Governor Wolf Talks Up Rural Healthcare at WMH

During a whirlwind, one-day, walking tour of Honesdale, Governor Tom Wolf stopped at Wayne Memorial Hospital for a brief conversation about rural healthcare. Wayne Memorial CEO David Hoff touched on how the Rural Health Model is working for WMH, one of five hospitals who joined the global payment initiative this year. The groundbreaking model is designed to help stabilize rural hospitals and keep people healthy—or, as Hoff put it, “keep people out of the hospital, making us truly a health-care system and not just a sick-care entity.”  The governor, along with Senator Lisa Baker and Representative Jonathan Fritz also discussed credentialing roadblocks for mid-level providers moving into the area to practice and professional recruiting challenges of rural hospitals. Hospital administrators thanked Governor Wolf for a $1.5 million state grant that helped fund the recent $40 million construction and renovation project at WMH.  The governor also visited the Wayne County Historical Society and Yoga International on Main Street. Group photo seated, l. to r.: William Dewar III, MD, WMH Chief of Staff; CEO David Hoff; State Senator Lisa Baker (R-20th Wayne/ Pike/ Luzerne/ Susquehanna/Wyoming; Wayne Memorial Community Health Centers Executive Director Fred Jackson. Standing: James Cruse, MD; Patricia Dunsinger, WMH CFO; Governor Wolf (D); State Representative Jonathan Fritz (R – 111- Wayne/Pike); Hospital & Health System Board Chair Hugh Rechner; WMH Director Patient Care Services Jim Pettinato; Mary Beth Wood, executive director, Wayne Economic Development Corporation.