Arkansas - Digital Publishing

Blytheville Hospital Closing
A Section of Its Cancer Center
The Great River Medical Center in
Blytheville will stop offering radiation
treatments in its cancer center by the end
of January.
Chemotherapy treatments still will
be offered at the center by an oncologist,
but not the radiation treatments, which
were operated by Methodist Healthcare
and the West Clinic in Memphis, said
John Logan, chairman of the board of
the Mississippi Hospital Association.
Mississippi County owns the hospital
building and leases the space.
About six months ago, Methodist and
the West Clinic announced that “they
determined they didn’t want to continue
the radiation part in Blytheville,” Logan
said. Logan said he didn’t know why
Methodist and the West Clinic wanted
to stop the service. He referred questions
to hospital administrator Ralph Beaty,
who wasn’t immediately unavailable for
comment.
The hospital committee searched for
another health care provider to take over
the lease of the space, but couldn’t find one.
Logan said that he didn’t know how
many patients would be affected by
the closure, but now they will have to
drive about an hour away to Memphis or
Jonesboro for treatment.
Logan said the county might lease the
space left vacant by Methodist and West
Clinic to a doctor.
— Mark Friedman
HealthSouth, St. Bernards
Partner on Rehab Services
St. Bernards Healthcare of Jonesboro
and HealthSouth Corp. of Birmingham,
Ala., announced Wednesday that they
have agreed to partner on inpatient rehabilitation
services.
The partnership will take place at
the 67-bed HealthSouth Rehabilitation
Hospital of Jonesboro, according to a
joint news release. The cost of the partnership
wasn’t disclosed, but it will be
an equal partnership, Rebecca Rasberry,
a spokeswoman for St. Bernards, said in
an email to Arkansas Business.
The transaction will need approval
from state and federal regulatory agencies,
but it is expected to close by the end
of the quarter.
“We believe that by combining the
resources and efforts of both organizations,
we will be able to offer exceptional
rehabilitative services to patients within
this region,” Chris B. Barber, president
and CEO of St. Bernards Healthcare, said
in the news release.
Under health care reform, hospitals
and doctors will have to demonstrate
lower costs while providing high-quality
care, which will be key metrics in governmental
and commercial reimbursements.
“Future health care models are going
to require providers to work very closely
together, providing seamless, coordinated
transitions of care,” Rasberry said. “It
just made sense for both organizations to
partner in this venture.”
— Mark Friedman
White County Medical Center
Sells River Oaks Village
River Oaks Village, which had
been owned and managed by White
County Medical Center, was sold Dec.
3 to Providence Assisted Living LLC of
Clarksdale, Miss., administrator Lisa
Jackson said last week.
Providence already had four facilities
in Mississippi and operates an inhome
care division called Providence
Companion Care.
River Oaks is located near the WCMC
Health Care Notes
campus. It comprises 47 independent living
and 40 assisted living apartments. The
nonrefundable entrance fee is $500, and
thereafter residents pay monthly rent.
— Gwen Moritz
Magnolia Medical Center
Building Fitness Park
Magnolia Regional Medical Center
broke ground last week on a fitness park
on the hospital’s property.
According to CEO Margaret West, the
hospital’s current location was originally
the location of Magnolia’s city park.
“There is a section of the park still left
on our campus,” West said. “We’ve been
SAVE
Arkansas Business January 28, 2013 11
talking for years about how nice it would
be to have a walking park in there.”
West said the hospital raised about
$111,000 during the last year to go toward
the park.
The actual cost of the park will be
closer to $60,000, West said, but the
remainder of the money raised may go
toward upgrades like lighting.
West said the park will feature a quarter-mile
track with intermittent “fitness
stations” containing advice for workouts.
The park is slated to be completed by
spring. Terracon of Little Rock designed,
it, and Perritt & Vickers Inc. of Magnolia
is building it.
— Luke Jones
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