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In an effort to serve the mental health needs of military veterans living in the area, Weems Memorial Hospital is joining with the Veterans Administration (VA) and Florida State University to integrate measurement-based care (MBC) into patient care.

MBC is the routine administration of symptom rating scales and use of the results to drive clinical decision making at the level of the individual patient.

The process involves taking a questionnaire every time you see your provider. The results may help you and your provider see how you are doing currently and over time progress.

Health officials say MBC helps you to see how you are doing over time and advocate for yourself. MBC can also help you start to talk with your provider about what’s working in your care and what’s not.

“This practice may improve both face-to-face and telemental health encounters and will help optimize resources and connection to outside services for our veterans,” said, David Walker, Weems CEO.

“We are hopeful that this initial partnership with VA and FSU can lead to additional opportunities to expand care for veterans seen in our clinics including other services in addition to mental and behavioral health.”

To learn more about veteran measurement-based-care, please contact Susie Buskirk at Weems Medical Clinic (850) 653-1525.

Franklin County Commissioners voted Thursday to enter into negotiations with Alliant and Tallahassee Memorial Hospital to manage Weems Memorial Hospital.

The move was recommended by the Weems Hospital Board of Directors.

Doug Creamer, chairman of the board of directors, said they recommended Alliant because it allows the county to keep the current hospital and medical clinics and also allows the hospital to continue to manage the local ambulance service.

The other option was Ascension Sacred Heart, but the board did not like their proposal which would have required the county to convert the hospital into a free-standing Emergency Room with patients going to the Sacred Heart hospital in Port St. Joe.

The Ascension proposal would have also required the county to hire a management company for the ambulance service.

Creamer said the board put a lot of hours into their recommendation and realize that neither choice would make everyone happy.

County commissioners were unanimous in their desire to keep the hospital in operation, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic when every hospital bed is needed.

At this point the county is only opening negotiations with Alliant/TMH so they do not what the costs will be.

The board named County coordinator Michael Moron and Weems CEO David Walker to head up the negotiations.

The George E. Weems Memorial Hospital Board of Directors voted Tuesday, April 28 to recommend to the Franklin County Board of County Commissioners that the County enter negotiations with Tallahassee Memorial Healthcare and Alliant to manage Weems Hospital, EMS, and both clinics. 

The recommendation did not include any recommendations to pursue building a new hospital.

“The management recommendation does not include the building any new facility in Franklin County because of the economic downturn of the country,” said Weems CEO David Walker.

Walker said he felt he needed to make that clarification because he had noticed “a lot of inaccurate information regarding the Weems Hospital Board’s recommendation.”

“We just want to move our hospital into a higher level clinical, medical and operational efficiencies and the Hospital Board thinks TMH/Alliant will be a good partner. We’re not talking about building a hospital right now. It’s just not true,” he said. 

The Franklin County commission will hear the Weems board recommendation at their meeting on Thursday, April 30.