Valerie Hunt informed us that Bryan Health will be 100 years old in 2026. It was the first hospital with a Trauma department and the first in cardio support and worked with football teams.
The Bryan Health family consists several different parts. They are: •Bryan Medical Center (East and West Campuses in Lincoln), Bryan College of Health Sciences, Merrick Medical Center, Crete Area Medical Center, Kearney Regional Medical Center, Grand Island Regional Medical Center, Bryan Physician Network, Bryan Heart, Bryan Enterprises, Bryan Foundation, and Bryan Health Connect. Bryan College of Health Sciences currently has 750 students. Many of these students on scholarships. They also have a new stimulation center where the students can go to practice what they have learned. Valerie told us the patients in the stimulation center will talk to you, bleed for you and do a few things just like a real life patient. Recently Bryan is partnering with Hastings College to offer courses in the Health Sciences field. The students will live on campus and do training at the Mary Lanning Hospital in Hastings.
Bryan started to partner with the Merrick Medical Center seven years ago. They just finished a 6 million dollar new building for the Merrick Medical Center in Central City and will use the old one for rehab, etc. The Crete Area Medical Center has been a partner with Bryan for 20+ years and are currently expanding their mother/baby area plus added to their clinic area. The newest partnership is with the Kearney Regional Medical Center where services will be available that were not originally at the Kearney hospital. The Grand Island Regional Medical Center was built during the COVID pandemic, as Valerie told us that is not an easy task during a pandemic.
Bryan has many physicians in their Bryan Physician Network throughout Nebraska. Bryan Heart itself has 43 outside locations in Nebraska and serve northern Kansas as well. Many of the doctors at Bryan Heart, located on the East Campus go out throughout Nebraska to see patients at the various locations. The only Bryan Enterprise that is non-profit is the LifePoint Fitness and Spa Center located in Lincoln on South 27th Street near Yankee Hill Road. The Bryan Foundation is their to help with students who want to go into the Health Science field and to help with screenings that are offered to patients. Bryan Health Connect was established during COVID to help physicians keep connected with their patients so those patients didn't necessarily have to get out or travel distances to see their doctor. It sill is being used by physicians to connect so some patients don't need to travel so far for services.
Bryan Health's mission statement is: "Bryan Health's mission is to advance the health of individuals in our region through collaboration with physicians and communities."
Bryan Health by numbers looks like this: 6 medical center locations, 6,614 employees and 1,446 providers. They have 1.2 billion total operating revenue in 2021. In 2021 they had 4,503 births, 36,268 admissions, 109,971 emergency visits, 976,424 outpatient visits and 230,477 unique patients.
Bryan's economic impact on the communities they serve is as follows: Employee salaries was 516 million dollars. In 2021 they had 79.5 million dollars in capital re-invested in Nebraska. In 2020 85.7 million dollars was for Medicare and Medicaid shortfalls. In 2021 they projected that 41.4 million dollars would be for charity care and bad debt shortfalls. Bryan paid 1.1 million dollars in 2021 for property taxes.
Valerie told us that during COVID the second floor operating rooms at Bryan East was renovated and now they have 13 new operating rooms that are 3 times bigger. Three of those operating rooms are for heart care. She updated us on the April Sampson Cancer Center where can now see some of the steel structure going up. This where you can get everything you need as a cancer patient under one roof instead of traveling to different locations. It will also have an Urgent Care unit where a cancer patient go to quickly for medicine or what they need instead of coming to ER. So far they have raised $17 million of the $20 million needed to complete the Cancer Center. Bryan has 9 facilities in Lincoln and 101 around the state of Nebraska.
Through donations from individuals or families they have been able to help many students who want to get into the Health Sciences professions. Bryan has also partnered with one of Lincoln's newest high schools, Northwest High School where Juniors and Seniors can focus on a health science profession and earn 12 to 14 credit hours toward their chosen health care field.