River Cities Business Journal: Health

Kingman Daily Miner

KINGMAN - The medical landscape in Kingman will change next year with the addition of the $68.5 million Hualapai Mountain Medical Center.

MedCath Corporation held a groundbreaking ceremony on Jan. 23 for the hospital scheduled to be completed in the fall of 2009.

"We are also grateful for the outpouring of support we have received from local citizens and business leaders who share our enthusiasm for a new hospital in Kingman," said O. Edwin French, MedCath president and chief executive officer.

Total development cost for the project is expected to total approximately $68.5 million, including expenses of $5.5 million prior to opening. The company doesn't expect to make a profit on the venture until its third year after completion.

Upon opening, Hualapai Mountain Medical Center will have 70 beds in service and shelled space for an additional 36 beds. When completed, the facility will have a 105-bed capacity.

"Our initial 72 bed facility will optimize access for patients and delivery of high acuity health care services," French said. "The region is expecting growth well beyond the current patient capacity of the area. Providing for a 105-bed capacity hospital will help ensure adequate hospital bed-to-patient ratios in the rapidly expanding regional area of Kingman."

The hospital will be developed jointly with local physicians who collectively will own approximately 22 percent of the limited liability company that will own the hospital, with MedCath owning approximately 78 percent.

"Partnering with doctors focused on quality care, providing state-of-the-art acute care facilities and technology, and including a strong heart program among its general services leverages the strengths of venture," French said. "The new 105-bed Hualapai Mountain Medical Center embodies the MedCath vision as the company evolves to be the high acuity healthcare provider among acute care companies."

The Northwestern Independent Physician Association represents the physician group that is jointly developing Hualapai Mountain Medical Center with MedCath.

"Our diverse physician group has, for several years, wanted to develop a state-of-the-art hospital that offers quality services and in which physicians hold key leadership roles in operations and decision-making for the hospital," said Dr. Paul Kalanithi, an interventional cardiologist and president of the group. "The new Hualapai Mountain Medical Center accomplishes our goal. We will participate in shared governance with MedCath, and we will be involved in all aspects of the hospital's development, from conceptual design through service development."

The limited liability company that will own the hospital has acquired the land associated with the project and has commenced developing design and architecture plans.

The hospital's name reflects its proximity to the Hualapai Mountains. It is being developed on Santa Rosa Drive, east of Andy Devine Avenue.

The site will feature an emergency department, intensive care, surgery and imaging rooms, a pharmacy, a helipad, a three-story bed tower, and more than 435 parking spaces. A near by medical office building will be 60,000 square feet with 150 parking spaces.

MedCath is headquartered in Charlotte, N.C. They own interests in and operates 10 hospitals with a total of 635 licensed beds in Arizona, Arkansas, California, Louisiana, New Mexico, Ohio, South Dakota and Texas.

In November, Thomson Healthcare ranked three MedCath hospitals among the nation's top 100 for cardiovascular care. Arizona Heart Hospital, Avera Heart Hospital of South Dakota and Heart Hospital of Austin, Texas, in its annual study received the recognition based on hospitals' performance treating congestive heart failure and heart attacks.

"Our patient-focused model has consistently proved to be effective, as