Muncy Valley Hospital being named No. 1 out of the 40 hospitals in the UPMC system was just one of the accomplishments highlighted during the annual meetings of UPMC North Central PA.

“I don’t say that lightly,” said Ron Reynolds, president of UPMC Muncy and UPMC Lock Haven, of the achievement. “In fact, I say it very humbly, because that can always change, but what a journey it’s been — most notably and most remarkably this year.”

“We started not so great and that team has persevered through so many things…through COVID, through a variety of challenges. By showing that love and staying focused, they have come to be one of the leading hospitals in UPMC,” he said.

This year’s radiology project at Muncy Valley was a major investment for UPMC in North Central PA and all of the hospital, according to Reynolds.

The project included installing a new CT scanner, equivalent to what is available at the Williamsport Regional Medical Center, Reynolds noted. The Muncy hospital also has new digital X-ray equipment, a new ultrasound room, a new waiting area, a patient prep room and front office.

The CT scanner has a 128-slice diagnostic capability versus what once was a 16-slice, he said.

“Obviously, the numbers speak for themselves — exceptional clarity, increased radiation safety for our patients, and an average scan time is about two minutes for our patients — so just a substantially improved patient experience with that investment,” Reynolds said.

The completion of the radiology project is “about the last piece of updating and modernization given the beautiful emergency room that we created a number of years ago for the Muncy Campus,” Reynolds said.

Seeking to enhance care of stroke patients, UPMC Muncy applied for the Joint Commission’s primary stroke certification. The official certificate is expected next month.

Inpatient units at the hospital have also been receiving a facelift with new flooring, wall coverings, televisions and beds.

In the long term care operations at the facility, the air conditioning systems were overhauled and new flooring had been installed.

“So, again, incredible advancements for the healing environment that we aspire to produce,” Reynolds said.

“We train in the patient experience. We are completely bought into the patient experience work that we do as UPMC as a whole,” he said.

“It’s an entire village. It’s from security services…the food and nutrition folks, the environmental services, the list goes on, and they all join us in the similar goal of trying to reach where we’re at where our patients give us a nine or a 10 in their ratings,” Reynolds said.

In her report on outreach at the meeting, Kari Kurtz, director of community relations, shared that the preliminary data for fiscal year 2022 is showing an increase over last year in the benefits the hospital system in North Central PA has given to the community.

“We have given back $73 million in the community benefits and dedicated $43 million of that amount to the care for those without the means to pay,” Kurtz said.

The economic impact of UPMC Williamsport to the region is estimated at $623 million.

“We also got an economic report that, in UPMC in the North Central PA region, it gave back $1 billion to the community at large,” she said.

The hospital system partnered with Weis Market in 2021 to launch “Healthy Susquehanna,” a regional education campaign focusing on raising health awareness in Clinton, Lycoming, Northumberland, Potter and Tioga counties. It addresses chronic health conditions such as heart disease, diabetes and obesity.

In Muncy specifically, they invested in a community action program, providing free recreation to those in the Muncy School District, she said.

“I also want to mention that anytime there’s an outreach initiative event, sponsorship opportunity, please send it to us. We want to take a look and see how it aligns,” Kurtz said.

Sponsorship requests should align with UPMC’s current strategic priorities and their needs assessment, she said.

“How can we play a part in ensuring that we are giving back to the community in the way that we foresee is going to help those needs,” Kurtz said.

Two challenges that the health systems face in delivering health care in the region are the transportation barrier and the fears that patients have about going back to their health care provider because of lingering concerns about COVID.

“Transportation is one of the probably biggest challenges and barriers that we will face,” Kurtz said.

“When we talk specifically about access to care and navigating resources — how an individual can manage their chronic disease — it all goes back to transportation. I shouldn’t say there’s many barriers, but I think the biggest one as an organization and as a community at large that we need to grab and try to figure out, it would be transportation,” she said.

In collaboration and partnership with the UPMC Health Plan, for the Medicaid population, a transportation benefit has been added to alleviate this issue, according to Patti Jackson-Gehris, president of UPMC North Central PA & UPMC Williamsport.

Health Plan members on Medicaid receive free transportation through River Valley Transit and other local transit authorities.

“That’s one way we’re addressing it, making sure people can get to and from appointments, but also to and from daily living,” she said.

Being designated as a fully accredited level II trauma center was one of the accomplishments for UPMC Williamsport after serving as a trauma center the first year, in which it treated nearly 700 patients.

“These patients received the highest level of care while remaining close to their home and close to their family and their network. At times we provided that care to visitors to our region, who were thankful that we had those trauma capabilities here,” Jackson-Gehris said.

Colorectal and surgical oncology surgery at Williamsport has been expanded as well as care for women through a partnership with MaGee Hospital, another member of the UPMC system.

Advanced pediatric care through a connection with UPMC’s Children’s Hospitals in both Harrisburg and Pittsburgh has been a focus over the past year.

This year saw the opening of a primary care office in downtown Williamsport to provide greater access for the community.

Over the last three years, in Lycoming County alone, 116 providers were recruited, along with 32 new telemedicine specialists occurred.

A survey conducted by UPMC North Central PA last year in August revealed four pillars that need to be focused on in health care over the next three years: chronic disease management, behavioral health, access to care and navigating resources and prevention and community-wide healthy living.

“Now, with those four pillars, each entity in our region will perform the way we go about these strategic initiatives a little differently, but it’s really important that, as a region, we do this collaboratively, that it’s not just the hospital doing this, it is the community at large,” Kurtz said.

“It’s the work of the community at large. What we do outside of the four walls of our hospitals is going to make an impact on what we do internally inside the four walls of the hospital,” Kurtz said.