River Cities Business Journal: Health

BULLHEAD CITY - Sushi and strawberries lined the halls of Western Arizona Regional Medical Center's new outpatient surgery center July 13, but open house attendees were more impressed with the staff and facilities, they said.

“I was really impressed with the doctor who was explaining the operating room,” Fort Mojave resident Barbara Miller said. “All the staff was very knowledgeable and answered all our questions.”

Miller visited the facility in the Hancock Medical Plaza at 1251 E. Hancock Road with her sister to check things out, she said.

“I've only lived here about six years so I like to keep up with what's happening around me,” Miller said. “I wanted to look the place over just in case I ever need to have something done I'll know where to come.”

Miller felt reassured about medical care in the Tri-state area after meeting the center's staff and seeing the state-of-the-art equipment, she said.

Being out of the hospital setting can be beneficial for several reasons, including avoiding the maze-like hallways and backlog of cases, head of sterile processing Barbara Stewart said.

“You are in and out in no time because you aren't going to be scheduled behind any big surgeries,” she said. “Your time spent here will be a lot shorter.”

On average, patients will need to arrive 30 minutes to one hour prior to their surgery, depending on lab needs, and will spend very little time in recovery, Zuro said.

“As soon as you wake up and your vitals are healthy, you're out the door,” she said.

Hospital volunteer Terri Frear said she liked the idea of her doctor not being called away on other emergencies.

“Often in the hospital, you doctor will get called for emergencies or in-patient procedures,” she said. “If you're scheduled here, you won't have to worry about that.”

WARMC CEO Dave Selman said making the process easier for everyone involved is the idea behind the new $3.2 million center.

“This is an outpatient-oriented center that will make having simple procedures easier for our patients,” he said. “We will be able to accommodate 15-20 surgeries a day at this center which will free us up at the hospital for inpatient and emergency procedures.”

Local doctors take stake in hospital

LAKE HAVASU CITY - LifePoint Hospitals, the parent company of Havasu Regional Medical Center, will purchase the Havasu Surgery Center for cash and stock in the new venture.

“The hospital purchased the surgery center, and in exchange for the purchase of assets of the surgery center, the surgeon investors did receive an opportunity to obtain cash and/or stock in the new joint venture. The syndication is what they call it.” said Havasu Surgery Center President Dr. Glenn Nudelman.

Although LifePoint is a publicly traded company, disclosure of the selling price is not required, since the type of stock sold in this transaction is not available for sale to the public, Nudelman said.

Based out of Brentwood, Tenn., LifePoint also is the parent company of Valley View Medical Center in Fort Mohave.

LifePoint focuses on non-urban hospitals with 49 facilities in 19 states.

As of closing on Wall Street on July 20, shares of LifePoint common stock increased 91 cents from the day's opening to $35.25 per share.

In 2005, LifePoint posted revenue of $1.85 billion, an 86 percent increase over 2004. Expenses for 2005 were $1.72 billion, according to the company's annual report.

Havasu Regional annual revenue is about $93 million. The Surgery Center annual revenue is about $5.5 million.

KRMC makes the

Community Value Index Top 100 list

KINGMAN - Kingman Regional Medical Center has been recognized as one of the nation's top 100 Hospitals in community value for the second time in three years. The findings were released in the State of the Hospital Industry - 2006 Edition, an annual publication by Cleverley & Associates, a leading healthcare financial consulting firm specializing in operational benchmarking and performance enhancing strategies. In preparing the report, Cleverly & Associates analyzes the performance of more than 3,500 hospitals across the nation.