Making Their Case

Alabama Nurse,  Dec 2003-Feb 2004  by Glynn, Frankie

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"I fought for it (outpatient surgery center) years ago, and I'm going to fight for it again," said Windham, calling himself the town's oldest surgeon. "I don't plan to practice until I'm 105, but this community needs health care dollars to be well spent. Do I trust them (CRMC) to do it right this time? No, I don't. Do they have any surgeon with them on this project? No, they don't. If they're the only dog in town, we'll have to keep hunting with them, but that dog's not doing very well right now."

He estimated the center would see about 5,000 cases a year, or about 20 percent of every surgeon's practice. The doctors have formed a corporation, Cullman Outpatient Surgery, that "is poised to enter into this agreement with HealthSouth and Woodland" after the Certificate of Need process is completed. He said Woodland plans to build its facility on 10 acres of land he purchased in the 90s "as a defensive move" when CRMC was insisting that doctors locate inside the POB. He said he paid $30,000 an acre, plus $85,000 an acre for improvements, but will sell the property at the appraised price of $354,000.

Windham said local doctors William Smith, Jeffrey Manord, John Evans, Joan Iacobelli, Kevin Johnson, Steven Fuller, Gregory Mick, Sheldon Black, Peyton Colvin, Vince Bergquist, Don Hirsbrunner, Ben Gomez, David Dueland, Donald Marecle and Charles Lovelady had put in $1,000 each to join the corporation. Windham expressed surprise when CRMC attorney Ryan de Graffenreid told him that Dueland, Gomez and Lovelady had also invested in CRMC's ambulatory surgery center.

Dr. Kevin Johnson, anaesthesiologist at Woodland, also testified on behalf of the hospital's application. He said he often sees patients who have gone out-of-town for outpatient procedures that can be performed more inexpensively in an ambulatory surgery center than a hospital.

Johnson said the turnaround time - the time between the end of one surgery and the beginning of another - is much shorter in an ambulatory surgery center than in a hospital operating room because personnel are cross-trained in the former.

"Everyone has been trained to do a lot of different jobs," he said. "You'll see nurses who are capable of not only taking care of patients, but of mopping floors."

Also in a hospital acute care environment, outpatient surgeries can be delayed when surgeons or physicians are called on to deal with emergency situations such as C-sections or car wrecks.

"Patients these days like walking in and walking out," Johnson said. "There is no way they are going to get that in a hospital setting. They are always going to be at the mercy of whatever is happening in the hospital."

HealthSouth physical therapist Lydia Haynes was also called to testify on behalf of HealthSouth/Woodland but was dismissed until CRMC's case comes before the court.

Copyright Alabama State Nurses' Association Dec 2003-Feb 2004
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