St. John's takes over Ozark Magnetic Imaging

by Paul Schreiber

SBJ Reporter

pschreiber@sbj.net

CoxHealth and St. John's Health System have severed an 18-year tie to Ozark Magnetic Imaging.

Springfield's two largest health systems jointly owned and operated Ozark Magnetic Imaging at 1344 E. Woodhurst until Aug. 2, when St. John's assumed full ownership and operation. It is now known as St. John's Imaging-Woodhurst.

For CoxHealth, the new $14.5 million Martin Center for Diagnostic and Imaging Services at 3901 S. Fremont made its Ozark Magnetic Imaging partnership obsolete, said Bob Bezanson, CoxHealth president and CEO.

The 81,547-square-foot Martin Center, which opened July 12, offers CT, MRI, ultrasound, nuclear medicine and PET imaging, as well as routine diagnostics such as X-ray, fluoroscopy, colonoscopy and gastroscopy services, according to Laurie Cunningham, CoxHealth vice president of support services and assistant to the president.

Bezanson said it would be a couple of months before CoxHealth finishes collecting all accounts receivables and the corporation with St. John's is legally dissolved.

How it came to be

Ozarks Magnetic Imaging was the first facility of its kind locally. It first registered with Missouri's secretary of state's office in 1985 as a nonprofit 501(c)(3) corporation.

"This was the first magnetic resonance facility in Springfield," said Eddie Terrill, director of the 8,000-square-foot operation that now has about 15 St. John's employees. Before the changeover, there were 25 employees.

Before launching Ozark Magnetic Imaging, both Cox and St. John's had requested to purchase an expensive magnetic resonance machine with the Missouri Health Facilities Review Committee. The state agency that issues Certificates of Need for such purchases suggested the two hospitals go in together, Bezanson said.

"By coming together and doing it as a joint venture, we demonstrated to the state that that was the most cost-effective way of doing it, and we had no problem securing the Certificate of Need for that," said Bezanson, who worked on the project initially with former St. John's president, Al Shockley.

St. John's expansion

While Martin Center will handle CoxHealth's diagnostic and imaging work, St. John's is expanding a location on its main campus at 1235 E. Cherokee to provide more extensive imaging services than what's available at St. John's Imaging-Woodhurst, said Bill Syler, vice president of facilities.

St. John's Imaging-Woodhurst will continue to operate after construction is complete on St. John's $9 million, 45,000-square-foot imaging center, Syler said. Overall demand for imaging services, as well as promoting increased efficiencies, are two reasons behind this project, he added.

The imaging center will be part of an as-yet-unnamed 218,000-square-foot project that will cost in the low $30 million range when complete, Syler said. Additional care areas include a trauma center, two intensive care floors, plus support areas in the basement.

The project is scheduled for completion at the end of this year, Syler said. There will be both new equipment purchased, as well as some in-house machines moved into the imaging area.