Over the past 10 years, Blue Mountain Health System has been working to raise the bar on health care in the community.

The not-for-profit health system, which comprises Gnaden Huetten Memorial in Lehighton and Palmerton Hospital in Palmerton, has worked together since merging in July 2004 to build stronger affiliations with larger hospitals, provide more services, employ more people and develop new programs to better serve patients."A lot of good things have happened over the last 10 years," said Andrew Harris, president and CEO of Blue Mountain Health System, who has been leading the hospitals since 2006. "We provide stronger health care today and more services to the community."Harris explained that since the merger, which was necessary to help the two hospitals continue in the region, the administration has worked to reduce expenses and build revenue, while also providing more options for care."The two hospital boards realized that they could not survive independently by themselves, so discussions of a merger began, and through the intuition of the boards Blue Mountain Health System was born," Harris said.Expanding operationsAt the time of the merger, the two hospitals, which had approximately $75 millions in operations, were losing nearly $10 million annually and employed 600. The facility now boasts over $100 million in operations with profits recorded in the last three out of four years and is now the largest employer in the county with nearly 1,000 employees.Some programs, such as telemedicine and MI (myocardial infarction) Alert, were started through the hospital's affiliation with Lehigh Valley Health Network and have helped improve the types of care that can be provided.Through the telemedicine program, which began in 2011, patients can be seen by Lehigh Valley specialists not available at Blue Mountain Health System right from their bedside in Carbon County.The MI Alert program, which helps people experiencing a heart attack get help quicker, has saved many lives since its inception in 2009, Harris said, noting that the average time from Blue Mountain Health System's emergency room to a cardiac catheterization lab at Lehigh Valley Hospital is 80 minutes."That is one of the lowest national scores in the country," Harris said. "There are many hospitals that have their own cardiac cath lab and their patients don't get from their own ER to the lab in 80 minutes."In addition to new programs, Harris said that the strong presence in the community since the merger has helped recruit approximately 65 doctors in a number of specialties, including pulmonary, neurology, internists and surgeons, who now are on staff at Blue Mountain Health System.Tough decisionsBut the past decade hasn't been all happy moments.It has also included making some tough decisions.Harris said that while the Blue Mountain Health System was working to improve programs and expand operations, it also had to look at current programs that shouldn't be provided and would be better served using its affiliation with Lehigh Valley Health Network.One program, Harris said, was the obstetrics and maternity unit, which was shut down in 2009."In the last eight years (since Harris was named CEO), we identified what we excel at and understand that there were certain services that we could not give properly, so we looked at affiliations with hospitals to provide services so they are still provided in the community," he said, noting that the decision to close the maternity ward was hard because it was the last one in the county. "But through our affiliations, we have been able to help serve the community with services that we currently don't provide."Looking at the next decadeHarris is optimistic that Blue Mountain Health System is continuing to move in the right direction."Health care is constantly changing," he said. "All hospitals are getting paid less to do more so we need to continue doing what we do good. We need to continue partnering with other organizations to provide the best services while keeping our cost low."Our sole purpose is to provide services for the community, so as long as the community partners with us, we are here to stay," Harris said. "If you look back 10 years ago to today, we had two community hospitals that provided quality care to the residents of Carbon County and the surrounding areas for many, many years. Now I think over the last 10 years we have only gotten better and that health care today is better served here in the county. We have raised the bar and plan to continue as we move forward."