Healthy and Happy
Medical care in Campbellsville–Taylor County is exceptional

Vital to any community’s quality of life is excellent healthcare that is readily available. Judging by the level of care provided by Taylor County Hospital in Campbellsville, the city’s quality of life must be tremendous.

“Taylor County Hospital is a regional provider of healthcare services,” said Michael Collins, president and CEO of the facility. “We have one of only two Level III trauma centers in Kentucky outside of the metro areas of Louisville and Lexington. But our emergency room isn’t the entire story. Taylor County Hospital offers a lot of other healthcare services utilizing an excellent staff and groundbreaking medical technology.”

At just under 30 years old, Taylor County Hospital is a relatively young medical facility. Yet in those three brief decades, the hospital has managed to attract a growing number of patients from a radius of 50 to 75 miles around Campbellsville.

“Why is it that our hospital has been able to develop on a more regional basis? It’s because the quality of our physicians and staff is excellent,” Collins said. “Some of our physicians draw patients from counties that are not contiguous with Taylor County. They have a regional reputation for being good at what they do. Particularly, our surgeons have a large drawing area.

“The second big reason why Taylor County Hospital continues to draw an increasing number of patients is that we’ve been able to purchase the necessary equipment to remain state-of-the-art. A big advantage we have over most rural hospitals is that we receive tax support. We’ve been able to budget and not use that money for salaries or supplies. We use it to improve our building or add equipment. That way, we’re always looking for new and better ways to serve our patients.”

According to current figures, about a third of rural hospitals in Kentucky operate in the red. Because of foresighted, responsible management and a growing client base, the Taylor County Hospital is financially sound and able to expand its services.

“Just because we’re in good financial shape is no excuse for us to kick back and take it easy,” Collins said. “We always strive to do things efficiently. But the best thing for us has been our volume, that has been the key to our growth.”

The Taylor County Hospital is a 90 bed facility, with 3,800 admissions projected to occur this year. “This represents phenomenal growth,” Collins said. “That number represents a 15 percent increase over last year. We brought in four new primary care physicians almost a year ago and it’s had an impact.

“Our Emergency Room currently treats about 18,000 patients each year. We expect that to grow to 25,000 visits a year by 2007. In addition to that, we’re seeing about 40,000 additional outpatients annually. We’re pretty much a full service hospital. We provide services in OB-GYN, general surgery, urology, gastroenterology, cardiac catheterizations and other areas. Our radiology department has increased dramatically. We offer ultrasound, CT scans, mammography. Patient need for these services has increased between 20 and 30 percent over last year, which is phenomenal.

We have a tremendous relationship with Jewish Hospital in Louisville, whose cardiologists perform procedures in our facility. For those needing open heart surgery or one of the other specialties that they have, we can make sure our patients get the needed treatment there if we can’t provide it at our facility.”

According to Collins, the addition of the four new primary care physicians last year greatly enhanced the hospital’s commitment to serve the medical needs of the region around Taylor County.

“Simply speaking, we’re able to take care of more patients. Our single biggest need right now is for an orthopedic surgeon. When that happens, it will have a great impact on our area.”

Beginning ithis summer, Taylor County Hospital will begin an expansion program.

“We’re looking at two years to get it all done,” Collins said. “It’s going to be challenging. We’ll have a new intensive care unit and bed space done in 18 months. By then, the old ICU will become the new emergency room. It will carry a price tag of about $11 million.

“Our mission is fulfill regional medical needs. It allows us to recruit physicians support staff we couldn’t do otherwise. As we extend into the peripheries of medical care, it helps us become a better and stronger medical community.”

Obviously proud of his hospital’s role in Taylor County, Collins is very happy with the workforce Taylor County Hospital employs.

“What I find truly amazing, more so than any other community I’ve lived in is the incredible sense of pride people in Taylor County have in their community. We’re all proud of where we live. This spills over into the hospital. Our people think, ‘We’re good. We’re competent. We know we can provide services as good or better than what are available in Louisville or Lexington and we’re out to prove it.’

“This is not arrogance. It’s a sense of pride that is contagious.”



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