BUSINESS: SOUTHEAST SEVERS HOSPITALIST TIES WITH ST. FRANCIS

Southeast Missouri Hospital announced it will withdraw from a partnership forged with St. Francis Medical Center two years ago to care for patients who have no doctors.

St. Francis intends to maintain the "hospitalist" specialists, who oversee care of a high percentage of indigent patients, assuming full expenses of the program, which total $1 million per year.

The hospitalist program was founded by the two Cape Girardeau medical institutions in October 1998 when Southeast and St. Francis were considering a merger to save millions of dollars in expenses and to armor themselves against the national trend of corporate hospital acquisitions. The threat of an antitrust lawsuit from the Missouri attorney general in January 1999 ended the affiliation plan.

A terse Nov. 6 letter from Southeast president James Wente to St. Francis president Steven Bjelich announced Southeast's withdrawal from the hospitalist program by July 1.

It will leave St. Francis, which is committed to maintaining the hospitalist program in keeping with Jesuit principals of charity, assuming 100 percent of the program costs, said Bjelich. With six physicians' salaries and benefits -- three adult hospitalists and three pediatric hospitalists -- that amounts to $1 million annually plus patient costs, said Bjelich.

Bjelich said the letter surprised him.

"It's disappointing. We're sad to see them withdraw from this cooperative effort," he said. "I don't understand why they're pulling away from this great program."

Bjelich said he had no warning that Southeast intended to drop out.

But Wente said Southeast's leaders had their reasons.

"We feel like it was an excellent partnership," said Wente. "There were no problems with the relationship at all. We felt we could improve customer service if we had our own staff."

Wente declined to specify how customer service at Southeast would improve through the split, saying it was a private, business matter. But, he said, it is a "natural evolution" for the two hospitals to develop their own programs.

The rules of the limited liability partnership entered into by the two hospitals stipulate that 180-day notice must be given if either party desires to separate from the hospitalist program, Bjelich said.

St. Francis houses the offices of the specialists, so the location of the program will not change.