2021 Health Care Champions Long-Term Care/Rehabilitation Facility of the Year: Select Specialty Hospital - Springfield Inc.

In operation since 2008, Select Specialty Hospital – Springfield Inc. has a clear mission to accomplish with all its patients recovering from a catastrophic illness, says CEO Phil Readinger. “Our multidisciplinary care teams develop individualized treatment plans to address emerging viral infections like COVID-19, as well as chronic disorders and severe trauma,” he says. “Our goal with every patient is to help them breathe, eat, walk, talk and think again to restore quality of life.”

The 60-bed critical illness recovery hospital provides services for patients often dealing with infectious disease, neurologic conditions, brain injury and wound care. Readinger says Select Specialty Hospital serves an important need in the health care continuum for the region.

“While critical illness recovery hospitals provide care for a very high-acuity, niche patient population, they play a vital role in helping patients recover more efficiently, including those who have a high risk of readmission due to their clinical complexity,” he says. “By transitioning these challenging patients to a CIRH when it is the most appropriate site of care for their needs, referring hospitals can help reduce preventable rehospitalizations.”

Readinger says CoxHealth and Mercy Springfield Communities are Select Specialty Hospital’s two largest referral sources. As of late October, the hospital had 454 admissions for the year, with 35% of them coming from Mercy and 28% from Cox, he says.

“We strive to be effective, collaborative partners with both hospitals, helping to maximize their throughput and capacity to accept new patients,” he says.

Since the arrival last year of the coronavirus pandemic, Readinger says Select Specialty’s most valuable contribution to aid the community in treating the virus is to focus its services on patients recovering from COVID-19. He identifies those as people who are no longer contagious and need more time and treatment and greater resources to combat the disease.

“While there are certainly commonalities, the way the disease manifests in each person is unique,” he says, noting Select Specialty has treated over 300 COVID patients since the start of the pandemic. “For those patients who need a longer hospitalization to recover from COVID, Select’s rigorous protocols and evidence-based practices provide them with the best chance of recovery.”

That care has included bringing back local patients who initially were treated in Columbia, Kansas City and St. Louis hospitals.

“As COVID has shown us, having access to the full continuum of care is vital to ensure a healthy community and provide a comprehensive response when unexpected diseases and conditions occur,” he says. “Keeping local patients in the area helps provide continuity of care by keeping them close to their primary care physician and any specialists they may need to see after discharge. It also keeps them close to family and loved ones, which makes it easier for them to visit.”

Aside from treating patients, Select Specialty promotes health care through its student affiliation agreements with Springfield area colleges and universities. Readinger says that includes respiratory therapy students at Ozarks Technical Community College and nursing students at Southwest Baptist University, Mercy and Cox College, as well as those seeking master’s degrees in social work at Missouri State University.