HOSPITALS INVESTIGATE PERMANENT ALLIANCE

Cape Girardeau's two hospitals are trying to concentrate on a pending permanent alliance while they carry on with business as usual.

The hospitals announced last year they are studying the feasibility of affiliating.

In the meantime, administrators say, both facilities have been busy with a variety of capital projects and regular maintenance.

Southeast Missouri Hospital administrator James Wente said the hospital acquired several properties along Broadway last year, including the Pizza Hut property and land adjacent to it, with plans to build a medical office building there.

"The plan is essentially complete and we've done the work determining the interest of potential clients," Wente said.

But the project is on hold while affiliation negotiations continue, he said.

The hospital is also planning to use some of the property to create a green space around the main campus. Dirt work on the site will start in the spring.

Remodeling at the hospital's outpatient rehabilitation service at Doctors Park is finished, he said. The hospital's Pediatric SPOT and Physical Therapy Associates have moved to that site.

A $900,000 upgrade of the main hospital facility's chilled water systems should be finished by the beginning of March, Wente said.

Utilities have been moved underground and the building's northwest exterior has been renovated.

The hospital has doubled the patient capacity of its skilled nursing facility from 10 to 20 beds, Wente said, and it is "running at a very strong capacity" since the expansion.

The pediatrics and surgical progressive care unit were "flip-flopped" for more effective use of space, he said.

Southeast is also starting a new parish nursing program and a home infusion service.

Admissions were up 5.4 percent in 1997, and the average length of stay was a "very low" 4.7 days, Wente said.

Outpatient services were up about 9 percent, and the average census was about 170 patients.

"In spite of a lot of areas of the country where hospitals' utilization and occupancy are declining, at Southeast Hospital, we've experienced a steady increase over the last couple of years," Wente said.

This year, Southeast will be studying remodeling its obstetrics unit to add LDRP (labor/delivery/recovery/postpartum) rooms, in which women will remain for the entire birthing process.

Other than the work on the physical plant, Wente said, "our biggest objective is to work closely with St. Francis Medical Center and our affiliation discussions to try to find those areas that we can work together and eliminate some duplication and do what our administrations and boards think is right for the community."

At St. Francis, the new medical office building should be completed within the "next few weeks. We're at about 80 percent occupancy," said James Sexton, president and CEO of the hospital.

The surgical area was renovated last year also, he said.

Hospital officials are "anxious to complete" landscaping work around the hospital, "and just essentially get the place cleaned up. We're tired of construction," Sexton said.

The new healing garden is scheduled to open this year at St. Francis.

The hospital is continuing its plan to renovate all patient care areas, and that will be completed over the next two years, Sexton said.

"As we assess some of the additional space we have, we're looking at moving all ambulatory services to the first floor," he said, adding it will be easier for patients and their families to access the hospital.

Clerical and support offices will be moved upstairs, he said.

The hospital's emergency department will also be renovated, and work will begin shortly to enlarge and modernize the area.

And mostly, Sexton said, "we anticipate putting the majority of our energy on working with Southeast Missouri Hospital on the feasibility of the affiliation project. Based on that project, we're taking a conservative approach to any additional facility improvements, enlargements, new major projects until we have some idea how this would come out."