The National Rural Health Resource Center (The Center) has partnered with Dr. Bill Auxier of Rural Health Leadership Radio to produce a six-part podcast series about Rural Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and its prevalence in rural America. This series from The Center provides information about COPD, how rural providers are meeting the needs of their communities, and the importance of billing and coding appropriately while ensuring quality of care is being addressed. Each podcast features a guest with expert knowledge in COPD and rural health.

Available now: Episode 6A featuring Tracy Conroy, Valerie Roark, and Connie Wilson of Daviess Community Hospital

Listen here.

• In this episode, Tracy, Valerie, and Connie discuss Daviess Community Hospital’s pulmonary rehab program and how it started, what they have learned so far in the three years of their program, COPD from both a patient and hospital aspect, and the future of COPD care.
• Daviess Community Hospital is a 74-bed, non-profit hospital in Washington, Indiana with an extensive pulmonary rehabilitation program. Tracy Conroy serves as the chief executive officer and provides operational, financial, and strategic leadership that supports the mission and vision of Daviess. She has over 25 years of leadership experience in both acute and long-term care, population health management, outpatient clinics, and regional partnerships. Valerie Roark is a Registered Respiratory Therapist working with Daviess Community Hospital for the past 30 years as the Director of the Cardiopulmonary Department, EEG’s, Sleep Diagnostics and Cardiac and Pulmonary Rehabilitation. Connie Wilson is currently the Cardiac/Pulmonary Rehabilitation nurse. Connie has been an RN for 34 years with 28 years in Cardiac Rehabilitation and 25 years in Pulmonary Rehabilitation.

Available now: Episode 6B featuring Dr. Steve Barnett of McKenzie Health System

Listen here.

• In this episode, Dr. Barnett discusses their new cardiac rehab program, how it relates to pulmonary rehab programs, the financial risk, innovation, and resources necessary for this new program, and the future of COPD care.
• McKenzie Health System is a critical access hospital in Sandusky, Michigan. Dr. Steve Barnett, President and CEO of McKenzie Health System, began his career in health care as a respiratory therapist before receiving a bachelor’s in nursing from Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan. Dr. Barnett received a master’s degree in anesthesia and practiced that for many years before getting more involved in administrative work. Dr. Barnett eventually transitioned to the CEO role of a critical access hospital and went back and received his doctorate in health care administration.

Available Now: Episode 5 featuring Lindsay Corcoran and Laurie Daigle, Stroudwater

Listen here: http://ruralcenter.libsyn.com/the-rural-copd-podcast-episode-5

• In this episode, Lindsay and Laurie discuss the billing and coding considerations for hospitals and pulmonary rehab programs, the financial challenges hospitals with these programs face, opportunities for hospitals within their existing pulmonary rehab programs, where to find up-to-date financial resources on COPD programs, and the future of COPD care.
• Lindsay Corcoran is an accomplished senior consultant and practice management professional with over ten years of healthcare and medical office experience. At Stroudwater Associates, Lindsay focuses on supporting and sustaining healthcare access for rural communities through hospital operational improvement and affiliation strategies, and has assisted rural and community hospitals and clinics across the country to improve operational and financial performance. Results-oriented and highly organized, Lindsay is a skilled and effective communicator with medical providers, patients, and administration.
• Laurie Daigle, a senior consultant at Stroudwater Revenue Cycle Solution, is a certified professional coder with over 18 years of experience in medical insurance claim processing, medical billing software training, auditing, and healthcare financial management. She has years of experience as a manager for a national commercial payor, and extensive experience in Healthcare Management, from physician group practices to large academic institutions. She has been instrumental in the creation of Revenue Integrity resources to unify coding, billing, and compliance concerns for total and inclusive revenue cycle oversight. She has led successful initiatives to increase physician and departmental productivity, to improve business office efficiency and accuracy, and to develop policies and procedures for all areas within the Revenue Cycle.

Available Now: Episode 4 featuring Michelle Collins

Listen here:  https://ruralcenter.libsyn.com/-the-rural-copd-podcast-episode-4

• Michelle Collins is a registered respiratory therapist at Lincoln Health, Franklin Memorial Hospital, and Central Maine Medical Center in Maine. Working in a rural, critical access, and tertiary hospital, Michelle has wide range of hospital experiences, a passion for cardio pulmonary medicine, and a strong concern for her patients and making sure they have access to the care that they need and the knowledge to utilize the tools at their disposal.
• Michelle discusses her definition of leadership, the history of respiratory therapy, the gaps in COPD healthcare, reimbursement issues related to COPD treatment and pulmonary rehab program closures, COPD Patient obstacles, respiratory treatment and medication, respiratory and medical training, and the hope going forward with COPD care.

Available Now: Episode 3 featuring Dan Doyle, MD
Listen here: http://ruralcenter.libsyn.com/the-rural-copd-podcast-episode-3

• Dan Doyle is a physician at New River Health Association, a Federally Qualified Community Health Center (FQHC) in West Virginia. He is a physician and consultant at Cabin Creek Health Center, another FQHC in West Virginia, Medical Director of New River Breathing Center, a Black Lung Clinic which is part of the West Virginia and Federal Black Lung Clinics Program. As of 2013, Dr. Doyle has been the Medical Director of the Grace Anne Dorney Pulmonary Rehabilitation project of West Virginia, which is a collaborative effort of Cabin Creek Health System FQHC, New River Health Association FQHC, Southern West Virginia Health System FQHC, West Caldwell County FQHC in North Carolina, Boone Memorial Hospital, and Jackson General Hospital providing community-based pulmonary rehabilitation services.
• Doyle discusses his medical background and how he initially got involved at the New River Health Association, the impact of COPD on rural communities, the lack of access to COPD care, diagnosing COPD and pulmonary function testing, the Dorney Koppel Foundation, the COPD National Action Plan, and the future of COPD care.

Available Now:  Episode 2 featuring Paul Moore, DPh
Listen here: http://ruralcenter.libsyn.com/the-rural-copd-podcast-episode-2

• Paul Moore is a Senior Health Policy Advisor for the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy (FORHP) and Executive Secretary for the National Advisory Committee for Rural Health and Human Services.
• Paul discusses his background in rural health care and pharmacy, hospital administration turnover and rural recruiting challenges, the essential aspects of leadership, his professional and personal experiences with COPD, COPD’s lack of national attention and funding, COPD patient and financial statistics, the impact of COPD on rural communities, rural workforce issues with COPD, and the future of COPD care.

Available Now:  Episode 1 featuring Grace Anne Dorney Koppel
Listen here: http://ruralcenter.libsyn.com/the-rural-copd-podcast

• Grace Anne Dorney Koppel is President of the Dorney Koppel Foundation, the immediate former President and a current board member of the COPD Foundation, and chair of the Advocacy and Public Policy Committee for the COPD Foundation. Grace Anne is also a patient of COPD, diagnosed in 2001.
• Grace Anne explains COPD’s prevalence, its symptoms, the stigma surrounding the disease, her personal experiences with COPD, the challenges of COPD treatment in rural communities, her work with the Dorney Koppel Foundation, and the path to success with COPD.

This project is/was supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under grant number UB1RH24206, Information Services to Rural Hospital Flexibility Program Grantees, $1,100,000 (0% financed with nongovernmental sources). This information or content and conclusions are those of the author and should not be construed as the official position or policy of, nor should any endorsements be inferred by HRSA, HHS or the U.S. Government.