United CHC personnel visit Promise CHC for peer review process

SIOUX CENTER � Promise Community Health Center in Sioux Center welcomed visitors from United Community Health Center of Storm Lake today (Thursday, Feb. 18) for a mutual peer review process.

Dr. Brian Smith (right), dentist and dental director
for United Community Health Center of Storm Lake,
and Dr. Kenneth Tjeerdsma, dentist and dental
director for Promise Community Health Center of
Sioux Center, work through mutual peer review.

In the past, the two health centers used other connections and contracts to fulfill the peer review requirement, which is a quality assurance and improvement measure under the Federal Tort Claim Act to maintain malpractice liability insurance coverage.

Rich Gehrig, chief executive officer for United, approached Promise executive director 

Nancy Dykstra to see if she would be interested in a mutual arrangement. She agreed that it was a good idea to pursue.

�I�m very grateful about it,� Gehrig said. �I think it will be a good thing.�

Promise executive director Nancy Dykstra and United
CEO Rich Gehrig finalize an agreement for doing
peer reviews between the agencies going forward.

Dr. Natalie Schaller, medical director; Dr. Brian Smith, dentist and dental director; and Tina Rydstrom, clinic manager, joined Gehrig on United�s trip to Promise. Schaller and Smith worked directly with their counterparts at Promise � Dr. Del Lassen, medical director, and Dr. Kenneth Tjeerdsma, dentist and dental director � to review a selection of each other�s charts. Rydstrom visited with Promise clinic manager Vicki Schrock.

In the future, the peer reviews will be completed remotely every six months.

The privacy of patients is ensured and maintained in compliance with the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) throughout the peer review process.

Dykstra thinks the peer review collaboration is off to a good start. The process worked smoothly between the medical teams because the organizations already have the same software. They just have to work through a few technical matters on the dental side due to having different software programs.

�Everyone agreed that this is an ideal way to work through a peer review � by doing it between community health professionals. It went really well,� Dykstra said, adding that the opportunity for the health professionals to meet each other also might lead to future networking if they have any questions in their own practices.

The visitors from United also toured Promise�s recently remodeled and expanded facilities during their visit.

�I�ve never been here before,� Gehrig said. �You have a nice facility. It�s larger than I expected.�

Promise Community Health Center, headquartered in Sioux Center, is the only Federally Qualified Health Center in the far northwest corner of Iowa. Promise provides medical, dental, prenatal and behavioral health services. To learn more, visit www.promisechc.org.