Tarrant Business

Top out and a new name for expanded Fort Worth hospital emergency facility

A $58 million expansion of the emergency department at Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital Fort Worth was topped out this morning with a ceremony that included the announcement of a new name, the Marion Emergency Care Center. The naming recognizes Anne Marion, president of the Burnett Foundation, a lead donor on the project along with Texas Medicine Resources, the Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital Fort Worth Auxiliary, Amon G. Carter Foundation, Preston M. Geren family, and Crystelle Waggoner Trust. 

Community gifts and pledges have already exceeded $13 million in support of the center’s $57 million budget, with the Burnett Foundation contributing the lead gift. Texas Health Resources Foundation President Jay McAuley expects $20 million or more will be given.

The three-story, 75,000-square-foot facility is expected to open in January 2014. It nearly triple the size of the hospital's existing emergency department and increase patient beds from 63 to 90. It is located at W. Terrell and Fifth avenues. 

“Our new emergency care center is the culmination of years of soliciting input from multiple city- and county-wide organizations in order to best create a facility that responds to the needs of our community,” said Dr. John Geesbreght, the hospital’s medical director of emergency services. “I believe Texas Health Fort Worth has done just that.”

-- Jim Fuquay

Humana to hire hundreds at new Irving mail-order pharmacy

Health insurer Humana said today it will employ more than 620 people within three years at a new mail-order pharmacy it expects to open in Irving by August. Humana said its RightSource pharmacy will include a call center and support operations. It will be the company's third U.S. mail-order pharmacy location to serve about 1.5 million people who filled nearly 20 million prescriptions last year. Along with existing jobs at subsidiaries Concentra and LifeSynch, the new jobs will give Humana more than 2,500 employees in North Texas, it said.

"Humana will build out all three floors of the building, located at 2001 W. John Carpenter Fwy., to accommodate its office and work spaces, open meeting spaces, conference rooms, training and huddle rooms, storage areas and communications functions," the company said. "Positions to be hired will include pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, customer service representatives, and data entry clerks." To apply or learn more, go to careers.humana.com.

-- Jim Fuquay

Dr. Stephen Brotherton elected president of Texas Medical Association

Fort Worth orthopedic surgeon Stephen Brotherton is the new president of the Texas Medical Association, the group announced this weekend. TMA is holding its annual meeting in San Antonio. Brotherton, in a prepared release, said he has three priorities for his term: supporting primary care, ensuring patient safety and boosting TMA's county medical organizations, such as the Tarrant County Medical Society. "Primary care is the essence of medicine, and it is ailing in Texas," he said.

Brotherton is a past-president of the Tarrant County Medical Society, a leader of the TMA's House of Delegates, which sets association policies and legislative action, and a longtime participant in American Medical Association activities. He teaches at Texas Christian University, his alma mater, the University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth and the Fort Worth Affiliated Hospitals Orthopedic Residency Program. TMA says it is the largest state medical society in the nation, with more than 47,000 physician and medical student members. It is based in Austin.

-- Jim Fuquay

Proton therapy facility to break ground in Irving on Wednesday

North Texas' first facility offering proton radiation therapy, a $105 million project that will be located in Irving, will break ground Wednesday morning. The Texas Center for Proton Therapy, first announced in June 2011, will be built by Dallas-based Baylor Health Care System and Texas Oncology, the state's largest cancer physicians group. Gary Barlow, the facility's director, said the 63,000-square-foot project will include three treatment rooms, associated imaging services and labs. He said it is expected to treat its first patients by early 2016. There are currently 11 proton treatment facilities in the United States, he said. The only current Texas facility is at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.

Dr. Scott Cheek, a radiation oncologist at Texas Oncology-Baylor Sammons Cancer Center in Dallas, said a proton beam delivers a more precise dose of radiation than conventional x-ray therapy. It is especially helpful when tumors are near the brain, eyes or spinal cord, or when a tumor is wrapped around a organ, he said. "This is additive, another arrow in our armamentarium" for fighting cancer besides conventional radiation and chemotherapy, Cheek said. The new facility's address is 1501 W. Royal Lane in Irving, which was selected for its proximity to both Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport and Dallas Love Field.

-- Jim Fuquay

 

Texas Health merges Harris, Presbyterian foundations

Arlington-based Texas Health Resources said that effective June 1 it will combine the foundations of the former Harris Methodist and Presbyterian hospital systems, which merged in 1997. Texas Health Resources Foundation will be led by President Jay McAuley, who previously was president of the Presbyterian foundation. Texas Health Harris Methodist Foundation and Texas Health Presbyterian Foundation are not-for-profit organizations that "have raised funds that support clinical, educational and research programs across the Texas Health system," THR said in a news release. According to THR, the combined foundation will have assets of more than $210 million. Texas Health Resources Foundation's 18-member board of trustees will include members from both of the existing foundation boards.

-- Jim Fuquay

Texas Health merges Harris, Presbyterian foundations

Arlington-based Texas Health Resources said that effective June 1 it will combine the foundations of the former Harris Methodist and Presbyterian hospital systems, which merged in 1997. Texas Health Resources Foundation will be led by President Jay McAuley, who previously was president of the Presbyterian foundation. Texas Health Harris Methodist Foundation and Texas Health Presbyterian Foundation are not-for-profit organizations that "have raised funds that support clinical, educational and research programs across the Texas Health system," THR said in a news release. According to THR, the combined foundation will have assets of more than $210 million. Texas Health Resources Foundation's 18-member board of trustees will include members from both of the existing foundation boards.

-- Jim Fuquay

Huguley hospital adopts Texas Health name

Huguley Memorial Medical Center, which nearly a year ago became affiliated with Arlington-based Texas Health Resources, has changed its name to Texas Health Huguley Hospital Fort Worth South. On May 1, 2012, the facility's owner, Adventist health System, and THR formed a joint venture to own and operate the hospital. THR controls the joint venture, and Adventist still manages the hospital's day-to-day operation. The organizations said they have made significant progress coordinating operations, including sharing electronic health records. "Texas Health Huguley Hospital has made facility improvements, and more significant expansion plans are underway on its campus," which is on Interstate 35W in far southern Tarrant County, they said.

"By combining our resources and talents, we have already begun to more effectively meet the health care needs of those we serve.  Adopting the Texas Health Resources name and logo is a visible sign that we are working together to benefit our communities, physicians, employees, and patients," THR CEO Doug Hawthorne said in a prepared release. Ken Finch, Texas Health Huguley Hospital CEO, said: "Our new name honors our heritage and signifies the collaboration between two strong healthcare providers to improve coordination of care delivery in southern Tarrant and Johnson Counties."

Huguley Memorial Medical Center opened in February 1977.  Herbert T. Huguley, a dentist and a real estate investor from Dallas, left his $6 million estate to the Seventh-day Adventist Church to build a hospital as a tribute to his parents.

-- Jim Fuquay

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas sees Tarrant partners

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas is seeking Tarrant-area partners for the insurer’s campaign aimed at reducing the number of residents without health insurance, a program it calls Be Covered Texas.
The effort provides educational materials to community groups, service agencies and churches for distribution to people who might benefit from the new health insurance exchanges and subsidies mandated by the U.S. Affordable Care Act. Texas’ exchange, which will be operated by the federal government, is scheduled to go into operation Oct. 1 and policies sold through the exchange go into effect starting Jan. 1, 2014.

The educational materials do not carry the BlueCross Blue Shield brand, the Richardson-based company says. Currently the insurer has 28 partners around the state, but only the Urban League of Greater Dallas and North Central Texas has Tarrant ties. Blue Cross and Blue Shield President Bert Marshall said he expects to eventually have hundreds of partners and wants more in Tarrant County. “The focus is a grassroots educational program that serves the uninsured population,” Marshall said.

-- Jim Fuquay

Do surgical complications cost or pay? That depends

It's something of a mantra that hospitals need to reduce complications resulting from surgical procedures so the country can save money on healthcare costs. But what if you're the hospital? Then the answer is that complications usually pay, according to a new study whose results will be published in Wednesday's issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association and whose data came from 12 hospitals operated by Arlington-based Texas Health Resources. Overall, when a surgery that included one of the complications researchers examined, the patient produced about twice the profit as a patient whose procedure had no complications.  The study looked at more than 34,000 surgical patients during 2010.

"Under private insurance and Medicare, which cover the majority of U.S. patients, the occurrence of surgical complications was associated with higher hospital contribution margins," meaning profit, the study's authors say. "Depending on payer mix, efforts to reduce surgical complications may result in worsened near-term financial performance," they write. The numbers are pretty substantial: With no complications, the average patient's hospital stay produced $7,600 in revenues beyond the hospitals variable costs. Throw in a complication, and that rose to $15,700. Only when Medicaid or the patient paid for treatment were complications money-losers for the hospitals, and those only make up about 11 percent of patients, the study said.

"You have a situation where it's clear that if hospitals invest resources to reduce complications, it's going to hurt them financially," Paul Ginsburg, president of the Center for Studying Health System Change, told The Wall Street Journal. Ginsburg, whose degree is in economics, wasn't involved in the study.

-- Jim Fuquay

 

South Texas healthcare company planning medical center in Fort Worth South

Victory Healthcare, based in The Woodlands, plans a state-of-the-art medical center at the corner of south Main Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, bringing about 140 new jobs to Fort Worth’s near southside when it is completed in 2014.

Victory Medical Center Fort Worth will include an 85,000-square-foot medical center and a 50,000-square-foot medical office building on the 6.5-acre site. The medical center will have 25 patient beds, including five suites with private family quarters, and four state-of-the-art intensive care rooms, eight operating rooms and four special procedure rooms.

The development’s architecture will pay homage to the heritage of Fort Worth, including a replica of the former St. Joseph Hospital Tower, Victory Healthcare said.

"This project is more than a building," said CEO Robert Helms Jr., in a statement. "We take seriously the honor of being part of the rebirth of south Main, and it will be reflected throughout the design of the building."

Medica Development, a Texas-based firm founded in 2007, will be the development leader for the project.

Victory Medical Center Fort Worth will provide specialty procedures such as spinal and orthopedic surgery, in addition to general surgery, gynecology, urology, bariatric, and ear, nose and throat procedures, as well as pain management.

Victory Healthcare said it focuses on the doctor/patient relationship, with a first class experience in state-of-the-art facilities that include concierge services and a one-to-one nurse to patient ratio. It has six other medical centers in the state.

_ Sandra Baker