The Mercy Health Network and its related facilities in Iowa and Nebraska have won a grant of just over 10 million dollars to move to a system called “value based care.” Among the facilities included in the Mercy Health Network is: The Audubon County Memorial Hospital; Clarinda Regional Medical Center; Adair County Memorial Hospital; Manning Regional Healthcare Center; the Ringgold County Hospital; Madison County Health Care System, and the Dallas County Hospital.

Mercy Des Moines senior vice president, David Swieskowski says the new approach looks to cut costs and improve care by more closely following patients. “This grant will provide funding to put in the I-T systems to follow all patients with chronic diseases or healthy patients,” Swieskowski explains. “Patients with chronic diseases will make sure they’re getting the care that they need and make sure they we are getting the outcomes that we expect.” The network includes more than 160-thousand patients at 25 hospitals and 73 clinics located in 37 counties in Iowa and Nebraska.

“So if they are not getting the care, we are going to call them and tell them they are overdue for care and ask them to come in,” Swieskowski. Setting up the system to track patients is the first step, but Swieskowski says the most money will be spend on the staff to handle the care.”We’ll have health coaches who can work with patients to set goals and help them change their behaviors to get better outcomes,” Swieskowski. Another aspect of the program is working with those who already treat the patients.

“Part of it is you have to engage their health care providers — their physicians and advanced practitioners who are working within these sites — to support this and encourage patients to work with this process,” according to Swieskowski. What happens if the patients don’t follow up and get the care that they need? Swieskowski is a doctor who works in Des Moines, and says they have seen a positive response when working with their patients.

He says when they call patients who are overdue for care, they get 90-percent of the people to come in. “The most common reason people will give for not coming in is that they forgot or didn’t know,” he says. Swieskowski is not sure exactly when the program will get underway, but says it shouldn’t take long once they launch it. “We can get these data systems ramped up in three to six months, so I’m saying in six to 12 months patients in these locations will start noticing a difference in the way we are delivering their care,” Swieskowski says. The different delivery system is expected to save money for treatments and care that are not needed because the patient got better and not worse. The health system will benefit by making the program work.

“We have shared savings programs with Wellmark and with Medicare where if we reduce the costs we get a portion of the costs that we reduce, we share in the savings,” Swieskowski says. “So, initially we are going to fund this program through he grant, and when the grant runs out in three years we are hoping that the shared savings will be more than enough to continue the program.”

(Radio Iowa)

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Governor Terry Branstad has issued a disaster proclamation for four Iowa counties affected by flooding and damage from recent storms. The proclamation issued yesterday covers Benton, Butler, Mahaska and Tama counties. The proclamation means state resources can be used to respond to areas affected by June storms.

LE MARS, Iowa (AP) — Authorities are investigating the deaths of two people whose bodies were found inside a northwestern Iowa house. Plymouth County Sheriff Mike Van Otterloo says the causes of death were violent in nature. The bodies were found Wednesday night inside a home in Akron.

MASON CITY, Iowa (AP) — A northern Iowa woman has been given probation for leaving more than a dozen residents alone at an assisted living center. Fifty-four-year-old Debra Ihrig of Rudd was recently given deferred judgment and probation on multiple charges. Ihrig was arrested in April after being accused of leaving 15 residents alone at Country Meadow Place Assisted Living.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — A western Iowa woman has been sentenced to life in prison without parole in connection to the torture of her mentally disabled stepson. Forty-seven-year-old Rebecca Beyer was sentenced yesterday in Pottawattamie County. Authorities say Beyer abused the now-21-year-old man in February 2013.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — A western Iowa woman has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in connection to the torture of her mentally disabled stepson. The Council Bluffs Daily Nonpareil reports 47-year-old Rebecca Beyer received the sentence Thursday at the Pottawattamie County Courthouse.

Authorities said Beyer abused the man, now 21, in February 2013. She was convicted in May of first-degree kidnapping and willful injury causing serious injury. The man testified that Beyer burned him and locked him inside a garage. He said he was attached to a wall with a dog leash.

The man’s father faces charges in the case, and his trial is scheduled to start in August. The man’s stepbrother pleaded guilty earlier this year to an accessory charge as part of a plea deal.

WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) — A Waterloo man has been arrested on suspicion of first-degree murder in the death of a woman found in the middle of a rural road.

Shaun Hogan

The Linn County Sheriff’s Office says 36-year-old Shaun Michael Hogan was taken into custody Thursday in connection with the death of 29-year-old Crystal Marie Gaffney, also of Waterloo. He is being held without bond at the county jail.

The state medical examiner’s office says Gaffney died from head trauma. She was found Wednesday morning near Walker. The sheriff’s office says Gaffney is the mother of three girls who were the subject of a Wednesday night Amber Alert. They were found safe. Hogan and Gaffney are the parents of a young child, but additional information was not released.

Hogan will make an initial court appearance Friday.