The role of hospitals has changed significantly, and Andalusia Health is changing, too.

That’s the message local CEO John Yanes has been delivering in the community, and he reminded Rotarians of that on Tuesday.

“In addition to Andalusia Health, we now have Andalusia Health Orthopedics and Sports Medicine, Andalusia Health Physical Therapy and Sports Medicine, Andalusia Health Walk-in Clinic, and Andalusia Health Family Practice,” he said.

The walk-in clinic was designed to take pressure from the emergency room, and offer a less expensive alternative to emergency room care, he said. It also will be the headquarters for the new workpoint wellness program, he said.

And while the hospital initially saw fewer people in the ER with the opening of the clinic, that ER traffic has increased.

“We’ve had some hospitals close around us, and we are seeing some of those patients,” he said.

There were 21,000 people treated in the ER in 2015, he said.

“Eighty-five percent of hospital admissions come through the ER department,” he said. “It’s a gateway basically for admissions.”

Hospital adds services to keep pace

In addition, the hospital:

• delivered 450 babies in 2015. It is the only provider of obstetrical care in the county.

• had a $14.6 million payroll

• had 258 full time employees. Economists say that each hospital employee impacts 2.03 additional related jobs, which means the job impact is 578.

• provided $2,100,234 in charity and uncompensated care.

Yanes said the hospital focused on recruiting an orthopedic surgeon in 2015, and this year’s focus is recruiting a pediatrician.

Within the next couple of years, he said, the hospital will likely concentrate on general practitioners or internal medicine.