In rural healthcare, innovation and collaboration are essential. At Montgomery County Memorial Hospital & Clinics (MCMH) in Red Oak, Iowa, the team has embraced CyncHealth Iowa as a vital partner in delivering high-quality, efficient, and connected care. This is a perfect example of rural health information exchange. Recently, we sat down with several leaders and clinicians to learn how CyncHealth Iowa makes a difference in their daily work—and in the lives of their patients.
Q&A with MCMH Leaders and Clinicians
Q: Why is CyncHealth important to your organization?
Ron Kloewer, CEO:
“As a rural independent healthcare organization, we have to make it on our own. We have to innovate. We also have to network. We cannot be all alone. Our efforts with CyncHealth allow us to be part of something bigger.”
Q: How does CyncHealth impact clinical decision-making?
Ron Kloewer:
“We really excel in using CyncHealth because our clinicians know that they have the information they need. Without CyncHealth, our world would not be the same in terms of our ability to care for patients.”
Shauna Bozwell, RN – Chief Clinical Officer:
“Using CyncHealth is a huge improvement in the quality of care that we provide. It allows us to have all of their health data at our fingertips. It saves our nurses time, it saves our providers time.”
Q: What was it like before CyncHealth came into the picture?
Laura Kinnison, RN:
“Before CyncHealth, we spent a lot of time calling other facilities to get past medical history—lots of faxes, lots of phone calls, lots of transferring people out because we weren’t aware of their past medical history.”
Q: How does CyncHealth support your clinicians and staff?
Ron Kloewer:
“I need happy clinicians, and anyone who’s in this business knows that clinicians that are happy and doing effective work aren’t chasing around data. Having access to data through CyncHealth helps us do both a good job for our clinicians, patients, and our business.”
Shauna Bozwell:
“If you want to take away the burden from your staff and your providers, use CyncHealth. If you want to provide better patient care, use CyncHealth.”
Q: What specific tools or features of CyncHealth are most valuable?
Shauna Bozwell:
“The event notifications have been very helpful. We receive notification of any ER visit in the U.S. for our attributed patients, and when they’re discharged from an inpatient stay. That’s huge. It allows us to follow up and ensure continuity of care.”
Tammy Philby – Senior Clinical Analyst:
“As a rural provider, we used to spend lots of hours on the phone trying to look for open beds. Having access to the Bed Dashboard has reduced the time our nurses need to try to find an open bed for our patient.”
Q: How does CyncHealth help beyond individual patient care?
Tammy Philby:
“CyncHealth not only helps us on a patient level, but also at the community level. We can look at data and see trends, public health deficiencies, and start programs to help the entire community.”
Q: What’s the bottom line?
Daniela Donoso, MD:
“CyncHealth has helped in a great way to bridge that gap between the information that needs to be sent to us and what we need to properly care for the patients when they come for a visit.”
Ron Kloewer:
“From a business point of view, the ability to be efficient and to wisely use our clinical labor is where I see real value in CyncHealth to our organization.”
Conclusion
CyncHealth is more than just a regional, statewide, and rural health information exchange—it’s a driving force behind better care, smarter operations, and healthier communities. At Montgomery County Memorial Hospital & Clinics, Health Data Solutions for Rural Hospitals are playing a vital role in helping rural healthcare thrive. What sets CyncHealth Iowa apart is the expertise behind the technology: a team of dedicated professionals, including former clinicians and industry experts, who understand the real-world challenges of healthcare. Their mission is clear—to continuously evolve and enhance health information systems that meet the needs of today’s providers and tomorrow’s innovations, all while making a meaningful impact on patient care.
More About CyncHealth
Through a unique public/private governance model, CyncHealth brings together providers, payers, policymakers, and public health agencies to deliver better healthcare experiences. Tools—like the Provider Portal, Direct Secure Messaging, Public Health Reporting, and others—empower clinicians with real-time, actionable data to make confident decisions and improve care coordination.
Learn CyncHealth can serve your community by clicking the following links:
