Health Care

Rockwood Health owner reports $1.43 billion loss

Community Health Systems looks to trim more hospitals

August 11, 2016

Community Health Systems Inc., the Tennessee-based hospital operator that owns Rockwood Health System in Spokane, has reported a $1.43 billion second-quarter loss, compared with net income of $111 million for the same period last year. Noncash goodwill i

Apex Therapy grows in its incontinence treatment

All clinics soon will have gynecology therapists

July 28, 2016

Here's how Amy Sanderson, a certified pelvic-floor practitioner for Apex Physical Therapy, describes how she finds satisfaction in the work that she does, helping treat women battling urinary incontinence. 'At the end of treatment, my patient came in

Finding time for breast-feeding in the workplace

Area agencies try to support both employees, employers

July 28, 2016

LeAnn Bjerken

For many Spokane-area mothers, returning to work also means finding both the time and privacy to be able to breast-feed their newborn, or to express breast milk during work hours. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention's most recent Breast Feed

Bioidentical hormone therapy benefits touted

Health organizations seek research to assess claims about alternative

July 28, 2016

Mike McLean

A practitioner and a pharmacist working in the same building in the Spokane medical district claim that bioidentical hormones are becoming the hormones of choice for women. Hormone replacement therapy has become more refined, they say, in the years foll

Cd'A optometry practice moves to relocate to Riverstone

Ironwood Vision Center to more than double space

July 28, 2016

Mike McLean

Daniel Garn, owner of Elite Eyecare PC, which does business as Ironwood Vision Center, has bought a 5,100-square-foot office building in the Riverstone mixed-use development in Coeur d'Alene and plans to move the practice there in September. The single

Creator of dental referral app expands network

Orthodontist here devised Refer.to to simplify process

July 28, 2016

LeAnn Bjerken

Spokane creator of Refer.to, a Web application that enables dentists to send referral information digitally to colleagues and patients, has begun expanding the number of dental offices within its network. Orthodontist Josh Johnson came up with the idea

Sacred Heart starts work on special pathogens unit

Unit funded by federal grant to treat infectious diseases

July 14, 2016

LeAnn Bjerken

Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center & Children's Hospital has begun a $1.3 million remodeling project for a new special pathogens unit there. Dr. Joel McCullough, Providence Health Care's medical director for community health and epidemiology, sa

Kootenai Health expands in Coeur d'Alene and Post Falls

Hospital district launches projects worth $45 million

July 14, 2016

Mike McLean

Coeur d'Alene-based Kootenai Health has launched a $45 million second phase of expansion on the heels of the recently completed $57 million first phase of a master plan for its flagship hospital. The North Idaho regional health care network also has ob

Franklin Park Medical Center faces loan default

Trustee sale scheduled this week at courthouse

July 14, 2016

Mike McLean

The California-based owners of Franklin Park Medical Center, at 220 E. Rowan, have defaulted on a loan on the three-story medical office building, which is scheduled for a trustee's sale on Friday, July 15, at the Spokane County Courthouse. A notice

Providence says it won't renew Premera contract

Current agreement ends Dec. 31

July 13, 2016

Staff Report

Providence Health & Services said it notified Premera Blue Cross this afternoon that it wouldn't be renewing its commercial contracts in Washington state for 2017. Starting Jan. 1, 2017, Providence, Swedish, PacMed, and Kadlec hospitals and health ca