A partnership between two local hospitals has been created to benefit patients who need long-term care. Post Acute Medical Health is relocating and opening a long-term acute care hospital, also known as LTACH, inside Saint Mary's Regional Medical Center. LTACH adds 21 hospital beds to the community, catering to a critical need for patients who require extended hospital stays.

Derrick Glum, CEO of Saint Mary's Health Network, says, "Basically it's the difference between a long-term acute care hospital and a hospital say, like Saint Mary's is that patients still require acute level of care, a doctor every day, therapies, sometimes need surgeries, or long-term antibiotics, but they extend the stay that's needed in a normal short term acute care hospital like Saint Mary's."

Starting Tuesday, PAM Health will be welcoming in patients who need the same services but can accommodate stays of up to about 25 days that short-term hospitals generally aren't set up for. Glum says that PAM Health is the only long-term hospital in this area. This means that now patients will no longer have to travel all the way to places such as Sacramento to receive these services.

Sam Billig, Division President of PAM Health, says, "We typically admit patients from the short-term acute care hospitals like Saint Mary's, and Renown, and Northern Nevada. So once the patients have exceeded their length of stay there and they still need continued care, they've had an ICU stay of more than 3 days they would qualify to come to us, so we finish their care."

PAM Health says they're excited to make Reno their new home and start to care for patients Tuesday.Â