Wabash General Hospital's Ear, Nose and Throat and Audiology programs are experiencing significant growth following their first year of operation.
During Monday evening's Hospital Board of Directors meeting, Vice President of Professional Services Andrew Kleinschmidt presented a report highlighting the success of both programs.
Kleinschmidt said ENT specialist Dr. Garrett Ni has exceeded expectations since joining the hospital last year, with strong patient satisfaction scores and steadily increasing demand for services.
During his first year, Dr. Ni generated more than 7,300 relative value units, or RVUs, a standard measurement of physician productivity.
More than 3,000 of those units were generated during the most recent quarter, compared to just 977 during the program's first quarter of operation.
Kleinschmidt said the ENT program recorded 1,547 patient encounters, with 878 patients, or approximately 57 percent, coming from outside Wabash County.
He said those numbers demonstrate the hospital's growing ability to attract patients from throughout the region.
Dr. Ni has also begun developing a facial plastics program, although Kleinschmidt said demand for traditional ENT services has grown more quickly.
Meanwhile, the hospital's Audiology program is experiencing similar success.
Kleinschmidt reported that audiology patient volume increased 58.2 percent when comparing the program's first six months with its most recent six months.
Audiologist Mary Schroeder has served 575 unique patients, accounting for 927 patient encounters during the first year.
The program is averaging approximately 77 patients per month and has also seen strong interest in its hearing aid services.
Kleinschmidt credited Schroeder for the program's success and said patient satisfaction scores have been very positive.
He told board members that the hospital made substantial investments in both ENT and Audiology services and plans to return early next year with a more detailed financial analysis examining revenues, expenses and equipment costs.
Kleinschmidt said the continued growth of both programs demonstrates the significant demand for specialty healthcare services in Mount Carmel and the surrounding region.