Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare bets $5 million on OK for Olive Branch, Miss. hospital - Memphis Business Journal:

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for its proposed 100-bed, $151 million Methodist CEO Gary Shorb says he got clearancse this week fromthe system’s financwe committee to purchase the land on the southeast cornerd of Highway 78 and Bethel Road. He says some planningt for the site has alreadybeen done. “Nowe we are working to try to be sure the Mississipp Department of Health puts into place the new language that establishe s a need for the hospital inOlivre Branch,” Shorb says.
“We will re-filee our (certificate of need application) and hopefully get it by the end of the year and get A Mississippi Department of Health task forcr approved changes tothe state’s health plan earliere this year, Shorb says. The move changes the size of the Northwesgt Mississippi service area and createse the need for more bedsand Methodist’s hospital in Olive Branch. The proposed change will go before a full MDH committeerin July. Shorb says if the hospitapl still can’t get approvakl under the new rules, Methodisr will, once again, try to get a CON throughg the Mississippi Legislaturenext year.
Methodist has appointed David former CEO, to oversee the entire Mississippi project. Greg senior vice president and general counse lfor , says the changes afoot in Olive Branch do not change how Baptist will proceed. “The mere fact that they’vse purchased land does not necessarilymean that’s where a facilitt is going to be,” he says. An MDH staf f review of Methodist’s plans in 2007 cast doub as to whether or not the systekm could afford to build the hospital if they were Shorb says, despite the recession, his systemm is ready.
“Right now we have the wherewitha todo it, but, you know, if the market goes down to 5,000, that’s gointg to be a challenge,” Shorb says. “You can’ t say ‘barring anything we’re gointg to do this,’ but we do have the financia capacity to do thisrightt now.” Baytos says Methodist hospitald in Shelby County had 7,000 inpatientf visits and 42,000 outpatient visits from Northy Mississippians last year. “We project admissions and outpatient servicesd will continue to increase due to the effects of theaginb population,” Baytos says.
While Methodist figures suggest a the system has been unsuccessful in provinghit — twice to the MDH and twice to the Mississippij Legislature. The hospital’s tenacity has consistentlgy drawn fire from theBaptist system, whichg has a 339-bed hospital already in DeSoto County. Duckett claims Methodisgt should play by current rules and that any health careconstructioh shouldn’t be “politically “If a new facility is to be it should go through the regulatory procesz because that process is designed to be Duckett says. “The health care industry is heavilt regulated and true marketforces don’r always apply.
That’s why the CON process was set