HORSE CAVE — Caverna Memorial Hospi-tal may be small, but it offers a lot of the same services available at larger hospitals.

The 25-bed rural hospital at the edge of Barren and Hart county line serves patients in Cave City, Horse Cave and the surrounding area. It offers many speciality clinics so patients don’t have to drive long distances for medical care.

“To us a 25-mile drive is nothing, but to a lot of people an extra 15 miles, 30 miles or 40 miles (is a long drive),” said Alan Alexander, CEO. “So, it’s pretty nice to keep those services local and in the community.”

Speciality clinics available at CMH are: pulmonology, wound care, cardiology, ophthalmology, gastroenterology and surgical.

At one time a variety of surgical procedures were performed at the hospital, but when specialities came forth those procedures were dispersed out, said Becky Farris, director of nursing.

“We have restarted a surgical clinic for minor cases and are expanding that presently,” she said.

Surgical procedures that are conducted at the hospital include general surgery, ophthalmology, gastroscopes, endoscopes and biopsies, as well as other diagnostic procedures.

Caverna also features an operational emergency room that is open year-round with an on-duty physician.

“A lot of people were under the perception that we don’t have a doctor on duty all the time like the ERs used to be years ago, but we actually have physician coverage here 24/7 and we do admit inpatient and outpatient,” Farris said.

The hospital also offers radiology and can do basic X-rays, as well as ultrasounds, mammography, endoscopy, CTs and MRIs.

“We own a mobile MRI unit along with three other small rural hospitals in kind of a co-op agreement,” Alexander said. “That unit rotates between here, Leitchfield, Hardinsburg and Tell City, Ind.”

Sharing ownership of the MRI unit, he said, was a way for all four small hospitals to offer the service that none of them could afford to make available on their own.

The mobile MRI unit is available on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons and evenings.

“So physicians in the area with patients who need those tests, we try to market to them and let them know that this service is available,” Farris said.

One of the services hospital officials are particularly proud of is the Picture Archiving and Communi-cation System (PACS.

“In essence what it does is it digitizes all radiology images. It’s kind of like going from regular film-based photography to digital photography,” Alexander said. “We have lot more flexibility with those images. You can enhance those images, lighten them, darken them and rotate them.”

CMH also has the capability to transmit images to off site radiologists when a radiologist is not available to read the images.

“Probably over 95 percent of interpretations are done off-site,” he said. “For after hours we use a Nighthawk group. So those images can go anywhere in the United States.”

CMH has been designated as a critical access hospital by the federal government.

“In essence the government pays 101 percent of costs for Medicare and Medicaid services in the state of Kentucky, and it’s only for hospitals with 25 beds and under,” Alexander said.

The hospital is undertaking several new projects this year, including the conversion of two physician offices in Munfordville and Horse Cave into rural health clinics.

“They are open right now as physician offices. The only thing that will change will be the designation of those clinics in terms of the way the government reimburses us for that,” Alexander said. “It allows us to get a little bit better reimbursement, which should help the hospital’s finances.”

CMH is also working to recruit more primary care physicians to the area to meet a need.

“There is a shortage of physicians in Hart County so we want to bring primary care doctors to this area,” Alexander said.

The hospital is also offering a variety of community education programs, which is a new endeavor.

“We are seeking to expand the services we offer to the community as far as education. I’ve gotten four physicians or four experts to offer different programs. This year we are going to offer one per quarter to the community,” Farris said.

In March the hospital offered a program on diabetes along with the Hart County Health Department. Later in the year the hospital plans to offer programs on women’s health, weight loss and pediatric care.

The hospital’s inpatient area underwent a $120,000 renovation a year ago, and officials continue to make improvements so that quality medical care can be provided. CMH recently purchased new IV pumps and defibrillators.

“They are state of the art,” Farris said.

The hospital’s staff is also undergoing continued education programs.

“We are offering extra training to our nursing staff,” Farris said.

That training includes advanced cardiac life support and pediatric life support.

“One of those courses will be offered monthly until those courses are complete,” she said.

The nursing staff is also undergoing additional telemetry training and a pharmacist is scheduled to come in and offer a drug inservice.

“We seek speakers to educate the staff monthly on new things, what’s new in healthcare, what’s new in medicine,” Farris said. “We do not want to be stagnant.” We want to improve.”