Doctors Hospital plans to open Mount Vernon clinic

The 22 doctor-owners of Doctors Hospital have purchased the former First National Bank building, 108 N. Hickory, in downtown Mount Vernon.

Doctors Hospital Mount Vernon Clinic will join Doctors Hospital South in Nixa, Doctors Hospital Webb City Clinic and Doctors Hospital in Springfield with a focus on providing Medicaid and Medicare services.

“It’s just 30 miles away from the (Doctors Hospital in Springfield) and it makes sense for us to do that,” said Alexis Brown, director of communications.

“We’ve gone out to some of the other outlying communities and the opportunity became available. We really like supporting the small community and providing quality health care. It just worked out for us,” Brown said.

Mount Vernon officials are looking forward to the changes downtown.

“We’re quite pleased that they’re coming to town,” said Jane Hood, economic development director for the town of about 4,000.

The area, she said, is growing with new residents of all ages.

Hood said while all of those residents might not use Doctors Hospital, the Mount Vernon area also has a large senior population that might utilize the facility.

Brown said the Mount Vernon clinic would likely open for patients by mid-October.

A firm date has not been set. “The week of the 17th is what we’re shooting for,” she said, adding that the facility will be open for the public to view Oct. 7–9 during Mount Vernon’s annual Apple Butter Makin’ Days.

Doctors Hospital Mount Vernon Clinic will comprise four patient rooms, a laboratory, offices for physicians and an office manager, and a registration area. Kendall Construction is the general contractor. Brown was unable to disclose the purchase price for the building or the cost of renovations.

Bill Lee, president and CEO of First National Bank, said that the bank was formed 75 years ago on the corner of the property, but over time, it expanded to a full three-quarters of a block. First National Bank still has its headquarters in downtown Mount Vernon at 109 N. Hickory.

Lee said the space now occupied by Doctors Hospital became available when Union Planters Bank moved its downtown operations to 106 E. Mt. Vernon Boulevard and First National Bank moved into the space formerly occupied by Union Planters, which is now Regions Bank. Lee declined to disclose the purchase price for the building.

The clinic will be staffed by Dr. Jackie Beene and Dr. Chris Billings, who will each work one day a week. A nurse practitioner will work at the Mount Vernon Clinic five days a week.

Beene also works one day a week at the Webb City clinic and three days in Springfield, while Billings also works in Nixa three days a week, Brown said.

The bank building, with approximately 13,000 square feet, had already been divided into four areas. One area will be used as the rural health clinic, and Mount Vernon Eye Care Associates occupies another quarter.

There are big plans in store for the remainder of the building.

“Once we get established and we see how our volume and the response from the community is, we’re looking at possibly opening up an urgent care,” Brown said. “We’re talking to a few people about possibly putting in a pharmacy or durable medical equipment, so we’re looking at creating a medical plaza out of that building.”

It’s too soon to name potential tenants, she said.