Bryan Slaba Receives AHAs Rural Hospital Leadership Award

WASHINGTON, DC (December 18, 2017) – Bryan Slaba, CEO of Wagner Community Memorial Hospital - Avera in Wagner, S.D., is the 2017 recipient of the American Hospital Association’s (AHA) Rural Hospital Leadership Award. The award recognizes small or rural hospital chief executives and administrators who have achieved improvements in local health delivery and health status through their leadership and direction.

Slaba joined Wagner Community Memorial Hospital – Avera (WCMH-A) in 2007 as CFO and was elevated to CEO 2008. Under his leadership, WCMH-A has been transformed from a small community hospital into one of the most technologically advanced critical access hospitals in the region. Within four years of becoming CEO, Slaba expanded and reconstructed the facility by adding a rehabilitation and primary care clinic space, as well as adding a patient wing while renovating the existing structure for radiology, laboratory and outpatient services.

As leader of the executive management team, Slaba has worked hard to build strong relationships with the hospital’s employees and area facilities. He helped to create a more communicable environment between WCMH-A and Indian Health Services and the Yankton Sioux Tribe, resulting in the establishment of an eight-chair dialysis center. He has also built strong relationships with the physicians at WCMH-A, and has implemented telemedicine and the use of eEmergency, eStroke, eICU, ePharmacy, eConsult and eHospitalist.

Slaba’s “Grow Your Own” project has sponsored five of WCMH-A’s registered nurses to Nurse Practitioners. Combined with telemedicine, the programs have addressed CMS’s “Triple Aim” by retaining access to essential care services, dramatically improving patient satisfaction/quality while reducing direct ER cost by over 30%, reverting expenses back to 2012 levels.

Slaba has also become a prominent member of the Wagner community. He is a very active Rotarian, including holding the position of president in 2010 and 2011. He is also the co-founder and president of the nonprofit Parkview Villa, a 57-unit low-income elderly housing unit and is the president of Wagner Area Growth (WAG), the city’s nonprofit economic development corporation.

The Rural Hospital Leadership Award also recognized a finalist for his efforts to improve health care delivery in his community: Erik Thorsen, CEO of Columbia Memorial Hospital (CMH) in Astoria, O.R.

During a time when Critical Access Hospitals across the country continue to face uncertain conditions, under Thorsen’s leadership CMH continues to grow, innovate, collaborate and develop meaningful partnerships that are increasing access to high-quality and specialty care for patients across the region. Under Thorsen, CMH has added nearly 200 new family wage jobs in the community and supports a workforce of 600, making CMH one of the top two employers in the community. Most recently, Thorsen led CMH in the construction of a freestanding cancer center in collaboration with the Oregon Health and Sciences University, bringing much needed radiation therapy services to the region. CMH has also achieved the distinction of a Designated Planetree Hospital for a second time, and for the seventh year, been named an AHA “Most Wired” hospital in recognition of their focus on technology. Thorsen is a valued member of his community, and has contributed to the development of Astoria’s local schools and businesses, while working closely with health partners in the region to improve access to care and address the community’s ongoing mental health care disparity challenges.

Contact:         Marie Johnson, (202) 626-2351

                        Colin Milligan, (202) 638-5491

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About the AHA

The AHA is a not-for-profit association of health care provider organizations and individuals that are committed to the health improvement of their communities. The AHA is the national advocate for its members, which include nearly 5,000 hospitals, health care systems, networks, other providers of care and 43,000 individual members. Founded in 1898, the AHA provides education for health care leaders and is a source of information on health care issues and trends. For more information, visit the AHA website at www.aha.org.