State regulators give approval to new Poplar Bluff hospital

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- The Missouri Health Facilities Review Committee voted 6-0 Monday to approve a certificate of need for a $170 million Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center.

The new hospital will have 425,000 square feet on seven floors and a basement. There will be 250 private patient rooms. It will be constructed on the south side of Route PP east of the U.S. 67 bypass.

Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center has options on three tracts of land totaling 105 acres. A request by the three landowners to annex the properties into the city will be considered during the Poplar Bluff City Council meeting Monday night.

Health Management Associates of Naples, Fla., which owns the hospital, decided to build a new medical campus due to "lack of space in the current facility, the inability to expand, lack of privacy with semiprivate rooms and the inability to install new technology," according to Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center CEO Greg Carda.

"The exciting part is the race track setup on the patient floors. All the private patient rooms are on the outside walls," Carda said.

He told the review committee the hospital has 1,200 employees and 140 physicians on staff. The annual payroll is more than $50 million.

"We expect to hire 200 to 250 more employees for the new hospital," Carda said.

In 2010, the hospital admitted 12,045 patients, provided care during 36,055 emergency room visits, performed 11,264 surgeries, including 200 open heart surgeries, and delivered 1,326 babies, according to Carda.

He also said the hospital has invested $7 million in the past six months to expand the intensive care unit and women's services, and to purchase state-of-the-art medical technology, including a da Vinci surgical robot with a simulator and MAKOplasty robotic technology for partial-knee resurfacing surgery.

A review committee member asked Carda how the hospital plans to keep "the negativity" from happening in the future.

"We already provide better care in a better environment," said Carda, who added new technology will produce better results.

"The new hospital is the largest private investment in the history of our area," said Steve Halter, president of the Greater Poplar Bluff Area Chamber of Commerce. He also noted the hospital makes more than $100,000 in charitable contributions to the community annually.

Butler County Presiding Commissioner Ed Strenfel said the new facility will "benefit lots of people" and "inspire the employees."

Others who expressed their support for the new hospital include state Reps. Todd Richardson and Steve Cookson, First Midwest Bank President Joey McLane, Mid Continent Nail President David Libla, Poplar Bluff Schools Superintendent Chris Hon, insurance agent Laura Moffit, Dr. Dorothy Mudge and David Joiner, executive director of the Ripley County Ambulance District.

Mike Burcham, president and chief executive officer of Poplar Bluff Medical Partners, said he supported the new hospital.

Hon noted the new hospital will pay $1.6 million in property taxes, including $1.3 million for the school district.

PBRMC leases its current hospital building from Medical Properties Trust. An attorney with Husch Blackwell, the law firm that represents Medical Properties Trust, said the certificate of need also includes closing of the south campus and converting the north campus into a psychiatric and rehabilitation facility operated by PBRMC. The south campus is being used by the Three Rivers College nursing program.

The new hospital is expected to be completed in early 2014.

Five people who have relatives buried in the one-acre Shadle Cemetery on Don Bedell's property -- which would be used for the new hospital -- do not want the cemetery moved. Testifying were Gloria Webb, Sharon Gingery, Mary Margaret Bunting, Cameron Parker and Charlie Smith.

Carda said all alternatives are being explored, including repositioning the hospital on the site.

Pertinent address:

Poplar Bluff, MO