MAURY REGIONAL PROPOSES ALTERNATIVE TO HCA EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Rita Williams
September 7, 2010 931.540.4282

MAURY REGIONAL PROPOSES ALTERNATIVE TO HCA EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT

COLUMBIA, TN—Maury Regional Medical Center (MRMC) announced today that it, along with Williamson Medical Center (WMC), has filed with the Tennessee Health Services and Development Agency a letter in opposition to the emergency department facility proposed by HCA's Centennial Medical Center in Spring Hill. Several other health care providers, including Vanderbilt University Medical Center, are also expected to express opposition. The joint opposition letter from MRMC and WMC raises several concerns about patient care, costs and choice, but it also notes that there are superior alternatives to the project.

MRMC CEO Robert Otwell stated, "We fully understand the desire of the Spring Hill community to have access to more health care services and we are committed to being part of the solution. However, we believe that labeling the scope of care proposed by Centennial as an emergency department gives the public a false impression that life-saving services and physician specialists would be readily available in the case of a true emergency. For example, heart attack patients who need immediate access to a cath lab to open blocked vessels will have their care delayed by going to this emergency department, only to be transferred more than 30 miles away to Centennial."

In the case of Centennial's proposal, patients who need a higher level of care would automatically be transferred out of the community to Centennial Medical Center in Nashville—approximately twice the distance to MRMC or WMC—while patients seen at an urgent care center would be transferred to the closest hospital of their choice.
Otwell noted that the level of services proposed in Centennial's freestanding emergency department could be provided in a well-equipped and appropriately staffed urgent care center operating 24 hours per day, seven days per week. He added that the average charge for comparable non-emergent services in an emergency department would be at least 500 to 600 percent higher than if they were provided in an urgent care center.

Otwell also noted that MRMC and WMC communicated their concerns about the project to Centennial CEO Tom Herron on August 19 and that the initial response from Centennial was disappointing.

"Centennial seems to believe erroneously that an urgent care center cannot have the same level of service as the facility they have proposed. There is no reason an urgent care center cannot have the same imaging, laboratory and staffing, with significantly less patient expense and more patient choice. We remain hopeful that Centennial will engage in a productive discussion about an urgent care center. However, if Centennial remains determined to build the facility that is proposed, we intend to express our concerns to the Agency.”

About Maury Regional Medical Center
Maury Regional Medical Center has been recognized as one of the nation’s 100 Top Hospitals, a Top 50 health system, one of only 21 hospitals in the nation to receive the Premier Award for Quality, and a 2009 Excellence Award winner by the Tennessee Center for Performance Excellence. The 275-bed facility serves more than 260,000 people in southern Middle Tennessee and has a medical staff of more than 185 physicians. From a comprehensive interventional and surgical heart program with chest pain center accreditation to a neonatal intensive care and cancer center, the medical center offers a wide range of advanced services. The medical center operates affiliate facilities in Spring Hill, Lewisburg, Hohenwald and Waynesboro. For more information, visit www.mauryregional.com.
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