SOUTHEAST HOSPITAL TO FOCUS ON FUTURE; WENTE: NIXON DECISION PREMATURE

Although a proposed merger has collapsed, Southeast Missouri Hospital's leadership hopes to continue working closely with St. Francis Medical Center to improve local health care while building for the future on its own.

"Southeast will now concentrate on the future and will re-evaluate projects that have been on hold because of the merger talks," said James Wente, Southeast administrator. "Southeast Missouri Hospital is a strong, viable institution."

The executive committee of the Southeast Board of Trustees met privately Tuesday to discuss events of the previous week that led to the end of 14 months of merger discussions between Southeast and St. Francis. Eight of Southeast's 11-member executive committee attended.

The merger proposal started to unravel Jan. 7 when Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon said he opposed the union and promised legal action if it went forward.

The next day the St. Francis Board of Directors withdraw from merger talks.

Robert W. Erlbacher, president of the Southeast Board of Trustees, said the board remains disappointed at Nixon's decision and maintains the merger would have benefited the community.

"We firmly believe the hospitals had a very strong argument in support of the merger plan and that the health-care consuming public has much to gain with such a merger," Erlbacher said. "Southeast will proceed with an open mind in regard to any future joint ventures with St. Francis."

He said that with a strong leadership in place and significant growth over the past five years, Southeast's board is confident concerning the hospital's future.

Nixon, whose office reviews proposed hospital mergers and acquisitions, concluded that a merger between Cape Girardeau's only two hospitals would stifle competition in the local health-care market.

Wente said Nixon's stance was premature considering the two hospitals were still working on details of the proposal that Wente believed would have answered the attorney general's concerns as well as those of local merger opponents.

He also expressed disappointment that St. Francis' leadership decided to call it quits.

"I regret but understand St. Francis' decision not to revise or rework the merger proposal," Wente said. "The merger process, which would have ended up in the court system, given the attorney general's position, would have taken months if not years to resolve."

However, he said he will leave the door open to revisiting the issue in the future.

"I will never rule out the chance of Cape Girardeau's two hospitals coming together," Wente said. "Obviously, that is not going to happen in the near term given the attorney general's report, but it is possible down the line."

In the meantime, Wente hopes to work with St. Francis on joint ventures to provide new services, a course of action Nixon endorsed.

Wente indicated that to combat rising costs, Southeast could eventually affiliate with an out-of-town health-care provider, a course of action both hospitals had hoped to avoid by joining.

"When we presented the issues to the community, one of the reasons we felt coming together had merit was the issue of local control," Wente said. "I still feel that way.

"Are we going to rush out tomorrow and start hunting (for a partnership)? No, but with the passage of time, there will be outsiders with renewed interest in us. We will have to keep an open mind."

Prior to the merger talks with St. Francis, Southeast had been contacted by other potential suitors, Wente said.

St. Francis officials have also indicated that an outside partnership is possible for St. Francis.