NATCHEZ &045; The duplication of services provided by two Natchez hospitals does not benefit the community, Dr. Kenneth Stubbs said Wednesday, adding that he and a majority of Natchez doctors polled believe the one hospital should be a county-owned facility.

&uot;Increasingly, the doctors are having a dialogue about having a single hospital,&uot; he said. &uot;Now the citizens of Natchez will have to get behind this idea.&uot;

Stubbs said in an informal survey he made recently among doctors who are on the staffs but not employed by Natchez Community Hospital, a privately owned hospital, or Natchez Regional Medical Center, the county-owned hospital, he found 75 percent of doctors believe the community would benefit from having one instead of two hospitals.

Further, he found in the 27 responses to the survey that 95 percent of the doctors chose the county-owned hospital if there were to be only one.

&uot;A well-run, not-for-profit county facility is the preferred way to go for a majority of physicians at this time,&uot; Stubbs said.

The subject of consolidating the two hospitals is not a new one.

Darryl Grennell, president of the Adams County Board of Supervisors, said county officials have had no recent talks about the hospitals but that &uot;three or four years ago we were approached about Natchez Community purchasing Natchez Regional, and we said no.&uot;

In the early 1990s, the Natchez Regional Board of Trustees proposed an $8 million purchase of the private hospital, then owned by Humana Corporation and now owned by Health Management Associates of Naples, Fla. &uot;We had that much cash. It was a great disappointment that the proposal failed,&uot; City Attorney Walter Brown said in an interview for an earlier article.

Stubbs said he has thought about the duplication of services for most of the 23 years he has practiced in Natchez as an internist.

During the past several years, Stubbs has been involved with a group of other doctors in planning construction of a medical office building to replace the 40-year-old Medical Arts Building adjacent to Natchez Regional. He brought up the subject of hospital consolidation during a program about the new building at Natchez Rotary Club.

As plans for the new doctors building began to come together in 2001, were put on hold and began to come together again in 2004, Stubbs looked at the number of doctors who had left Natchez and began to rethink the need for a single, strong medical center. The doctors building now is under construction.

&uot;With one hospital, services would be expanded, it would be easier to recruit physicians and the institution would continue to grow,&uot; Stubbs said. &uot;Health care is such a prime part of your infrastructure. We have to develop what people need or we’re not going to get companies to come here and set up shop.&uot;

Dr. William Godfrey, a longtime physician in obstetrics and gynecology and not an investor in the new doctors building adjacent to Natchez Regional, said making the move from two to one hospital would benefit the community.

&uot;The private hospital wants to provide excellent medical care. There’s no doubt about that,&uot; Godfrey said of Natchez Community. &uot;But if it makes $7 million a year in profit, it goes out of town. With only a public hospital, the money stays here and you won’t have duplication of services.&uot;

Natchez Community CEO Allen Tyra said he agrees there should be only one hospital. &uot;There’s no doubt we can no longer support two hospitals,&uot; he said. &uot;Our market has shrunk. We each compete for a larger share of the market.&uot;

The question is which hospital is in a better position to acquire the other one. &uot;Who’s in the best shape to bring to the table the ability to consolidate the hospitals?&uot;

Tyra said he has not seen the survey conducted by Stubbs but believes the idea that &uot;we’re the big evil monger because we take money out of town&uot; is a weak argument.

&uot;If you follow that thought, you should stop recruiting industry,&uot; he said. &uot;What about Walgreens; what about Wal-Mart; what about all the businesses that have corporate offices?&uot;

Natchez Community is one of the county’s largest tax payers, he said. &uot;If I were a new business talking about relocating here, with 300 jobs, a payroll of 15 million and paying taxes of more than half a million a year, I can imagine the red carpet would be rolled out for me.&uot;

Further, he said Natchez Community has provided &uot;quality service for more than 30 years, and we’re still very financially stable, spending $1.2 to $2 million a year on capital improvements, and I don’t think the competition can say that.&uot;

Still, Grennell said he always has been in favor of a county-owned hospital. &uot;I don’t know how the rest of the board feels, but I’m concerned about indigent care, he cost of medical care, a fair hospital and not a major profit-making hospital.&uot;

Natchez Regional CEO Jack Houghton said the hospital board has been discussing the two-hospital issue in recent months. &uot;Some financial groundwork has been done that would confirm for the board that a consolidation into one acute care entity would create a much improved financial picture,&uot; he said. &uot;Our preliminary studies would indicate that one hospital would be stronger and more capable of dynamic long-term growth that will serve Natchez, Adams County and the surrounding communities.&uot;

Stubbs said Natchez physicians met recently with two physicians who had experienced consolidation in their towns &045; one in Vicksburg and one in Greenville.

&uot;Vicksburg had four hospitals. They went down to three and then to two and now down to one. They’re providing more services than ever,&uot; he said. And, contrary to the fear of hospital employees, consolidation increased employment in medical care because of expansions.

&uot;In Greenville, the county hospital bought out Kings Daughters,&uot; Stubbs said. The consolidation happened only four or five months ago, he said, but the financial success has exceeded expectations.

&uot;If a consolidation does occur here, there is no need for the community to panic or worry. There should be no loss of jobs but rather an increase leading to expansion,&uot; he said.

Tyra said Health Management Associates hospitals such as Natchez Community also have successfully acquired public hospitals. &uot;For-profit medicine is not the enemy. We’ve been in situations like this and have bought county-owned hospitals and turned them around.&uot;