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By Philip Gilmore
HSC Medical Center was established in 1923 for the people of Malvern and in 1929 expanded as a county wide hospital. It remained a county owned facility until 1994 when HSCMC became a private, not-for-profit corporation.
At that time, the hospital was granted a 25-year lease from the county for the land and facility. That lease requires Quorum Court approval of HSCMC Board members and any indebtedness over $250,000, as well as monthly general reports on operations and an annual financial audit. By becoming a private, non-profit corporation, the hospital committed to operating off monies received from billing and collecting for services rendered. Since 1994 the hospital has been self-supporting and has not received any tax assistance from the residents of the county or city/county government. Still, just like any other hospital, HSCMC provides charity services that average over one million dollars per year and must be absorbed by the hospital. We are fortunate to have the HSC Medical Foundation that is supported by donations from our citizens. As many of you are aware, the cost of healthcare is increasing and reimbursement is declining. This presents a challenge to the hospital to navigate through the maze of federal regulations, insurance constraints, managed care, Medicare and Medicaid rules to operate in the black. Even a non-profit hospital has to at least break even and really needs to make some kind of profit in order to reinvest in the hospital plant and equipment. HSC Medical Center is an outstanding hospital that is vital and critical to our community. It provides emergency services 24 hours a day/7 days a week with full-time physician coverage. The hospital includes a medical/surgical unit with all private rooms, as well as an acute care unit (ACU) and a step-down unit. The mental health unit, which houses 18 beds, is one of only a few adult psychiatric units in the state. HSCMC offers a full service Wound Care Center, acute hospice beds, a sleep lab, and outpatient services. The hospital’s Home Health covers not only Hot Spring County but also four other surrounding counties. HSCMC has kept pace with the latest in technology and just this past year installed the most advanced 64-slice CT on the market in the radiology department. HSCMC has an outstanding active medical staff along with consulting specialists to include a general surgeon and a rheumatologist. Other specialists affiliated with our hospital include urology, gynecology, cardiology, and orthopedics. Our hospital staff is filled with dedicated and caring employees, many of whom live right here in Hot Spring County. All of this at no cost to the taxpayer since 1994! You can’t put a price on the “insurance” of having a hospital in your community. You will never know when you might need the services of a hospital but HSCMC intends to be here to meet your needs! (Phillip Gilmore is the CEO of HSC Medical Center. He writes a periodic column for the Malvern Daily Record.) |
