Another Mat-Su Regional milestone

In November 2009, Mat-Su Regional Medical Center announced the addition of the da Vinci S HD advanced robotic assisted surgical system. On Oct. 28, less than 12 months later, medical staff, employees and patients celebrated the 107th da Vinci robotic-assisted surgery case performed at Mat-Su Regional Medical Center.

When the doors opened to Mat-Su Regional Medical Center in January 2006, we envisioned how the more centrally located and patient-centered facility would attract highly qualified physicians and specialists to serve the Mat-Su region.

Since then, more than 30 new medical specialists have joined the diverse medical staff and are supported by a network of more than 650 full- and part-time employees. Through charity and uncompensated care, property and sales taxes paid, salaries, wages and benefits, donations to local charities and local vendor purchases, the economic impact to our community in 2009 alone was more than $87 million. In addition to this, just under 25 percent of the hospital’s annual profits are available for reinvestment into the Valley’s non-profit agencies by way of the Mat-Su Health Foundation.

John Lee, chief executive officer says, “Delivering quality patient care is our No. 1 priority. Patients who are surveyed about their experience during a hospital stay consistently rank Mat-Su Regional Medical Center with very high scores. In fact, recently published composite scores rank Mat-Su Regional higher than Providence, Alaska Regional and Alaska Native Medical Center.”

Chief of quality and risk management Lynn Gauthier adds, “Mat-Su Regional Medical Center was recently awarded the 2010 Mountain-Pacific Quality Health’s Quality Achievement Award, (the highest award) presented by Mountain-Pacific CEO Janice Connors during this year’s Alaska State Hospital and Nursing Home Association annual conference.”

“People want to work here and once they are here, they tend to stay,” says director of Human Resources Cathy Babuscio. “Our nurse turnover rate is less than half of the nationwide benchmark and general staff turnover is a third less than the industry standard.”

Learn more about Mat-Su Regional Medical Center, the health care providers and services available to patients in the Mat-Su Valley by visiting matsuregional.com or calling 861-6000.