Doctors Hospital reopens as 45-bed acute-care site

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Doctors Hospital of Springfield is now open.|ret||ret||tab|

After nearly $400,000 in renovations and another $300,000 in equipment, Doctors Hospital opened its doors at 2828 N. National Dec. 27, and received its Medicare certification in January, according to hospital Administrator John Moran. |ret||ret||tab|

Moran said the response has been good so far.|ret||ret||tab|

"At this point, we're probably ahead of projections from a financial standpoint. While we'll continue to monitor the financial situation, we're really more concerned with what we're doing with our patients," he said. |ret||ret||tab|

Moran added that the hospital a 45-bed, acute care facility offers a wide array of services for patients, including urgent and emergency care, respiratory therapy, physical therapy, hydrotherapy, mammography, ultrasound, general surgery and outpatient surgery. |ret||ret||tab|

The hospital is owned by a group of 33 owner-doctors, and Moran said he has applications from about 10 other physicians who would like to join the hospital's medical staff. In addition to doctors, the hospital has 125 employees. |ret||ret||tab|

Moran said he's extremely proud of the hospital's staff, adding that the majority of staff in all departments have some type of professional training or certification.|ret||ret||tab|

"The real significant thing that occurs in the start-up of any business is building your team. We've been very, very successful here building our team. I have the best of the best that's available, and there are still many who would like to come here who I would like to have," he said.|ret||ret||tab|

Moran said Doctors Hospital has the same license as Springfield's other hospitals, but it isn't designed to be another Cox or St. John's.|ret||ret||tab|

"We have everything most other hospitals have, and some things other hospitals don't have, such as a cost-effective environment," he said. "We have low operating costs at Doctors Hospital, because we don't try to duplicate services already offered." |ret||ret||tab|

He noted that Doctors Hospital does not have an obstetrics unit, and it does not specialize in any specific type of surgery.|ret||ret||tab|

Moran said he's pleased with the relationship between the three hospitals, and the support that Cox and St. John's have given Doctors Hospital. |ret||ret||tab|

He added that Doctors Hospital has transfer agreements with the other hospitals, so if patients need services not offered at Doctors Hospital, they can be transferred.|ret||ret||tab|

He noted that Doctors Hospital is included in the Cox Primrose network, and he said having network affiliations is important in terms of benefiting patients.|ret||ret||tab|

"If (the three hospitals) are going to provide real, valuable, quality health care in the community, we need to participate with them so that patients who participate in those plans will find easy access here," he said. |ret||ret||tab|

Moran said Doctors Hospital is designed to complement, and not compete against, the other hospitals in the city. He added that because Doctors Hospital is smaller, it can offer patients a more personal environment.|ret||ret||tab|

"We can get to know our patients and their families. We don't call them by their diagnosis or their room number. That's a function of our size," he said. "The smaller facility offers flexibility and more time to be spent with each patient. |ret||ret||tab|

"I see Cox and St. John's as very fine and appropriate facilities for Springfield. Doctors Hospital can't be all things to all people, and they can't either, but together, I think we can handle it."|ret||ret||tab|

Moran said the hospital is working toward a paperless, optic system for medical records, which will make sharing information between departments and other facilities easier. He said the system will also make it easier for urgent-care or emergency room visits to be included in a patient's medical file.|ret||ret||tab|

Moran said it's not too early to think about future changes to the hospital, and he said he already has some major long-term plans in mind.[[In-content Ad]]