(Topeka, Kan., Nov. 15, 2007) -- Dr. Kent Palmberg, senior vice president and chief medical officer of Stormont-Vail HealthCare, has been awarded the Donald A. Wilson Visionary Award presented by the Kansas Hospital Association. Dr. Palmberg was recognized at the KHA annual convention Nov. 13-15 at the Hyatt Regency/Century II Convention Center in Wichita.
The Donald A. Wilson Visionary Award recognizes an outstanding innovative contribution to care delivery, financing or initiatives that improve the health and clinical outcomes of a community. The award is named for Donald Wilson, who served as president of KHA from 1982 to 2004.
Dr. Palmberg graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a bachelor’s degree in chemistry with distinction at the University of Kansas. He graduated in 1974 from the University of Kansas School of Medicine. He did his residency in internal medicine at the University of Kansas and Affiliated Hospitals and was awarded the Chancellor’s Senior Resident Teaching Award.
Dr. Palmberg joined Cotton-O’Neil Clinic in July 1978 as an internal medicine physician. He was active in the management of the practice and was elected to the board of directors of Cotton-O’Neil in 1978, a position he held until the merging of Stormont-Vail and Cotton-O’Neil.
It was during his tenure on the board, that Dr. Palmberg recognized the need to grow the practice and better serve the needs of the physicians in the practice and the community they served.
Since the merging, Dr. Palmberg has held the position of senior vice president and chief medical officer of Stormont-Vail HealthCare. During the years that have followed the merger, the organization has grown significantly and delivered health care needs to a broader geographic region.
The Medical Services Division has more than doubled in size under Dr. Palmberg’s leadership, growing from 71 physicians to more than 160. As a result of this effort, Stormont-Vail has grown from eight to 23 care locations in the region.
Additionally, Dr. Palmberg has helped Stormont-Vail develop a state-of-the-art surgical division, a heart center, a digestive health center, cancer center, wound care services and occupational medicine program. He was also instrumental in helping to recruit psychiatrists to staff the Behavioral Health Program at Stormont-Vail West, helped with the creation of a Trauma Services program, which is now one of only four verified Trauma Centers in Kansas, and was instrumental in the addition of two neurosurgeons at Stormont-Vail providing around-the-clock neurosurgery coverage to the community.
Dr. Palmberg has also been a leader in establishing a clinical research division, creating the first hospitalist program in Kansas and establishing increased access to pediatric services, including the addition of PediatricCare to Stormont-Vail family, a pediatric hospitalist program and a pediatric residency affiliation with KU Medical Center.
In addition to Dr. Palmberg’s honor, Stormont-Vail received an honorable mention for its Palliative Care Consult Program. The Kansas Hospital Education and Research Foundation’s Thomas R. Sipe Challenge recognized the Palliative Care Program, which was started in 2006. The program provides patients with a serious or chronic condition, regardless of prognosis, with symptom management, pain management and support services.
Also at the KHA conference, S. Kenneth Alexander III, a trustee of Stormont-Vail HealthCare, was elected to a three-year term as a KHA director. His term will go through 2010.
