Selected Podcast
A Small Hospital's Important Role in Keeping Essential Services in Rural Communities
Meet Bath Community Hospital's newest physician and his plan of this small hospital being all it can be to support the community it serves.
Featuring:
Matthew Burton, M.D.
Dr. Burton specializes in internal medicine, and in addition to serving as Medical Director of the physicians' group, he is also overseeing the hospitalist program at Bath Community Hospital. Transcription:
Joey Wahler: A rural hospital offers patients many features that other facilities don't, especially regarding patient relationships. So we're discussing building trust between a hospital and its community. This is Your Health is our Passion, a Bath Community Hospital Podcast. Thanks for listening. I'm Joey Wahler our guest, Dr. Matthew Burton, he's medical director of Bath Community Physicians Group Dr. Burton. Thanks for joining us.
Dr. Matthew Burton: Happy to be here. Thank you.
Joey Wahler: So first, tell us a little bit about your background and why you've taken on such a passion for serving a rural community?
Dr. Matthew Burton: So I grew up in north Carolinas where I was raised and have some ties to this specific area of Southwest Virginia through. Family, my father's family, as well as my mother's family. And every time I've ever passed through this area of Virginia, I just feel like it's home. When I first started out after residency, I was a hospitalist at a critical access facility in Lexington, Virginia. And just really have a passion for caring for the community. I never really wanted to get lost in the shuffle of a large metropolitan area and the smaller communities I feel as though I personally can make a greater impact in empowering folks to take control of their healthcare in these types of areas.
Joey Wahler: That's awesome. So let me ask you this. So rural community hospital, like yours really should have a different feel, right? From the time people walk through the door. Am I right? As opposed to bigger facilities and more populated areas. So what do you think is the first impression you want to give patients right out of the box?
Dr. Matthew Burton: I want them to be at ease. Healthcare in general is oftentimes anxiety provoking, whether you're going to your primary care's office or whether you have to go to the emergency department and be admitted to a hospital. And one of the greatest things that we do and can do is to put people's mind at ease. So a smile, a hello introduction, how's your day going those personal exchanges that make it more so a personal experience versus just a patient number and diagnosis.
Joey Wahler: And so what you're really alluding to there is that hospital patient relationship that I mentioned at the top in the introduction. So especially for a rural hospital, how crucial doctor, are those patient relationships and what do you think are a few of the main keys to building those?
Dr. Matthew Burton: So in, in general, one o the nice things about being in a small community is typically everybody knows everybody. And there's large families that continue to stay in, in rural areas. And so, there's a good chance when you come into the hospital, you're being greeted by one of your family members or a close personal friend or something along those lines. And that immediately kind of puts you at ease it's family healthcare. It's. That sterile environment or perceived as that sterile environment. That's really what I think is the main thing that, can contribute to it overall.
Joey Wahler: So let's talk now about amenities and actual services. Bath Community Hospital is a full service health system. You offer not only an emergency room, of course, and that physician's group that you head up, but there's diagnostic testing, there's physical and occupational therapy. There's even a pharmacy on the premises. So really that would seem to be just about everything a patient needs without of course, having to travel far distances for the same service.
Dr. Matthew Burton: Exactly.
Joey Wahler: So what are a few of the main things in terms of services right now at the facility that you're most proud of, that you want people to be aware of?
Dr. Matthew Burton: I think that the perception and not necessarily the perception, but the actuality of this group, they've had high turnover in providers over the course of the last several years. High turnover in providers, especially on a primary care side of things, is a difficult thing for patients to be able to deal with. You wanna feel as though your primary care really cares about who you are as a person and knows you, therefore knows your healthcare and knows where to go with things when it comes to your healthcare. When you get high turnover and you're having to reestablish that relationship each time for a year, two years, whatever it may be, it disrupts that continuity of care and sends the wrong message to the communities that we serve.
Really what we're trying to do right now for the short term is to stabilize the group and really do community outreach to let folks know that we are here for them. We do care about them without them we aren't here. And I think that's really the biggest thing for the short term longer term. It's going to be working on getting additional services, such as imaging services that we don't have, and that sort of thing. Having the pharmacy here on site is huge. And we've got the outpatient pharmacy just down the street and being able to offer that service to our patient population is crucial.
Joey Wahler: Well, in terms of offerings, you mentioned some things are a work in progress, but what might be one example, doctor of something that Bath Community Hospital does offer right now that maybe people aren't aware of or they presume that because you're a rural hospital, you don't have, maybe you can clear up a misconception if you will?
Dr. Matthew Burton: We have 24 hour imaging services which, is, you know, as far as my experience is, that's fairly rare in these rural settings. You can have 24 hour, CT scanner access for the emergency department, but to have 24 hour imaging services for outpatient as well, definitely is a good thing for us to have. Specifically ultrasound, for various different studies. We do ultrasounds of the stomach. We look at the gallbladder. We look at the pancreas, the liver. Noninvasive imaging techniques are definitely a better way to go to get additional information or even better information and avoid the radiation exposure. But we also do offer those x-ray services. We offer really everything except for MRIs.
Joey Wahler: Now if a patient comes to you and does for whatever reason, need to transfer out to another facility to receive a certain type of care outside your realm, you do still stay involved, am I right? If you're the home of their primary care doctor?
Dr. Matthew Burton: You're exactly right, to a certain extent. Now, when we're talking about transfers to other facilities, our interactions are tangential. And so we'll be receiving notes. We'll re be receiving documentation. Sometimes the receiving providers want to reach out and get a better understanding of that patient, in more history, which we can provide. And so sometimes there is a provider to provider communication. One of the big things though that we offer and really want our patient population to know is our swing bed program for after hospital care. I think that area of our therapy department, has been overlooked over the last several years.
Joey Wahler: And so tell us a little bit about that. What do you mean by swing be?
Dr. Matthew Burton: So swing bed, when you finish up a hospitalization, if you're not quite ready to go home, but you still don't meet inpatient criteria any longer to justify staying in the hospital longer, you may need to go to what's called a skilled rehab facility or a skilled nursing facility or something along those lines. Oftentimes rural areas do not have the facilit. To be able to accept patients to go to a skilled rehab setting. And so we offer that here in the hospital, we offer a full list of therapy services physical therapy, occupational therapy. We also do speech language therapy and, post-stroke care.
Those sorts of things in the event that folks either can't get into a skilled facility or they don't want to go to one or in even the instance, when people go home thinking they can do well at home and realize a couple of days into it hey, I probably do need that therapy service, you can actually visit your primary care doctor and as long as it's within that 30 day, time, window. This is dictated by insurance, from an inpatient stay. We can still place you into our swing bed program, even from home.
Joey Wahler: Wow. And that's actually something that a lot of bigger hospitals don't offer, right?
Dr. Matthew Burton: You're exactly right. In fact, very few larger institutions offer swing bed programs. Some of 'em have skilled facilities that are in one way, shape or form connected to the facility itself, but to have an in-house swing bed program and skilled program, that's fairly limited to these rural areas.
Joey Wahler: Couple of other things before we let you go. Now you're an internist by trade. And as mentioned, you now also head Bath Communities, doctors, groups. So that's a new role to you. What have you been doing to kind of prepare and now get going in that role?
Dr. Matthew Burton: So from my standpoint, being a medical director is not necessarily a new role for me. I previously worked at a hospital in Lexington that I was mentioning as the medical director overseeing their inpatient services their hospitalist programed specifically, but also some of their therapy services pulmonary rehab, I was the medical director of that as well. And so it allowed me to establish a foot on the inpatient side of things, but also have that foot on the outpatient side of things.
My role here is a combination of outpatient care, as well as inpatient care in terms of overseeing and doing the administrative side of things for those areas. So really the outpatient side of things has been the new thing in my experience that I've really had to focus on getting caught up on preventative care measures and those sort of things. I've got a trustee family practice book that I carry around with me and stays in my office and commonly will thumb through that and just try and stay as up to date as possible on the outpatient practices, while still maintaining that interest on the inpatient side of things.
Joey Wahler: I was going to ask you as a final question, if there were any particular focuses or goals on your agenda right now, but it sounds like you just told us in terms of those outpatient offerings, because that's something else that you can provide without people having to travel longer distances. Right?
Dr. Matthew Burton: You're exactly right. And really our goal right now from an outpatient standpoint is to focus on the preventative care. The idea that you come to see us when you're sick. Well, you should still be coming to see us when you're well, so that we can keep you well and help contribute to that. We can catch things before they become a major issue that would justify an admission to a hospital where you may end up being transferred across counties or even across state lines in some instances. And so really we're trying to focus and do community outreach in terms of our primary care footing. And in terms specifically of preventative care models.
Joey Wahler: Very well said. And so folks we trust, you're now more familiar with the unique rural healthcare experience that Bath Community Hospital offers, including that swing bed program that I'm sure many people would love to take advantage of if and when the time arises. Dr. Matthew Burton. Thanks so much again.
Dr. Matthew Burton: Hey, thanks for having me.
Joey Wahler: And for more information or to schedule an appointment with Dr. Burton, please do visit
Bath Community Hospital online at bathhospital.org. That's bathhospital.org. If you found this podcast helpful, please do share it on your social media. And thanks for listening to Your Health is our Passion, a Bath Community Hospital Podcast. Hoping your health is good health. I'm Joey Wahler.
Joey Wahler: A rural hospital offers patients many features that other facilities don't, especially regarding patient relationships. So we're discussing building trust between a hospital and its community. This is Your Health is our Passion, a Bath Community Hospital Podcast. Thanks for listening. I'm Joey Wahler our guest, Dr. Matthew Burton, he's medical director of Bath Community Physicians Group Dr. Burton. Thanks for joining us.
Dr. Matthew Burton: Happy to be here. Thank you.
Joey Wahler: So first, tell us a little bit about your background and why you've taken on such a passion for serving a rural community?
Dr. Matthew Burton: So I grew up in north Carolinas where I was raised and have some ties to this specific area of Southwest Virginia through. Family, my father's family, as well as my mother's family. And every time I've ever passed through this area of Virginia, I just feel like it's home. When I first started out after residency, I was a hospitalist at a critical access facility in Lexington, Virginia. And just really have a passion for caring for the community. I never really wanted to get lost in the shuffle of a large metropolitan area and the smaller communities I feel as though I personally can make a greater impact in empowering folks to take control of their healthcare in these types of areas.
Joey Wahler: That's awesome. So let me ask you this. So rural community hospital, like yours really should have a different feel, right? From the time people walk through the door. Am I right? As opposed to bigger facilities and more populated areas. So what do you think is the first impression you want to give patients right out of the box?
Dr. Matthew Burton: I want them to be at ease. Healthcare in general is oftentimes anxiety provoking, whether you're going to your primary care's office or whether you have to go to the emergency department and be admitted to a hospital. And one of the greatest things that we do and can do is to put people's mind at ease. So a smile, a hello introduction, how's your day going those personal exchanges that make it more so a personal experience versus just a patient number and diagnosis.
Joey Wahler: And so what you're really alluding to there is that hospital patient relationship that I mentioned at the top in the introduction. So especially for a rural hospital, how crucial doctor, are those patient relationships and what do you think are a few of the main keys to building those?
Dr. Matthew Burton: So in, in general, one o the nice things about being in a small community is typically everybody knows everybody. And there's large families that continue to stay in, in rural areas. And so, there's a good chance when you come into the hospital, you're being greeted by one of your family members or a close personal friend or something along those lines. And that immediately kind of puts you at ease it's family healthcare. It's. That sterile environment or perceived as that sterile environment. That's really what I think is the main thing that, can contribute to it overall.
Joey Wahler: So let's talk now about amenities and actual services. Bath Community Hospital is a full service health system. You offer not only an emergency room, of course, and that physician's group that you head up, but there's diagnostic testing, there's physical and occupational therapy. There's even a pharmacy on the premises. So really that would seem to be just about everything a patient needs without of course, having to travel far distances for the same service.
Dr. Matthew Burton: Exactly.
Joey Wahler: So what are a few of the main things in terms of services right now at the facility that you're most proud of, that you want people to be aware of?
Dr. Matthew Burton: I think that the perception and not necessarily the perception, but the actuality of this group, they've had high turnover in providers over the course of the last several years. High turnover in providers, especially on a primary care side of things, is a difficult thing for patients to be able to deal with. You wanna feel as though your primary care really cares about who you are as a person and knows you, therefore knows your healthcare and knows where to go with things when it comes to your healthcare. When you get high turnover and you're having to reestablish that relationship each time for a year, two years, whatever it may be, it disrupts that continuity of care and sends the wrong message to the communities that we serve.
Really what we're trying to do right now for the short term is to stabilize the group and really do community outreach to let folks know that we are here for them. We do care about them without them we aren't here. And I think that's really the biggest thing for the short term longer term. It's going to be working on getting additional services, such as imaging services that we don't have, and that sort of thing. Having the pharmacy here on site is huge. And we've got the outpatient pharmacy just down the street and being able to offer that service to our patient population is crucial.
Joey Wahler: Well, in terms of offerings, you mentioned some things are a work in progress, but what might be one example, doctor of something that Bath Community Hospital does offer right now that maybe people aren't aware of or they presume that because you're a rural hospital, you don't have, maybe you can clear up a misconception if you will?
Dr. Matthew Burton: We have 24 hour imaging services which, is, you know, as far as my experience is, that's fairly rare in these rural settings. You can have 24 hour, CT scanner access for the emergency department, but to have 24 hour imaging services for outpatient as well, definitely is a good thing for us to have. Specifically ultrasound, for various different studies. We do ultrasounds of the stomach. We look at the gallbladder. We look at the pancreas, the liver. Noninvasive imaging techniques are definitely a better way to go to get additional information or even better information and avoid the radiation exposure. But we also do offer those x-ray services. We offer really everything except for MRIs.
Joey Wahler: Now if a patient comes to you and does for whatever reason, need to transfer out to another facility to receive a certain type of care outside your realm, you do still stay involved, am I right? If you're the home of their primary care doctor?
Dr. Matthew Burton: You're exactly right, to a certain extent. Now, when we're talking about transfers to other facilities, our interactions are tangential. And so we'll be receiving notes. We'll re be receiving documentation. Sometimes the receiving providers want to reach out and get a better understanding of that patient, in more history, which we can provide. And so sometimes there is a provider to provider communication. One of the big things though that we offer and really want our patient population to know is our swing bed program for after hospital care. I think that area of our therapy department, has been overlooked over the last several years.
Joey Wahler: And so tell us a little bit about that. What do you mean by swing be?
Dr. Matthew Burton: So swing bed, when you finish up a hospitalization, if you're not quite ready to go home, but you still don't meet inpatient criteria any longer to justify staying in the hospital longer, you may need to go to what's called a skilled rehab facility or a skilled nursing facility or something along those lines. Oftentimes rural areas do not have the facilit. To be able to accept patients to go to a skilled rehab setting. And so we offer that here in the hospital, we offer a full list of therapy services physical therapy, occupational therapy. We also do speech language therapy and, post-stroke care.
Those sorts of things in the event that folks either can't get into a skilled facility or they don't want to go to one or in even the instance, when people go home thinking they can do well at home and realize a couple of days into it hey, I probably do need that therapy service, you can actually visit your primary care doctor and as long as it's within that 30 day, time, window. This is dictated by insurance, from an inpatient stay. We can still place you into our swing bed program, even from home.
Joey Wahler: Wow. And that's actually something that a lot of bigger hospitals don't offer, right?
Dr. Matthew Burton: You're exactly right. In fact, very few larger institutions offer swing bed programs. Some of 'em have skilled facilities that are in one way, shape or form connected to the facility itself, but to have an in-house swing bed program and skilled program, that's fairly limited to these rural areas.
Joey Wahler: Couple of other things before we let you go. Now you're an internist by trade. And as mentioned, you now also head Bath Communities, doctors, groups. So that's a new role to you. What have you been doing to kind of prepare and now get going in that role?
Dr. Matthew Burton: So from my standpoint, being a medical director is not necessarily a new role for me. I previously worked at a hospital in Lexington that I was mentioning as the medical director overseeing their inpatient services their hospitalist programed specifically, but also some of their therapy services pulmonary rehab, I was the medical director of that as well. And so it allowed me to establish a foot on the inpatient side of things, but also have that foot on the outpatient side of things.
My role here is a combination of outpatient care, as well as inpatient care in terms of overseeing and doing the administrative side of things for those areas. So really the outpatient side of things has been the new thing in my experience that I've really had to focus on getting caught up on preventative care measures and those sort of things. I've got a trustee family practice book that I carry around with me and stays in my office and commonly will thumb through that and just try and stay as up to date as possible on the outpatient practices, while still maintaining that interest on the inpatient side of things.
Joey Wahler: I was going to ask you as a final question, if there were any particular focuses or goals on your agenda right now, but it sounds like you just told us in terms of those outpatient offerings, because that's something else that you can provide without people having to travel longer distances. Right?
Dr. Matthew Burton: You're exactly right. And really our goal right now from an outpatient standpoint is to focus on the preventative care. The idea that you come to see us when you're sick. Well, you should still be coming to see us when you're well, so that we can keep you well and help contribute to that. We can catch things before they become a major issue that would justify an admission to a hospital where you may end up being transferred across counties or even across state lines in some instances. And so really we're trying to focus and do community outreach in terms of our primary care footing. And in terms specifically of preventative care models.
Joey Wahler: Very well said. And so folks we trust, you're now more familiar with the unique rural healthcare experience that Bath Community Hospital offers, including that swing bed program that I'm sure many people would love to take advantage of if and when the time arises. Dr. Matthew Burton. Thanks so much again.
Dr. Matthew Burton: Hey, thanks for having me.
Joey Wahler: And for more information or to schedule an appointment with Dr. Burton, please do visit
Bath Community Hospital online at bathhospital.org. That's bathhospital.org. If you found this podcast helpful, please do share it on your social media. And thanks for listening to Your Health is our Passion, a Bath Community Hospital Podcast. Hoping your health is good health. I'm Joey Wahler.