A nine-month remodeling project is officially underway at Cass County Health System (CCHS), in Atlantic. CCHS CEO Todd Hudspeth said Friday, “Our number one goal is to make improvements that benefit our patients. The three phases of remodeling truly center around what’s best for patients and their families.”

The first phase of the remodeling project involves merging Admissions, Patient Accounts and Health Information Management into a single department. Previously, Cass County Memorial Hospital (CCMH) and Atlantic Medical Center (AMC) maintained separate departments for these three areas. Now, these departments have all been merged, and the staff is cross-trained to serve both clinic and hospital patients.

Hudspeth says “This merger of clinic and hospital support departments allows us to serve our patients more efficiently. Wait times should be reduced, we’ll be better able to cover any staff shortages, and it’s less confusing for patients and families, too.” The former hospital admissions and business office will house the combined Patient Accounts and Health Information Management departments. New, private hospital admissions offices will be constructed adjacent to AMC.

The second phase of the project will be to remodel the former Health Information Management Department space into an additional medical suite for Atlantic Medical Center. The final phase will be expanding Southwest Iowa Surgery by adding office and exam room space for Dr. Edward Fisher, orthopedic surgeon and Dr. Roger Drown, foot and ankle surgeon. Both physicians are currently working out of the CCMH Outpatient Clinic until space is available in Southwest Iowa Surgery this fall.

Please Note:

• Calls to both the Atlantic Medical Center (243-2850) and Cass County Memorial Hospital (243-3250) are now answered as “Cass County Health System.” Staff is cross-trained to be able to direct your call as needed.
• Hospital Admissions is temporarily located in the atrium, behind the staircase, until the new Admissions area is constructed this summer.
• All billing, insurance, and medical records questions are being handled at the Atlantic Medical Center.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A judge has declined to halt Iowa’s efforts to turn over management of its Medicaid program to private insurers. Aetna Better Health and Meridian Health Plan sued seeking to halt the transition to managed care which is now expected to begin in March.

WEST DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is out with his first attack ad aimed at rival Ted Cruz. The ad paints the Texas senator as an inconsistent politician who once supported allowing the millions of people living in the country illegally to remain. Cruz responded on ABC by describing Trump’s position as akin to amnesty.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa City man who has been charged with using a plastic gun to rob a bank now faces charges of calling in a bomb threat to a school on the same day. The Press Citizen reports 30-year-old Clifton Brinkmeyer was taken into custody Tuesday morning after a bank robbery that occurred about 20 minutes after a bomb threat was phoned in at West High School.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A man whose second-degree murder conviction was thrown out by the state appeals court must face a new trial in the case in which a partying crowd beat a Des Moines man to death in a downtown parking lot in 2013. The Iowa Supreme Court on Friday ruled that 20-year-old Kent Tyler the Third must be retried for the death of 40-year-old Richard Daughenbaugh.

The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office reports the arrest of 20-year-old Steven Whitt of Clarinda on a valid Montgomery County Bench Warrant for Violation of Probation on Friday.  At approximately 2:09pm deputies arrested Whitt and took him to the Montgomery County Law Enforcement Center and held on $10,000 bond.  Whitt was also arrested on a Page County Bench Warrant for Violation of Probation and is being held on $5,000 bond for Page County.

Some analysts say spiraling gasoline prices are causing significant instability in stock markets, agricultural commodities markets and elsewhere. In a survey of bank C-E-Os in Iowa and nine other Midwestern states, Creighton University economist Ernie Goss says pessimism is contagious. “With grain prices down, with beef prices down, pork prices down, it’s spilling over into the broader economy,” Goss says. “Agricultural equipment sales are down to a record low level. We’ve got farmland prices continuing to decline.”

While Iowa is the nation’s top ethanol producer, falling prices for grain and fuel are impacting the entire region’s ethanol industry. About one-fifth of the bank CEOs surveyed reported ethanol plants in their area had reduced production. “It’s not good out there,” Goss says. “With the global economic slowdown, our trading partners are buying less and less of our agricultural products.” The rollercoaster stock market leaves traders with no idea what to expect after huge drops, especially following the shake-up in China’s economy.

“The market was over-priced to begin with and now profits have weakened and we’ve got a Federal Reserve that’s raising rates,” Goss says. “This is not a time to be buying or selling, like the old saying, don’t try to catch a falling knife.” In the January numbers, Creighton’s Rural Mainstreet Index fell for the fifth straight month and is now at the lowest level since August of 2009.

(Radio Iowa)

CRESTON, Iowa (AP) — A man representing himself in court has pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree murder in the December killings of two people in southern Iowa. Union County Attorney Tim Kenyon says 37-year-old Jerry Dillinger represented himself in court Friday and pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree murder in the killings of Dillinger’s former sister-in-law, Loretta Dillinger, and another person, whom Dillinger identified as Michael Robinson.

Loretta Dillinger’s body was found Dec. 2 in a farm pond near Lorimor. A second body was found near a house in Thayer. The identity of that body hadn’t been confirmed by DNA testing, but Dillinger said in court it was Robinson, who was in a relationship with a Dillinger family member.

Dillinger asked to be sentenced immediately and received two consecutive life terms.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa has received a nearly $97 million federal grant to tackle the state’s water quality and flood challenges. Gov. Terry Branstad, along with state and local leaders, announced Friday that the state was awarded the money from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in order to help speed up flood reduction and water quality efforts in Iowa’s key watersheds over the next five years.

Among the identified flood reduction and targeted water quality efforts, is the East Nishnabotna and West Nishnabotna Rivers. Iowa is among 13 states and cities to receive the award, which is a part of the Natural Disaster Resilience Competition. The state was awarded the fourth-largest grant of any applicant.