Published: June 23, 2007 06:10 pm            

Rogers: Clinic with no hospital not viable

Corsicana’s Dr. Kent Rogers explained in one sentence the reason Trinity Mother Frances Hospital Systems has done an “about-face” with its long-touted expansion plans, and in fact is seeing roughly half of the physicians affiliated with the Corsicana Trinity Clinic operation leaving the Trinity Mother Frances umbrella.

“A clinic without a hospital for them is not sustainable,” Rogers said Friday night in an interview with the Daily Sun.

Rogers confirmed word that had been passed on to patients by several Trinity physicians that the clinic would be losing “more than 50 percent” of the doctors practicing at Trinity, though he said many of those doctors would remain in the community.

“In the midst of the chaos, you’re going to see very few leave (the community),” Rogers added. “That was the biggest thing to me, that so many doctors are staying in the community. That was my biggest worry.”

Rogers admitted the move by Trinity is not without some casualties, however — jobs are being cut at the clinic, a fact that Trinity Mother Frances had denied through its media spokesman earlier this week.

“Obviously, it’s tough. People’s lives are affected,” he said. “Some may move to the hospital, some may stay here, some administrators will be in the job market.”

Rogers said that plans for the changes occurring at Trinity Clinic, “have been evolving for several weeks.”

Still, Trinity Mother Frances media spokesman John Moore told the Daily Sun as recently as June 20 he “was not aware of any changes” planned for the Corsicana clinic, despite being told of clinic employees’ statements to patients to the contrary. In a June 15 story in the Daily Sun, Moore said, “If people choose to seek comfort from the media, that’s certainly their prerogative,” a comment that did not meet with Rogers’ approval.

“I certainly don’t stand behind that statement,” Rogers said.

“It was a public relations under-performance,” he added of recent denials by Trinity Mother Frances of any changes in the works for the Corsicana facility.

“That method of communication, if you don’t say anything, that says everything,” he remarked. “It’s not a sound policy. Hopefully, that will change.”

Rogers remained upbeat when speaking of the clinic’s future in the health care community.

“There will be a vital primary care group and high quality cardiology practice,” he said. He also said the clinic was assisting doctors who would be leaving the Trinity group to help keep them in the community.

Of Trinity’s plans for a new hospital that were dashed earlier this year, Rogers called the news “awfully frustrating.”

“We wanted to recruit and retain quality physicians. We thought (the new hospital) would be the solution. That couldn’t be duplicated here financially,” Rogers said.

“It appeared that to construct that large a hospital and clinic with a competitor was not viable,” he said. “It came from a gradual realization in the failure to obtain part or all of (Navarro Regional).”

In the end, the dollars weren’t there.

“When they assessed it with finance ... it was too much of a long shot,” Rogers said.

Doubts about Trinity Mother Frances’ intention to follow through with its promise of a new, state of the art hospital and medical office building surfaced in late 2006. Trinity officials backed down from previous statements that plans for the facility were still in the works with an April 2007 press release that said the Tyler-based hospital was putting plans for building a new hospital in Corsicana on hold “indefinitely.” Signs that had been erected in 2005 at both the clinic and property on South U.S. Highway 287 promoting the new hospital were removed by local clinic employees the day following Trinity’s announcement.

Along with the April announcement, Trinity said the pending sale of Navarro Regional Hospital to Community Health Systems, Inc. provided Trinity Mother Frances with an “opportunity to explore a potential collaboration” with the hospital’s new owners.

Fred Woody, administrator of Navarro Regional Hospital, told the Daily Sun in a June 15 interview that Community Health officials told him they had not been contacted by Trinity Mother Frances in regards to any such collaboration.

Three physicians previously affiliated with Trinity Clinic joined Navarro Regional in 2006. Woody confirmed this week Navarro Regional is holding talks with six current Trinity physicians about joining the hospital’s staff. He declined to identify them, as talks are ongoing.

————

Bob Belcher may be reached via e-mail at belcher@corsicanadailysun.com

        

• Click to discuss this story with other readers on our forums.