Stormont-Vail Health has confirmed plans for a new medical clinic serving the Emporia area.
In an email to KVOE News, Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Tracy O’Rourke says a new facility for its Emporia team would be the best option for meeting future health care needs locally, adding the current space at Newman Regional Health does not give Stormont staff the means to renovate and organize “to accomplish the efficiencies and coordination of patient care that we need.”
Constructing a new facility would let Stormont move several services already provided locally, including:
• Family medicine, internal medicine, pediatric, OB/GYN and behavioral health providers;
• Medical specialty clinics for cardiology, nephrology, allergy, asthma, immunology and endocrinology;
• Surgical clinics in orthopedics and sports medicine, bariatric surgery and spinal surgery;
• Employer health and occupational health service;
• Diagnostic services including laboratory, medical imaging, women’s imaging, ultrasound and cardiac diagnostics;
• Support services in social workers, medical interpretation services and care management.
O’Rourke also says Stormont staffers and patients have asked for additional services, including:
• Medical weight management
• Medical specialists in dermatology, rheumatology, advanced digestive health, pain management and palliative care
• Pediatric specialists
• Clinical research
• Expanded clinical training location for nursing, laboratory sciences, medical imaging and advance practice providers
Following conversations with Emporia and Lyon County leaders, O’Rourke says Stormont has agreed not to build an ambulatory surgical center, instead focusing on plans to relocate staff from current leased space at Newman Regional Health to a new facility with existing and new services as part of a plan to improve access to care. O’Rourke’s comments confirm public statements by City Manager Trey Cocking at Wednesday night’s Q&A with City Staff about concerns Newman Regional Health administrators have had about duplicated services with a new Stormont facility, especially concerning surgery.
As part of Wednesday afternoon’s monthly Board of Trustees meeting, NRH Chief Financial Officer Holly French mentioned projected losses at up to $8 million annually if Stormont duplicates certain services already offered at Newman Regional Health, most notably surgery and imaging. Also, Chief Executive Officer Cathy Pimple outlined information about the Certificate of Need process, which can lead to limits for hospitals seeking to add services in other markets, specifically when it comes to patient use for items like CTs, MRIs or surgeries per operating rooms in rural areas. Pimple used information from Michigan in her presentation Wednesday. Kansas is not a Certificate of Need state, but Executive Director of Strategy and Development Steven Bazan says Newman Regional has no plans to add minimum patient numbers for services like MRIs, CTs and surgeries to its proposed zoning code text changes announced last fall as a way to minimize the financial losses from a Stormont facility.
Cocking has announced Sept. 13 as a deadline for an agreement between the two hospitals. Cocking has said Emporia city commissioners expect an annexation request from Stormont-Vail soon — and if there is no agreement in hand or ongoing meaningful conversations between the two hospitals, the city will begin considering Stormont’s request on its own merits.
O’Rourke thanked Cocking and other city leaders for their “fair and constructive guidance” over the last 12 months and pledged to continue discussions with Newman Regional Health, underway both through and after a mediated process earlier this year, to work on “a coordinated plan for what healthcare may look like in the future.” O’Rourke also says Stormont leaders have appreciated the support from city and Lyon County leaders for ongoing conversations between the two hospital systems.
