Health Care

Kootenai Health's goal to become a regional center

Cd'A-based care network expanding, adding services

February 12, 2015

Kootenai Health is much more than the community hospital it was just a few years ago, before it began implementing its current strategic plan, says Jeremy Evans, the Coeur d'Alene-based health system's vice president of operations.

Placing a sharper focus on four key areas in 2015

Insurers, providers adapt to new era in health care

February 12, 2015

Bill Akers

Despite being five years into the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the health care industry is still faced with immense change and uncertainty. While insurers and health care providers continue to learn and adapt, individuals and employers also are adjusting to

Providence Health Care begins to reap ACA benefits

Big provider network keeps focus on cost containment

February 12, 2015

Judith Spitzer

Amid the turbulent ongoing statewide and national debates over health care policy and the implementation of the Affordable Care Act last year, Elaine Couture, CEO of Providence Health Care, remains optimistic that the complex law will push health care pro

Shift away from fee-for-service payments gears up

Medicare sets course for a major migration

February 12, 2015

Linn Parish

Medicare's recent announcement of new goals to pay health care providers for the quality of care provided rather than the quantity of services rendered marks a clear change in direction for the industry's future, health executives say, but it's a pa

Patient-centered care leads industry improvements

Doctors, others work as teams more than in past

February 12, 2015

Rich Umbdenstock

I'm a pretty healthy guy, but I have spent much of my life in and around hospitals. My mother volunteered for one local hospital, and my father served on another's board.

Deaf-assisting facility here looks to boost its presence

Center's interpreters here use sign language in calls

January 29, 2015

Katie Ross

Sorenson Communications, a Salt Lake City-based provider of communication products for the deaf and hard of hearing, is trying to raise the profile of a year-old video relay service center it has opened here, says Spokane VRS Interpretive Center director

WSU Spokane firms up U-District health clinic project

University accepts design, starts planning with city

January 29, 2015

Mike McLean

Washington State University Spokane plans to break ground in the spring for the planned $15 million Spokane Teaching Health Center's University District Health Clinic, says WSU spokeswoman Terren Roloff. The university last month approved schematic des

Sixth Avenue Medical Pharmacy buys nearby competitor

Fifth & Browne operation to close; owner to retire

January 29, 2015

Linn Parish

Sixth Avenue Medical Pharmacy Inc., of Spokane, has bought the assets of another independent pharmacy, the 60-year-old Fifth & Browne Pharmacy. Erik Nelson, owner of Sixth Avenue Medical Pharmacy, says he plans to close the Fifth & Browne operation, loc

Cd'A fly fishing club uses sport to help women heal

Retreats offer camaraderie to breast cancer patients

January 15, 2015

Katie Ross

The North Idaho Fly Casters, a fly-fishing club based out of Coeur d'Alene, is using the therapeutic benefits of nature and fly-fishing to help women who have or formerly had breast cancer recover both physically and mentally.

Year-old infertility clinic in Spokane Valley finds strong demand

SRM Spokane employs 11, offers range of services

January 15, 2015

Kim Crompton

SRM Spokane, a reproductive endocrinology and infertility practice that opened in Spokane Valley in October 2013, is seeing healthy growth in demand for services from patients throughout the Inland Northwest, says Dr. Brenda S. Houmard, who helped launch