Cleveland Area Hospital Partners with OSU Medicine
To Continue Advancing Rural Health Care
Cleveland, OK
December 5, 2023
Cleveland Area Hospital announces its partnership with OSU Medicine. The OSU Emergency Medicine team, consisting of 40+ Board Certified Emergency Medicine physicians, are now staffing the Cleveland Area Hospital Emergency Department. Specifically, an OSU Emergency Medicine physician is now onsite, 24 hours a day, leading the team’s delivery of emergency care.
This partnership advances Cleveland Area Hospital’s Emergency Department from being staffed by Board Certified Family Practice physicians, Physician Assistants, and Nurse Practitioners, to being staffed 24/7 by Emergency Medicine specialists, serving an extensive region which includes Pawnee, Osage, Creek, Payne and Noble counties.
“Cleveland Area Hospital and OSU Medicine have been engaged, in some manner, for over 3 decades,” stated Edred Benton, CEO of Cleveland Area Hospital. “This mutually beneficial agreement, with an OSU Emergency Medicine Physician on-site 24 hours a day, represents our passionate commitment to both professionalism and quality, in our care of this region. Over the past 5 years, patients coming to us for emergency care have increased in both the number of patients per day and the acuity of their need for emergency care. The decision to move forward to physicians specifically board certified in Emergency Medicine is wonderful for our patients and our team.”
OSU Emergency Medicine provides expert emergency care to more than 180,000 patients presenting to multiple hospitals in Northeast Oklahoma every year. The goal of the department is to extend the same expertise available in downtown Tulsa to rural Oklahoma. Board-certified emergency physicians undergo years of rigorous training, and the benefit of this specialized emergency care has been demonstrated in multiple studies and should be the standard of care for all Oklahomans.
”Making a difference in the health outcomes of rural Oklahomans is a key part of our mission at OSU Medicine,” said Dr. Dennis Blankenship, Dean of the OSU College of Osteopathic Medicine. “This new partnership with Cleveland Area Hospital to provide Emergency Medicine services allows us to support that community and provide our expertise.”
OSU Medicine brings unprecedented leadership and innovation to Oklahoma’s health care landscape by combining excellence in patient care with world-class research and academics. With 27 outpatient clinics, a 223-bed inpatient hospital and virtual partnerships across the state, we are improving access to health care for rural and underserved communities. OSU Medical Center is the nation’s largest osteopathic teaching hospital. OSU Medicine Clinics have more than 100 board-certified physicians providing outpatient care in 18 specialties throughout metropolitan Tulsa. OSU Virtual Care strengthens rural community health services and improves access to high-quality care for Oklahomans.
Cleveland Area Hospital includes both the hospital and Lake Area Medical Associates. The hospital houses both Inpatient and Rehabilitation care, as well as 24/7 services which include a Level IV emergency department, lab, imaging, and respiratory care.
Lake Area Medical Associates provides primary care to our region, Monday through Friday 7AM to 7PM, with the expertise of 2 physicians, 2 physician assistants, and 3 nurse practitioners.