WRMC

White River Health White River Medical Center (WRMC) is pleased to announce that it ranked in the top 10 percent of 861inpatient rehabilitation facilities (IRFs)qualified to be ranked in the IRF database of Uniform Data System for Medical Rehabilitation (UDSmr®,LLC). The reporting period was for cases discharged between October 2021 and September 2022.We are so proud or our inpatient rehabilitation team at White River Medical Center,” said Gary Paxson, White River Health President and CEO. “This award shows their dedication, and our entire organization’s dedication, to providing the best care possible to our patients. We continue to strive to provide quality healthcare and improve the health of our communities. ”The rankings were determined by using UDSmr, LLC’s program evaluation model (PEM),a case-mix-adjusted and severity-adjusted tool that provides facilities with a composite performance score and percentile ranking drawn from over 80 percent of allIRFs in the country. UDSmr, LLC’s PEM Version 2 Report Carduses the indicators of efficiency and effectiveness contained in the Inpatient Rehabilitation Facility Patient Assessment Instrument (IRF-PAI), the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Ser-vices’ reporting tool for the Inpatient Re-habilitation Facility Prospective Payment System (IRF PPS) and Inpatient Rehabilitation Facility Quality Reporting Program(IRF QRP). The goal of the PEM Version 2Report Card is to recognize high-performing facilities for their delivery of quality patient care that is effective, efficient, timely, and patient-centered.“To recognize the efficient and effective care it provides to its patients, we are pleased to present this award to White River Medical Center,” said Troy Hillman, Manager of the Analytical Services Group at UDSmr, LLC. “As the creator and caretaker of the nation’s largest database of rehabilitation outcomes, and with over thirty years of experience and data, UDSmr, LLC continues working with the industry to establish best practices. Development of the PEM Report Card has served as a tool to identify and recognize high-performing facilities, to work with them to learn how they provide efficient and effective care, and to share what we learn with others to elevate the performance of all. We look forward to working with White River Medical Center and the other top performing facilities across the country that rank in the top ten percent to improve care in all in-patient rehabilitation facilities. ”This is the fifteenth year that UDSmr, LLC has issued these awards. The original PEM Report Card was developed as part of a proactive solution to the Institute of Medicine’s 2006recommendation to Congress that every Medicare provider be reimbursed on a pay-for-performance basis. The PEM Version 2 Report Card built upon the success of the original version, replacing certain effectiveness indicators with quality measures that were similar in nature and used in measuring IRF performance in the Medicare IRF QRP. The data used forth is report was based on twelve months of data drawn from both Medicare and non-Medicare patients. The results were weighted and combined into a single composite score, and each facility was assigned a percentile rank from 0 to100 relative to the other qualifying IRF subscribers in the UDS‑PRO® database.

White River Health’s White River Medical Center is finding new ways to ensure the safety of their patients. Telesitter uses video and audio monitoring to provide constant monitoring to patients requiring additional assistance. Many hospitals across the county are adopting this technology and reporting fewer patient falls and higher patient and staff satisfaction.
Traditionally, patients at high risk for falls, are experiencing confusion or agitation, or considered to danger to themselves are continually monitored by an employee physically in the patient’s room. This important service offers safety and comfort; however, it can be a strain on healthcare resources. Telesitter technology allows specially trained healthcare staff to supervise more than one patient at a time using video and audio technology. Employees can talk with patients to answer questions and provider reassurance and provide immediate information to nursing staff if patients need assistance.
“Hospitals have seen great success using this technology, dropping fall rates by 50 percent,” said Gary Paxson, White River Health President and CEO. “Additionally, it provides security for patients and their families. We are using technology in innovative ways to provide the quality healthcare that will improve the health of our communities true to our mission.”

hospitals, outpatient facilities, primary care and specialty physician office practices, and Senior Life Centers. WRH is a member of the Premier Alliance, the American Hospital Association, and the Arkansas Hospital Association and licensed by the Arkansas Department of Health.

White River Health System (WRHS) is proud to bring complex coronary interventions to patients suffering from coronary artery disease (CAD). Dr. Mahesh Anantha, who joins the team of Interventional Cardiologists including Dr. Richard Van Grouw and Dr. Roger Hill, has recently performed the first complex coronary intervention procedure in Batesville at White River Medical Center (WRMC) using two different coronary atherectomy devices. 

CAD is caused by blockages in the heart arteries, and people suffering from severe CAD can experience chest pain, weakness, nausea, pain or discomfort in the arms or shoulders, shortness of breath, or even experience heart attack. CAD can be crippling to a patient, hindering all aspects of life.

When calcium gets deposited with the cholesterol, this calcium needs to be cracked prior to deployment of a stent, otherwise it can prevent proper expansion of stents. “We now have several advanced equipment available to help break calcium in heart arteries, which will significantly help high risk patients,” said Dr. Anantha.

Lewis Christenberry from Cave City is grateful for this life-saving technology. In 2021, Lewis experienced heart issues, including two heart attacks, due to CAD. The last heart attack landed her a week-long stay in a heart ICU. Lewis was not a candidate for bypass surgery. As a result of her condition, she always felt tired, physically drained, and her daily activities were very limited. Her scans and medical information were sent to Dr. Anantha, who had an option for her.

“He gave hope where there hadn’t been any,” said Lewis. 

Dr. Anantha told Lewis that he could perform a complex intervention procedure, along with the assistance of the Cardiac Cath Lab team at WRMC, to help her condition. Lewis would be the first to receive this procedure at WRMC.

 “The procedure involved cracking calcium using atherectomy -simply a roto-rooter to drill through the heart vessels- and a special balloon to deliver ultrasonic waves to disrupt calcium. This was followed by recreating the main vessel (left main artery) and its branches with stents, while using a heart pump to support the patient’s heart,” said Anantha. 

The morning after her procedure, Lewis noticed an immediate difference in the way she felt. “It was like night and day,” said Lewis. “Today I can get out in the yard to play with my five-year-old great-grandson, and I only have to go in for check-ups every few months. To me, this is awesome. Dr. Anantha and the technology is amazing.”

“We were happy that we were able to use this advanced technology to successfully treat Mrs. Christenberry and improve her quality of life,” said Anantha. “This was the first atherectomy device in the heart vessel procedure at WRMC. This will help high risk patients, including patients who have blockages in the major artery (the left main coronary artery), some of whom would have otherwise required bypass surgery. We hope to help many other patients in the community using this technology”. 

In addition to this life-saving procedure, Dr. Anantha performs procedures at WRMC to help patients with Peripheral Arterial Disease (PAD). Those with diabetes or smoking history are at high risk of having PAD and need to be screened with special tests, like screening for breast and colon cancers, especially after the age of 50. PAD is caused by a major reduction in blood flow to the legs and there are 230 million patients worldwide suffering from PAD. 

“Amputations are totally preventable, and we now have procedures to help patients with blockages in leg arteries to prevent leg and foot amputations,” said Dr. Anantha. He also emphasized that patients with leg cramps/ulcers should talk to their primary care providers to get tested for PAD early.

Dr. Anantha completed a Cardiovascular Disease Fellowship at the University of Minnesota, a research Fellowship, from the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine. He then went to Yale University for Advanced Interventional Cardiology/Endovascular Intervention Fellowship followed by Interventional Cardiology Fellowship at the University of Arizona. He is board certified in Internal Medicine, General Cardiology, Echocardiography, and Interventional Cardiology. 

He is a fellow of the American College of Cardiology and a member of the American Heart Association and the Society of Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions. He also serves on the Editorial board for the World Journal of Cardiology and reviews medical articles for more than a dozen journals. He is an Assistant Professor of Medicine/Cardiology at the University of Arkansas. Dr. Anantha has published more than 45 medical research articles, has presented over 60 medical abstracts, has given talks at various regional and national conferences, and serves on the faculty for various national meetings. 

Dr. Anantha is seeing patients at the WRMC Cardiology Clinic, located at 16 Hospital Circle, Suite A, in Batesville. The clinic is open Monday through Thursday from 8AM to 4PM. To schedule an appointment, call 870-793-7519.