Hospital prescribed in Tunica County
While casinos abound, the closest hospital is a
half-hours drive from this growing area

By RICHARD COTTON
DBJ Contributing Writer

Hospitals lie in most every direction from Tunica County. It’s a half-hour drive to the closest ones across the river in Helena, Ark., or Southaven, in DeSoto County.

That could change if a few ostensibly minor conditions are met and the county turns an existing clinic into a Critical Access Hospital (CAH). Health care consultant Mitch Monsour feels those conditions are practically only formalities.

“I’ve been engaged by the Tunica County Board of Supervisors to devise a comprehensive health plan,” said Monsour, principal in Jackson-based Mercator Health Advisors. “Health care is important for economic development as well as the quality of life.”

One of the conditions, ironically, is that Tunica County must be declared a rural area. The historically agricultural county was included in the Memphis Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) and lost its rural designation.

Monsour said Gov. Haley Barbour has been asked to re-designate Tunica County rural. That would qualify it for the federal government’s CAH hospital program developed to help bring more comprehensive health care to sparsely populated areas.

Currently, according to Tunica County planning and development director Gary Copeland, Methodist Health Care operates two clinics in Tunica County under contract with county government.

“The plan,” explained Copeland, “is to add on to the existing clinic in Robinsonville. It is operationally functional to convert it.”

“The county has the full intention of providing the necessary health care at a minimum of what we have now but with a likely upgrade,” said Daniel Vassel, project coordinator for the county.
The CAH concept calls for a hospital of less than 25 beds, where stays would not last more than 96 hours. The CAH would also have emergency room services, laboratory and imaging capability such as x-rays.

Copeland said there are still options open as far as management of the facility; they range from the county operating the hospital, an unlikely probability, to leasing the operation to a firm. Copeland said Methodist could conceivably be that firm, depending on what could come down to a bidding process.

“There are several implementation steps and, if we don’t get through those,” said Vassel, “it’s back to square one.”

Besides the steps already identified, there is the issue of Mississippi’s sometimes frustrating Certificate of Need process; the state hospital board controls what health care facilities exist and the services they provide.

Before Methodist took over the clinics in Tunica, the county held a CON for a 22-bed hospital. That was handed over to Methodist when it came on board. The best-case scenario would be that Methodist relinquishes claim to the CON.

The county’s contract with Methodist ends June 30. Ideally, a hospital of some shape or form will be in place, staffed and operating, on July 1.

Vassel said the Board of Supervisors is on a fast track to form a health advisory board of businessmen, governmental officers and members of the general public.

“This is a major undertaking,” he declared. The board, Vassel said, wants to avoid the process becoming “an extreme fiscal and moral dilemma.”

Monsour said renovation of the existing clinic would include addition of a 22-bed wing. He estimates the cost of construction at $2.8 million. Furnishing the facility, including diagnostic and laboratory equipment, will be about $1.7 million, for a total of $4.5 million.

High numbers of casino visitors – 50,000 a day is the usual recognized count – dictate the need for a critical-care, around-the-clock medical facility, the three men agree.

“There are successful examples all over Mississippi,” Monsour said of the CAH model. He cites Ruleville, Marks, Belzoni and Yazoo City as examples of a dozen-and-a-half communities that have benefited from the concept. Medicare’s increased reimbursement for CAHs “levels the playing field” and makes the small hospitals more competitive with larger facilities in big communities, especially in recruiting physicians.

“Health care plays a very vital role (in developing communities),” said Monsour. “Health care is a competitive asset.” DBJ