WWW arkcity.net

By FOSS FARRAR
Traveler Staff Writer

A group of local doctors will go public next week with their plans to build a replacement hospital for Arkansas City.

They will present their plans to the City Commission in a special commission meeting and public hearing at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Cowley College's Brown Center.

Although several previous plans to build a new hospital for the city have fallen through, the doctors are hopeful that this plan will work, said Bob Yoachim, president of the Midwest Healthcare Alliance, the local doctors' group.

"This group we've been in touch with have put together a complete package for building hospitals," Yoachim said Friday. "Professionally, we've been involved with them for several years."

The proposed replacement facility would be located two miles north of town, west of U.S. 77. It would be accessed by the old highway to avoid crossing two lanes of oncoming, southbound traffic, he said.

It would be jointly owned by MHA and Cardiovascular Hospitals of America, a Wichita-based organization that builds hospitals, he said. The local doctors would own 49 percent of the hospital while CHA would own 51 percent.

"Fifteen of us (local doctors) have already completed the investment portion three weeks ago," Yoachim said. "We put in significant dollars."

Together, the two entities -- MHA and CHA -- will be responsible for a down payment of 20 percent of the construction cost. "The building will come in around $15 million," he said.

But the investors also depend on the city to legislate an agreement turning over the assets of the current Ark City hospital, South Central Kansas Regional Medical Center, to the new facility once it is built and ready to open, Yoachim said. The potential new owners also are depending on the city to extend water and sewer lines to the new hospital site.

City Manager Curt Freeland that SCKRMC is a city-owned entity that is leased to the hospital board of trustees, and that the trustees are appointed by the city. Thus, the city commission must adopt an agreement to turn over current hospital assets.

After hearing presentations by the investors in the replacement hospital project, city commissioners could adopt a three-part agreement, Freeland said. Under the agreement, the city would: turn over usable assets of SCKRMC to the new entity; extend water and sewer lines to the new hospital site; and take responsibility for reuse of the old hospital, including any debt service.

"We, like the physicians, are hopeful that this (project) will result in a new, high-tech hospital that will attract and retain physicians for generations to come," Freeland said.

The new hospital will have a new name, but it will remain a full-service hospital, Yoachim said.

"It's going to be the community's hospital," he said. "The name will change and the location. I know some people are a little upset that it may inconvenience some people, but when you look at it from a business standpoint, I think once they get used to it, people are going to be happy with it."

A potential downside is that the new hospital location would be inconvenient for people living in the central part of the city.

"We think the new location will improve the demographics and accessibility," Yoachim said. "It will bring people who come here a little closer to Wichita (in case they need emergency care services there) and it will serve people from the northern part of the county."

The new hospital would be designed for efficient health care as practiced by today's medical professionals, he said. The new facility would be a 55,000 to 58,000 square foot facility all built on one level.

"We believe it will attract more doctors who would want to practice medicine in a new facility," Yoachim said. "It's like a new house for homeowners. Our current hospital is an outdated facility."

Located at 216 W. Birch Ave., SCKRMC, previously Arkansas City Memorial Hospital, was built in 1951. It was designed for inpatient care in an era when the standard of care was a several-day stay regardless of the patient's illness. But the replacement facility would be designed for the delivery of outpatient care. More than 80 percent of the hospital's admissions are same-day procedures.