scanner that is trucked in two days a week.
Eddie Herrman, HaysMed CEO, said the new scanner will assist both heart and cancer patients.
He said the scanners are being increasingly used to scan hearts to locate blockages.
“This begins to become a first-line diagnosis module before we would take them to a cath lab and actually shoot the dye, watch it through imaging, and see where the blockage exactly is pinpointed in the heart,” Herrman said.
“So for us, that's also part of what is exciting. That doesn't exist out here anywhere in western Kansas and really west of us until you get to Denver.”
The oncology department has used PET/CT scanners for some time as a diagnostic tool.
Herrman said the mobile unit limited access.
“... unfortunately for people in western Kansas, you're always chasing where's the mobile PET scan going to be,” he said.
Appointments could be weather- and driver-dependent.
Waiting for an appointment or test results can be agonizing for patients, Herrman said.
“Do they think I have some type of tumor? Do I not have a tumor? Has my tumor shrunk?” Herrman said. … “So having to wait for that is stressful for patients to have that delay, even when it's maybe just four days. That's a stressful four days.”
He added that the images from a static scanner are better than those from a mobile unit.
Veach said, “I think as technology changes, this is on the leading edge of what you're seeing. As technology changes, we're going to be at the forefront to show the innovation for patients and the access to the best possible care you can get on the diagnostic side of things.”
Herrman said quicker and more accurate results can result in better outcomes for patients.
The hospital will be remodeling a space on the first floor of the DeBakey Heart Institute to house the scanner.
The hospital anticipates it will be able to process more patients than it has with the mobile unit. Patients won’t have to be sent outside to receive their scans. Time in the scanner was being wasted as patients waited for the contrast they must take for the scans to become effective.
With the new configuration, multiple people can be administered contrast and be waiting for scans at the same time.
The mobile scanner has been in such demand that people are being scanned into the evening hours, Veach said.
The new scanner should be able to process 15 to 18 patients per day. The mobile scanner could scan a max of 12.
Veach said the new scanner would likely be operated 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays.
He said he did not anticipate any new staff would need to be hired to operate the new scanner. Existing staff will likely be retrained.
Economically, the scanner should help the hospital immediately by adding the new service line of cardiac scans.
Herrman said the new scanner will benefit all of western Kansas.
“... to get what this machine can do, you had to drive at least two and a half hours minimum to be able to get the cardiac side of it. The advanced technologies that'll come with this one compared to what's on the truck, so what a great win for western Kansas, and we're happy that it's here,” he said.
With the DeBakey Institute, cancer center and breast center, the scanner makes HaysMed a one-stop shop for patient care, he said.
Veach said the scanner has been on the hospital’s wish list for 20 years.
“We're very thankful that we were chosen to have it here, and I know our hematologist, oncologist and our cardiology team are really excited to have it here to be able to use,” he said.
HaysMed partner hospital, Gove County Medical Center, received $3 million through the same grant program to purchase an MRI.
“It's moving that imaging and those pieces closer to those communities that still need that,” Herrman said, “and it increases access out there because not everybody has an MRI. It opens up another opportunity for someone to drive closer to home to get access to that care.”
Herrman added, “We've submitted a grant for emerging technologies.
“So as they keep rolling them out, we're going to keep trying to participate in as many grants as we can that help either improve outcomes, improve access or improve efficiencies, because we also know that the more efficient we can be, the easier it is to drive down the cost of care for everybody.”