(Atlantic) Effective officially on July 1, 2021, Cass County Health System will be known as Cass Health.
“As an independent hospital, we can be nimble and sensitive to the needs of the patients, families, and communities we serve. Over the past four years, we have recruited more than 30 new providers to the community, and we have been modernizing, updating, and renovating several areas inside and outside the walls of the hospital. During this renovation process, we along with our board, decided it was the right time to update our name,” said Cass Health CEO Brett Altman.
“Healthcare certainly doesn’t look the same as it did when we opened in 1968, and neither does the area we serve. Today, about 33% of our patients travel to Cass Health from outside of the county. As we have gotten more regional, we are no longer just a county health system. We have added primary care providers, specialists, and surgeons, and we are seeing our patients come from a much broader region, where similar services aren’t readily available. Our mission is to provide a superior healthcare experience, and that does not stop at the county line. We want to be inclusive and make everyone feel welcome here,” said Altman.
In recent years, Cass Health has added several providers who have increased the service area for the organization. When Montgomery County Memorial Hospital ceased its labor and delivery services, Cass Health partnered with them and Dr. Marcela Pineda, OB/GYN. While her patients continue to see her in the clinics outside of Cass County, they travel to Cass Health when they are ready to deliver their babies. Additionally, Internal Medicine physician Dr. Bethel Kopp joined Cass Health, also extending its reach, as she had practiced in the southern Iowa communities of Corning, Lennox, and Bedford for over 30 years, including patients from northern Missouri. Now those same patients are accessing her through Cass Health’s rural clinics in Anita and Massena. Doctors Weresh and Rinehart are routinely bringing in patients from the Des Moines metro. Most recently, Cass Health recruited Dr. Kim Hendricks, who is the only rheumatologist in southwest and west central Iowa and draws patients from a 70-mile radius.
“Patients are seeking out these physicians because they are highly respected, and time after time, these patients are impressed by their experience with our entire team,” said Altman.
Cass Health Chief Financial Officer Abbey Stangl stated, “The current construction and rebranding project is a refresh for our organization. We will have an entirely new clinic, new and improved parking lots, a coffee shop and new gift shop, a new helipad, and several other major improvements. There is no better time to show our employees, our physicians, our patients, and our community that we are investing in our future, and that we are here to stay as an independent rural hospital. Our investments here are not about us – it’s about investing in our community. That is part of the reason why we are also committed to paying for these improvements with cash; we will not go into debt or need to raise our tax levy to achieve these improvements. In fact, we’ve continued to lower our tax levy each year over the past several years.”
