CEO: Outpatient Specialists – Cardiology
November 26, 2025
(Published as a Letter to the Editor in The Carrollton Democrat)
By Scott Thoreson, Carroll County Memorial Hospital Chief Executive Officer
If you have ever needed to identify and make an appointment with a medical specialist, you probably remember how difficult it was and how long you had to wait to be seen. As part of our CCMH Strategic Plan, we have made it a priority to identify areas where we can appropriately obtain the services of a specialist and bring them to Carrollton. Prior to pursuing a specialist, we determine how long it takes to be seen for that particular specialty. After a year of work on the specialty of cardiology, we are happy to share that in October 2025 we added the services of the Liberty Hospital Cardiology group who are providing scheduled services at CCMH every Thursday. We will continue to receive the services of the HCA cardiologists that have been coming to CCMH for years. Prior to adding the new group, the next available cardiology visit was three months out at CCMH, and it didn’t get much better if you tried to get an appointment in Kansas City or Columbia.
We compare how long it takes to get seen at CCMH for various specialties, and in general it can be considerably sooner than the bigger cities. In an ongoing survey that is done by AMN Healthcare, they examine six medical specialties from 15 of the largest U.S. metropolitan area, the closest to us is Minneapolis. The latest findings from this survey found it takes almost 24 days to get a family medicine appointment – at CCMH, this is about three days on average. We are not able to find comparisons related to rural areas, but we feel quite pleased that we are able to accommodate patients without much waiting at all.
I had a nephew visit from Los Angeles recently and unfortunately, he required a trip to our CCMH emergency department. If he had been in Los Angeles, he could have waited easily 8 hours before he would have been seen, but in Carrollton he was seen about 5 minutes after arrival. My nephew’s problem was identified and treated, and he was sent on his way in less than 2 hours. As rural residents, we do take our availability of healthcare for granted, and it is only when we go to larger areas do we understand how good we really have it here.
I hope this article has provided a bit more of an insight about access to specialists in health care and why CCMH might be better situated for your particular specialty need – we like to be seen as the “quicker fixer-upper.” We will continue to examine specialties that make sense for our service area and strive to meet patient needs. I wish you good health!
More in this Series:
CEO: One Big Beautiful Bill Act (Published October 29, 2025)
https://www.carrollcountyhospital.org/news/ceo-one-big-beautiful-bill-act
CEO: Growing the Next Generation (Published July 16, 2025)
https://www.carrollcountyhospital.org/news/ceo-growing-the-next-generation
CEO: National Hospital Week 2025 (Published May 14, 2025)
https://www.carrollcountyhospital.org/news/ceo-national-hospital-week-2025
CEO: Advance Directives (Published April 14, 2025)
https://www.carrollcountyhospital.org/news/ceo-advance-directives
CEO: Health Insurance Decision Time (Published September 25, 2024)
https://www.carrollcountyhospital.org/news/ceo-health-insurance-decision-time
CEO: Hospital Week 2024 (Published May 13, 2024)
https://www.carrollcountyhospital.org/news/ceo-hospital-week-2024
CEO: Community Health Needs Initial Assessment (Published April 24, 2024)
https://www.carrollcountyhospital.org/news/ceo-community-health-needs-initial-assessment
CEO: Cybersecurity (Published February 14, 2024)
https://www.carrollcountyhospital.org/news/ceo-cybersecurity
CEO: End of Year Reflections (Published December 29, 2023)
https://www.carrollcountyhospital.org/news/ceo-end-of-the-year-reflections
CEO: Coding Matters (Published November 22, 2023)
https://www.carrollcountyhospital.org/news/ceo-coding-matters
CEO: Maternity Care Desert (Published October 25, 2023)
https://www.carrollcountyhospital.org/news/ceo-maternity-care-desert
CEO: Rural Emergency Hospitals (Published September 20, 2023)
https://www.carrollcountyhospital.org/news/ceo-rural-emergency-hospitals
CEO: Primary Care Provider (Published August 23, 2023)
https://www.carrollcountyhospital.org/news/ceo-primary-care-provider
CEO: Supply Shortages (Published June 28, 2023)
https://www.carrollcountyhospital.org/news/ceo-supply-shortages
CEO: CCMH Named Top 20 Critical Access Hospital (Published June 14, 2023)
https://www.carrollcountyhospital.org/news/ceo-ccmh-named-top-20-critical-access-hospital
CEO: Hospital Week 2023 (Published May 3, 2023)
https://www.carrollcountyhospital.org/news/ceo-hospital-week-2023
CEO: Prior Authorizations (Published April 5, 2023)
https://www.carrollcountyhospital.org/news/ceo-prior-authorizations
CEO: Staff Shortage and Open Positions (Published February 8, 2023)
https://www.carrollcountyhospital.org/news/ceo-staff-shortage-and-open-positions
CEO: End of Year 2022 (Published December 14, 2022)
https://www.carrollcountyhospital.org/news/ceo-end-of-2022
CEO: Purpose of the Foundation (Published November 10, 2022)
https://www.carrollcountyhospital.org/news/purpose-of-the-foundation
CEO: Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (Published September 28, 2022)
https://www.carrollcountyhospital.org/news/ceo-health-insurance-portability-and-accountability-act
CEO: CCMH Providers (Published August 24, 2022)
https://www.carrollcountyhospital.org/news/ceo-ccmh-providers
CEO: Financial Assistance (Published July 20, 2022)
https://www.carrollcountyhospital.org/news/ceo-financial-assistance
CEO: Social Determinants of Health (Published June 29, 2022)
https://www.carrollcountyhospital.org/news/ceo-social-determinants-of-health
CEO: National Hospital Week (Published May 11, 2022)
https://www.carrollcountyhospital.org/news/ceo-national-hospital-week
CEO: Why Healthcare is Expensive (Published May 4, 2022)
https://www.carrollcountyhospital.org/news/ceo-why-healthcare-is-expensive
CEO: A Hospital is Still a Business (Published March 16, 2022)
https://www.carrollcountyhospital.org/news/ceo-a-hospital-is-still-a-business
CEO: Different Types of Hospital Ownership (Published February 1, 2022)
https://www.carrollcountyhospital.org/news/ceo-different-types-of-hospital-ownership
CEO: Holiday Message (Published December 20, 2021)
https://www.carrollcountyhospital.org/news/ceo-holiday-message