Eureka Healthcare receives $400,000 grant for CT scanner
Patients at Eureka Healthcare will soon benefit from access to the latest computed tomography (CT) diagnostic technology, made possible through a grant from the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust’s Rural Healthcare Program.
We are thrilled to have been awarded this grant to upgrade our imaging technology. Having these services available here in Eureka will prevent patients from having to drive more than an hour away for a CT scan.
Helmsley has awarded Eureka Healthcare $400,000 for a new 64-slice CT scanner. CT scanners provide essential diagnostic images of structures inside the body. A new CT scanner will allow for faster scans that produce high-quality images, allowing medical staff to quickly determine health status and course of treatment while giving patients access to up-to-date health care technology close to home.
"We are thrilled to have been awarded this grant to upgrade our imaging technology," said Ed Stein, MD, at Eureka Healthcare. "Having these services available here in Eureka will prevent patients from having to drive more than an hour away for a CT scan."
Eureka Healthcare is one of 41 grant recipients across the region to benefit from this round of funding to purchase CT scanners. Helmsley’s Rural Healthcare Program has granted more than $30 million to support the purchase of new, 32-slice or higher CT scanners at critical access hospitals in a seven-state region.
“Our goal is to ensure that people who live in rural America have access to quality health care as close to home as possible,” said Walter Panzirer, a trustee of the Helmsley Charitable Trust. “To achieve this, rural hospitals need to be viable and they need to have up-to-date equipment, so patients can receive essential health care services locally. This initiative is one of many that aims to improve health care access and health outcomes across the upper Midwest and Rocky Mountain region.”
The funding initiative was the result of a survey of critical access hospitals in the Rural Healthcare Program’s seven-state funding region. Capital equipment, particularly CT scanners, was identified as a top need by many hospitals. In addition, a new Medicare policy went into effect January 1, 2016, that reduced reimbursement for certain studies on CT scanners that do not meet specific radiation dose requirements. Since 2015, the Helmsley Charitable Trust has awarded 78 grants totaling more than $30 million to outfit hospitals with new, state-of-the-art CT scanners.