Should North Mississippi Health Services purchase OCH Regional Medical Center, the system hopes to turn the currently county-owned hospital into its southern anchor facility.

That was part of a presentation North Mississippi CEO Shane Spees shared with a few dozen people who attended a Wednesday evening informational forum at the Greensboro Center.

Toward the end of his presentation, Spees shared some details of North Mississippi’s vision for OCH in five years if it gains ownership of the hospital. He said OCH could be a “state-of-the-art facility” that solidifies the southern part of North Mississippi’s service area and extends the system’s reach into central Mississippi.

“We believe OCH can and should be the regional referral center for the southern half of north Mississippi,” Spees said. “… We think that job one is to provide access and services to keep you local — closer to home for health care. We think job two should be to create a regional referral center where more people have more reasons to travel to OCH for health care, as opposed to traveling away from OCH for health care.”

He said the hospital could see more referrals from North Mississippi’s West Point and Eupora facilities as it integrates more into the system, and could pull more patients from counties south of it, such as Winston, Noxubee, Attalla and others.

“Those providers today refer patients to wherever they have services available,” Spees said. “That may be Jackson, that may be Meridian, that may be Tupelo. If OCH can offer services closer to those providers, then certainly, people would rather have care close to home.”

North Mississippi, along with Baptist Memorial Health Care Corporation, has submitted a bid to Oktibbeha County to purchase the 96-bed health care facility. County supervisors are hosting two informational forums for both bidders, with Baptist set to present from 5:30-6:30 p.m. today at the Greensboro Center.

North Mississippi Health Services, with its flagship facility in Tupelo, owns six hospitals in north Mississippi — including one in West Point — as well as more than 50 clinics in Mississippi and northwest Alabama.

Spees said North Mississippi has plans to increase services OCH provides, though he said those plans are, for the moment, confidential.

Physicians speak on growth

Two physicians spoke during North Mississippi’s presentation.

Ronald Powel, a family practice physician in West Point who works within North Mississippi’s clinic system, said he’s practiced in the area for 37 years. He said services in West Point noticeably improved after North Mississippi acquired the hospital.

“When I came there in 1980, we had a small community hospital,” Powell said. “After two to three years there, I realized there was no way we could grow and have the ability to provide the best health care for our community and our county.”

North Mississippi built a new hospital in West Point, Powell said, and has added an OBGYN clinic, an internal medicine clinic, a pediatric clinic and an outpatient clinic for sub-specialty care.

In the past year, he said, North Mississippi has recruited a surgeon, two OBGYN specialists and three family medicine physicians who work at a newly opened seven-day-a-week clinic.

“There’s no way a county like us could have grown or done anything like what we have today without affiliation with North Mississippi Medical Center and having those assets,” he said.

Sue Simmons, a physician who practices in Maben, shared a similar account of growth from when North Mississippi took over Eupora’s hospital.

“From my standpoint, the affiliation with North Mississippi Health Services, for my practice, as well as for our hospital, has been the best thing that could’ve happened,” she said. “It’s given us the opportunity to grow and in the past year, I’ve been able to recruit physicians to join me in my little small clinic in Maben.”

OCH response

Todd Smith, an orthopedic surgeon at Starkville Orthopedic and the most recent chief of staff at OCH, said North Mississippi’s presentation left some lingering questions.

He said the system, to his knowledge, hasn’t yet approached OCH’s physicians for input. He also questioned what services North Mississippi wanted to add to OCH and how the system would “make good” on those proposals.

“At this point, they’re just proposals,” he said. “They’re not contractual obligations. They could change, modify or cancel out anything they’ve proposed so far because it’s just purely a proposal.”

Smith said he also disagreed with statements Spees made during his presentation that more people are leaving Oktibbeha County to get health care than are staying.

“I think those people needing neuro-surgical services, of course they have to leave,” he said. “Those people needing open heart procedures or extensive vascular procedures are leaving. It is correct, we don’t provide those services.

“My honest opinion is if a larger system was to acquire OCH, those services wouldn’t be open anyway,” Smith added.

Smith also questioned whether North Mississippi was truly interested in Oktibbeha County, or if it was bidding on the hospital as a way to compete with Baptist.

When The Dispatch asked, Spees denied the claim, and said North Mississippi is aiming to improve health care in its region.

“It has nothing to do with competition,” he said. “Competition is good, but what it really has to do with our system has experience in working with hospitals that have struggled in a county ownership structure and have not been able to advance health care or grow under that county ownership structure.”

Spees also said he was aware of community fears about the reduction of services if a purchase goes through, and the system will have to work through public outreach opportunities to allay those concerns.

Speaking to The Dispatch, Spees said North Mississippi isn’t planning to reduce services OCH offers.

Alex Holloway was formerly a reporter with The Dispatch.