Stormont-Vail Health Regional Administrator Mary Martell used an interview Tuesday on KVOE’s Morning Show to confirm plans for a “freestanding ambulatory” facility in Emporia.
Mary Martell says Stormont-Vail has several reasons for its proposal, which she says could mean a $32 million investment. Part of the reason is a consolidation and modernization.
Martell says the initial meeting between the hospital administrative teams took place in August. Martell says Stormont asked Newman Regional Health leaders to sign a non-disclosure agreement “so we could share information in confidence,” but local hospital leaders were unwilling to sign that document. In mentioning its goals of increasing local healthcare access a week ago, Stormont-Vail had said its staff and patients were frustrated by the lack of integrated services between the two systems. Martell says collaboration is still possible if Stormont builds a new facility, but its list of services is pending and Stormont wants more conversations with Newman Regional Health before setting that list.
The plan for a facility has not met with favor from Newman Regional Health. CEO Cathy Pimple has said the center would duplicate a range of services already offered by Newman Regional Health, including cardiology, cath and gastrointestinal labs, endoscopy and orthopedics, and would “cannibalize” the services, patient volumes and related revenues. Newman Regional Health has offered a request for several zoning text changes to the Metropolitan Area Planning Commission and the Emporia City Commission for the express purpose of disallowing any outside entity from providing certain medical services already in place at Newman Regional Health. Martell says she is not sure how Stormont-Vail would respond if both the Planning Commission and City Commission agree with Newman Regional Health.
Martell says data from the Kansas Hospital Association indicates at least half of outpatient surgical procedures for Lyon County residents happen outside Emporia, with procedures and imaging services handled in Wichita, Kansas City, Lawrence and Topeka. Countering concerns from Newman Regional Health about there not being enough patient traffic to support both ventures, Martell says there are enough patients to make things work.
Stormont’s growth plan has led it to assume control of Geary Community Hospital in Junction City and to finish construction on a new facility in Manhattan, with both moves happening this summer. Martell did not use the term ambulatory surgery center during Tuesday’s interview with KVOE, but she says the Emporia facility will likely be similar to the one in Manhattan, which offers primary care, specialty care, lab and imaging services.
While Stormont is pursuing a new facility, Martell says there are no plans to absorb Newman Regional Health as a whole into its operations.
