$107M bond issue to pay for variety of upgrades at SoutheastHEALTH

Upgrades in the works at SoutheastHEALTH include construction of a 10,000-square-foot facility in Jackson, acquisition of robotic surgical equipment and a new cardiac pavilion in the Cape Girardeau hospital.

The Cape Girardeau and Stoddard County Industrial Development Authorities approved SoutheastHEALTH to issue up to a total of $107 million in new bonds to fund the projects.

Kenneth Bateman, president and CEO of SoutheastHEALTH, detailed the changes to come:

• Two primary-care physicians -- both who live in Jackson -- will relocate their practices to a new facility on East Main Street in Jackson.

"That's going to be a nice complement to our convenient-care center across the street on the adjacent corner," Bateman said. "Jackson is an area we get a lot of patients from."

Bateman said his organization also plans to add a pharmacy and keep space for future growth in Jackson.

"We're looking at probably a year and a half timeline for the Jackson facility," Bateman said.

• At SoutheastHEALTH Cancer Center, 11,000 square feet of unfinished space is scheduled to be completed.

"We're actually growing out of space, so we're going to finish that space, and that will give us 36 new exam rooms and accommodate 12 new providers," Bateman said.

• In Dexter, Missouri, a new emergency department that has been under construction for several months also will benefit from the bonds.

"That [Dexter project], we expect to be completed by the end of this year," Bateman said.

• In January, SoutheastHEALTH will begin construction on a 14-bed facility to accommodate the increasing volume of cardiac patients.
• Some funds will be used to buy advanced imaging and surgical technology.

This technology, Bateman said, will help minimize risks associated with some surgeries and lead to shorter hospital stays for patients.

"Robotic surgery has a lot of advantages for the patient. Typically, they have shorter length of stay, which reduces the risk of infection. Usually there's fewer complications, which means faster recovery, smaller incision, less scarring," Bateman said. "We'll be the first in the area to have this piece of technology (the da Vinci Surgicial System Xi robot)."

That piece of technology will be operational Wednesday, Bateman said.

Another technology is designed to aid accuracy in the placement of spine implants.

"The beauty of technology is it takes away variation and it takes away the human error side of the manual part of the procedure," Bateman said. "And we will be the first in Missouri to have this technology."

• SoutheastHEALTH fitness centers in Cape Girardeau and Jackson will be evaluated for facility, equipment and program design.

Bateman said all the upgrades are possible in large part due to SoutheastHEALTH's improved credit rating.

"This week here, as a matter of fact, Standard & Poor's had been doing an evaluation on us. They moved us up to an investment-grade credit rating," Bateman said Thursday.

Moody's also is expected to issue a similar rating, Bateman said, although that announcement will not come until August.

The improved rating will allow SoutheastHEALTH to refinance about $87 million in bonds at a lower interest rate, which Bateman said is expected to save SoutheastHEALTH about $900,000 annually.

"That's the goal," Bateman said, "to continue to bring high-level medicine at a fraction of the cost into this community."

tgraef@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3627