Partnership Should Improve Hospital’s Financial Condition And Patient Care, CEO Says
Big changes are coming to Cordell Memorial Hospital, although hospital adminstration is confident the only impact of those changes on the hospital’s patients will be an improvement in the quality of care they receive. The hospital board voted during its March 4, 2020, meeting to enter into a management contract with SSM Health, which owns and operates St. Anthony’s and numerous other hospitals and health care facilities in Oklahoma, as well as Illinois, Missouri, and Wisconsin. SSM Health has recently entered into a similar agreement with Weatherford Regional Hospital.
Under the terms of the agreement, SSM Health will take over the management of the hospital and current CEO Kenny Downs will step down. SSM will receive 2.75 percent of the hospital’s net revenue as a management fee.
Downs said that while he is stepping down as CEO, he might still remain with the hospital in some capacity, but right now he’s looking forward to the change.
“I’m looking forward to spending more time with my four grandkids and the rest of my family,” he said. “This is the best thing for me and for the hospital.”
He said the hospital, and by extension its patients and the community as a whole, will benefit greatly from the changes. SSM’s resources, he said, will help Cordell Memorial Hospital in a number of ways. That help includes creating economies of scale, allowing Cordell Memorial to leverage the purchasing power of the SSM Health organization to create large savings on products purchased. The resources of SSM also include a vast provider network, which will allow the hospital to significantly increase its specialty health care provider base, allowing patients to obtain more specialty care in Cordell instead of having to travel to other facilities.
The initial contract is for a one-year term, April 1, 2020. The contract, he said, is a trial run just in case either party isn’t pleased with how it works out. Despite the contract’s April 1 start date, however, Downs said he expects SSM Health to have to start the transition process.
In the end, Downs said, the transition will only serve to benefit the hospital and the community.
“It’s going to help us operate more efficiently,” he said. “Patients in the hospital should see very little difference on the front lines, but it’s going to give us access to more medical resources and hopefully help us add additional providers for the clinic and specialty clinic.”