Story
Date: 2006-Sep-15 at
03:01:11
By Urvaksh Karkaria
Baptist alliance to bring new neurology facility
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Sep. 15, 2006 (McClatchy-Tribune Business News delivered by
Newstex) --
Baptist Health plans to invest in a more than $20
million outpatient neurology center -- a joint venture with Lyerly
Neurosurgery.
The announcement comes a year after the health
system formed a partnership with the Jacksonville neurosurgery
practice.
The alliance serves a mutual interest. The practice
gives Baptist hard-to-find neurosurgeon coverage, while Lyerly gets
the capital to recruit high-cost neurosurgeons to its practice and
build the outpatient center.
The 25,000-square-foot
neurological institute, to be located at the Baptist Medical Center
Downtown campus, will perform minimally invasive procedures like
spinal surgery as well as some cranial surgery. The center will also
do clinical research and provide rehabilitation services, among
other things.
The majority of the financial investment in the
building will be made by Baptist. Construction dates on the project
have not been finalized.
The Baptist-Lyerly partnership,
proponents say, has helped attract much-needed neurosurgeons to the
First Coast. Since its partnership with Baptist, Lyerly has added
two neurosurgeons and another two are expected to sign on next
year.
That means Baptist Downtown's ER now has neurosurgeon
coverage seven days a week, up from every other day a year ago,
Baptist Chief Executive Hugh Greene said.
The nation is
grappling with a shortage of neurosurgeons and Florida is especially
hurting because of high malpractice liability risk.
"When we
began to build this relationship, there was not adequate
neurosurgery coverage in Jacksonville," Greene said. "The city was
finding itself in a position where we were transferring a number of
patients from our community to other locales." In fact, until last
year, up to 30 percent of First Coast residents needing emergency
neurosurgery had to be flown outside the area for care, said Javier
Garcia-Bengochea , president of Lyerly Neurosurgery.
The
Baptist-Lyerly project recognizes the need for neurosurgical
services and the growth "that we're going to all expect in the
future," said Phil Perry, senior vice president and chief medical
officer at rival St. Vincent's Medical Center. The Riverside
hospital, which has three neurosurgeons on staff, opened the $30
million St. Vincent's Spine & Brain Institute in
January.
Partnerships between hospitals and specialty
practices are a national trend, Perry said.
"It's a matter of
supply and demand [for hospitals]," he said, "and recognizing that
you need to solidify your supply of a rare resource." Like Baptist
and St. Vincent's, other hospitals acknowledge the need for
neurosurgeons, and have made moves to ensure adequate
coverage.
Memorial Hospital, which until last year had one
neurosurgeon, has hired two more in the past six months. The newly
recruited doctors will also help staff a $1.5 million spine center
expected to open at the hospital later this year. The
7,000-square-foot center will treat spine disorders including lower
back pain and spinal cancer.
The Neuroscience Institute at
Shands Jacksonville -- staffed by seven University of Florida
neurosurgeons, including two pediatric neurosurgeons -- opened a
more than $1 million outpatient neurosurgical center in 2004.
Earlier this month, Shands added 10 beds to its 18-bed inpatient
neuro unit.
These and other expansions have increased the
number of neurosurgeons in the area from 13 to 21 in the past year,
Garcia-Bengochea said.
The Lyerly Group would not have been
able to recruit the additional talent without Baptist's backing, he
said.
It typically costs up to $750,000, including salary and
sign-on bonuses, to recruit a neurosurgeon, Garcia-Bengochea
said.
Before the partnership, "all the costs of bringing in
new partners were completely on our shoulders," he said. "Now,
Baptist assists us in those costs." Teaming up with a deep-pocketed
hospital group also assures Lyerly neurosurgeons access to expensive
and high-tech equipment the private practice is unable to afford
single-handedly.
Vascular neurosurgery, for instance,
requires about $2.5 million to $3 million worth of radiology
equipment, Garcia-Bengochea said.
A neurosurgeon with that
speciality would not be willing to move to Jacksonville unless he is
assured of the equipment he needs.
Hospitals, however, aren't
likely to make that investment without a guarantee the doctor would
generate enough business for the facility to justify the expense,
Garcia-Bengochea said.
"With this venture," he said, "we are
able to assure the hospital that this person is committed to
Baptist, and is committed to using the equipment, and providing
services to the community."
Newstex ID:
KRTB-0099-10840052
