DOCTS WANT MORE VOICE IN MERGER; MEDICAL SOCIETY NAMES TEAM TO NEGOTIATE WITH HOSPITALS

Local physicians want more of a voice in the proposed merger of Cape Girardeau's two hospitals.

Members of the Cape Girardeau County Area Medical Society voted Thursday night to elect a seven-physician negotiating team to meet with hospital officials and business leaders, said Dr. Richard Martin, president of the society.

"The physicians have been, No. 1, not involved in this project of merging to our satisfaction, and we have been presented a plan for approval rather than being involved in the planning process," said Martin.

The doctors want to start negotiating with the hospitals on their merger concerns, he said.

If the merger between St. Francis Medical Center and Southeast Missouri Hospital goes through, a new governing board that would include three physicians would be formed. Martin said physicians want at least four doctors on the new board and want input into specifics of the merger structure.

"One of the merger issues, but not the only one, is the quantity of representation of physicians on the new, merged board," he said.

Increasing physician representation on the board would give doctors more voice on policies affecting their patients and themselves, he said.

"We would like to feel that the physician is the patient's advocate, and that we would have the patient's best interest at heart," Martin said.

"We're not economists, and we're not business majors," said Dr. Matt Coleman, president of St. Francis' medical staff and one of the physicians at Thursday's meeting. "We specialize in taking care of sick people, and that's the primary venture of health care. We want to make sure that this system continues to do things in a way that puts patients first."

Greater representation on the new board would assure that physicians maintain their role as patient advocates, he said.

With only one hospital in town, doctors no longer would be able to "play one hospital against the other, so to speak" to get better equipment and services, said Martin.

Members of the medical society also want hospital officials to go beyond the promised $44.4 million in savings to become more competitive in the health-care market, Martin said.

He said promised savings that would be achieved through capital avoidance, elimination of duplication, cuts in operational costs and staff cuts amount to about 2 percent of the hospitals' combined budgets.

Martin said physicians want to look for ways to save more through the merger while maintaining high-quality health care.

"The vast majority of physicians are in favor of the merger, but they would like to continue to be perceived as being pledged to be patient advocates in the process of being and staying and getting competitive with St. Louis and Memphis, and yet maintaining the quality of medical care that we've been able to engender and deliver in the last few years," he said.

Coleman said hospital administrators "expressed willingness and interest in hearing our concerns."

He said he thinks recent dialogue in the community is a good thing, and will help ensure the final merger proposal is fair to all concerned.

Physicians hope to hold the hospitals to "more than they've promised" in terms of cost savings, Martin said.

The local medical community is "kind of top-heavy" with specialists, Martin said, and those specialists add greatly to the quality of care. "I think it's obviously been because of the specialists that we are not just a community hospital," he said, pointing out that doctors here draw patients from among a population of 600,000.

Martin said the medical society also wants to work with hospital officials to ensure that as few employees as possible would be let go. Hospital officials project that about 100 full-time jobs would be eliminated in the merger.

James Wente, administrator of Southeast, and James Sexton, president and chief executive officer of St. Francis Medical Center, were both out of town Friday and could not be reached for comment on the medical society's decision.

Hospital officials say the merger is necessary to keep and expand the quality and scope of health services now available in the Cape Girardeau area. Supporters say it would ensure continued local control of health-care services, lower costs through elimination of duplicated services and a stronger presence in the regional health-care market.

Opponents argue it would eliminate competition and lead to higher health-care costs.

The medical society's membership will meet again Monday to review nominees for the negotiating team and begin voting by mail. Results should be final Friday, Coleman said.

About 45 of the medical society's approximately 180 members were at Thursday's meetings, Martin said. The doctors plan to meet with hospital officials on Oct. 12 to discuss their concerns, Martin said.