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On May 15, Southwest Regional Medical Center in Little Rock announced it would be closing this month, at midnight on July 15.

CEO Nancy Fodi acknowledged in a press release that the decision to close the 125-bed acute care community hospital was not taken lightly. “This was a difficult decision to make,” she said. “Unfortunately Southwest Regional Medical Center continues to operate at a significant financial loss that necessitates its closure. I thank the dedicated employees and physicians for their steadfast commitment to serving the healthcare needs of the residents of Little Rock and surrounding communities.”

Located at the intersection of I-30 and I-430 near the Pulaski and Saline County border, Southwest many drew patients from the Benton and Bryant areas, as well as from southwest Little Rock.

Saline Memorial Hospital CEO Randy Fortner said his hospital was prepared to care for Southwest Regional’s former patients, but that he was not expecting a spike in patient load.

“Our understanding was that their volumes had been very low, so we’re not expecting a large increase of volume from that,” Fortner said. “Though from an overall standpoint, it’s always concerning to me when any services leave a community.”

He said Saline Memorial remains prepared to care for the residents of Saline County. “If patients choose our facility as a result of Southwest no longer providing services, we certainly have the capacity, capability and technology to do that, along with physician support. So if those patients need care, they can certainly count on us to provide it.”

Southwest Regional is owned by Health Management Associates, Inc. (HMA) of Naples, Fla., which operates 58 hospitals in 15 states with a total of 8,269 licensed beds.

For close to two years, HMA had been trying to sell the hospital. In 2006, Southwest as well as Summit Medical Center in Van Buren and a West Virginia hospital were supposed to be part of a deal with Nevada-based Shiloh Health Services, Inc., but that deal fell through in 2007 for lack of financing. Local rumors abounded that Baptist Health, Arkansas Heart Hospital or another Arkansas system might purchase Southwest, but those sales never came to fruition.

Nationally, HMA has sold or is closing at least four other hospital operations it owns: the 80-bed Lee Regional Medical Center in Pennington Gap, Va.; the 133-bed Mountain View Regional Medical Center in Norton, Va.; the 172-bed Woman’s Center at Dallas Regional Medical Center in Mesquite, Texas and the 189-bed Gulf Coast Medical Center in Biloxi, Miss.

Summit Hospital’s public relations and marketing director Stacy Caldarera said HMA-owned Summit is not experiencing the same kinds of financial losses as Southwest has had, and in fact was one of only seven hospitals recently recognized by HMA for outstanding fiscal performance.

“We’re doing really well this year,” Caldarera said of the 103-bed acute care hospital. “We just received a quarterly President’s Award from HMA that recognizes hospitals that are exceeding their budget expectations for the year, which our hospital is doing. Everything’s going great.”

HMA Chief Operating Officer Kelly Curry said in a press release about Summit’s award, ”This outstanding performance can only be achieved if all the hospital employees dedicate themselves to delivering the exceptional during the quarter.” Curry could not be reached for comment about Southwest Regional’s closure.
In that same release, Summit CEO Pam Tahan called the award “a sign of a bright future for the hospital.”

Caldarera said that Summit, as the only hospital in Crawford County, does not face the same kinds of competitive pressures as Southwest did from other Central Arkansas hospitals. “The key is that our hospital is such a vital part of Crawford County and the community really supports us.”

Fodi said in May that Southwest Regional would be working with the Arkansas Department of Workforce Services to assist hospital employees with the transition to other employment opportunities. Caldarera said that although Summit has sometimes absorbed HMA employees displaced by closures or mergers such as from Dallas or Biloxi, it has not yet brought on any former Southwest Regional employees. Fortner, too, said that while Saline Memorial has openings, the hospital has not “aggressively or specifically targeted Southwest staff” for its organization.

The Medical Office Building adjacent to the hospital will remain open as usual. HMA has said it is considering other alternatives for the hospital.



July 2008

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