SFMC backs out of hospital partnership negotiations; SoutheastHEALTH continues talks

Editor's note: This story has been updated to reflect correct names of involved organizations.

Saint Francis Medical Center has retreated from negotiations to be one of three partners to bring a behavioral health hospital to Cape Girardeau, but a joint effort between SoutheastHEALTH and Universal Health Services is ongoing.

The project was once poised � albeit never formally sealed � to be a partnership with both Cape Girardeau hospitals and UHS.

Though SoutheastHEALTH was the entity leading the charge publicly, Saint Francis had at one point negotiated for a partnership.

Saint Francis leadership still supports the effort, but is not joining Southeast in supporting it financially.

In a statement emailed Tuesday, Maryann Reese, president and CEO of Saint Francis Healthcare System, said, �Saint Francis is thrilled for our community and in full support of the new behavioral health hospital. It will provide a close-to-home, safe environment for patients to receive needed psychiatric services.�

UHS representative Jane Crawford wrote in an email Monday the company does not have an update to share at this time.

Ultimately, the three parties could not come to terms, and Saint Francis left the negotiations, Shauna Hoffman, vice president of marketing and business development at SoutheastHEALTH told the Southeast Missourian on Tuesday.

�We are having to go back and renegotiate to terms prior to Saint Francis� interest,� Hoffman said. �We anticipate by year�s end to have the deal complete.�

Hoffman added of UHS, �We�re fairly confident they�ll be willing to continue.�

Plans to establish a $29.2 million, 102-bed psychiatric hospital in Cape Girardeau were approved by a state board in May.

B Magazine, a publication partner with the Southeast Missourian, reported earlier this year, citing multiple sources, that Saint Francis and Southeast were in negotiations to each be 24-percent minority interest holders in the project with UHS, which specializes in mental and behavioral health, to have a majority ownership. Discussions slowed on whether the percentages should be altered further and what authority local hospital management would have on operations, according to the magazine.

An application submitted to the Missouri Health Facilities Review Committee was approved unanimously under the state�s Certificate of Need law � which regulates the number of hospital beds a community may have and the types of equipment hospitals may purchase.

Adult and adolescent inpatient care and a coordinated outpatient program would be covered at the center.

According to the application, UHS owns, operates or manages more than 350 facilities, mostly dealing with behavioral health care, in 37 states.

�They really truly are the expert in the industry,� Hoffman said Tuesday.

The planned facility would operate independently from SoutheastHEALTH, and would likely be on undeveloped land on the West Campus owned by Southeast, a 20-acre tract near the Southeast Cancer Center and Southeast Medical Plaza, according to the statement.

The hospital would serve a 17-county area of Southeast Missouri: Cape Girardeau, Bollinger, Butler, Carter, Dunklin, Iron, Madison, Mississippi, New Madrid, Perry, Reynolds, Ripley, Ste. Genevieve, St. Francois, Scott, Stoddard and Wayne counties.

State Rep. Kathy Swan, R-Cape Girardeau; then-Cape Girardeau County Sheriff John Jordan; state Sen. Wayne Wallingford, R-Cape Girardeau; Cape Girardeau Area Chamber of Commerce president John Mehner; and then-Mayor Harry Rediger had voiced support for the project earlier this year. Those letters were included in the application.

The region has few psychiatric patient beds. The Health Facilities Review Committee summary of the project application stated there are only 116 psychiatric beds combined in five medical facilities in the region, as of May 2018.

SoutheastHEALTH had 14 licensed psychiatric beds each of the last three years, the summary stated. Annual occupancy of those beds ranged from 47.5 percent to 57.2 percent over those three years, according to the summary.

�Currently, there is a serious need to improve access to mental health services not only in Cape Girardeau, but in the entire Southeast Missouri area from Ste. Genevieve to the southernmost counties of the state,� Swan had written.

She said patients often must await transportation to �one of only a few remaining acute psychiatry beds in this part of the state.�

mniederkorn@semissourian.com

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