Washington Regional Commits to Future

Dubbed “the Emerald City” for the colony of green rooftops at North Hills Medical Park, the health care strip along Millsap Road in Fayetteville offers treatment for practically any ailment.

Next spring, Washington Regional Medical Center will join the medical community at North Hills, offering strength to the existing plaza and promising innovation for the industry.

“There is no place in the state that has this type of a broad-based health campus,” said Washington Regional Medical System President and CEO Steve Lampkin. “[The new hospital] really is a way of fortifying our commitment to this community and being the leaders in Northwest Arkansas.”

The medical center anchors Washington Regional Medical System, a nonprofit corporation that has 1,900 employees — 240 of whom are doctors — and 41 clinical specialties. The hospital itself, previously known as Washington County Memorial Hospital, opened in 1950 as a county venture, but it became a corporate entity in 1988.

In addition to the future campus, the system got a new leader last July when Lampkin replaced Patrick Flynn at the helm. Lampkin has spent 24 years in Arkansas’ health care industry, including stints in Pine Bluff, Little Rock and Batesville.

To date, Lampkin said, he has focused on improving the health of the community by emphasizing a value-based, team culture within the organization. He’s made “customer service,” “respect” and “quality care” the system’s buzz words, in an effort to ensure that Washington Regional stays strong enough to remain independent and locally operated.

“The commitment toward our mission of healing has to start with me, but I am just one of 2,000 team members,” Lampkin said. “We not only have to articulate that philosophy but demonstrate it with an attitude of service to the community. That’s why whatever margin we do have at the end of the year is reinvested locally through things like our community benefit programs.”

Last year, Washington Regional provided free care, counseling and services worth $5.6 million. Jack Mitchell, the hospital’s senior vice-president and administrator, said Lampkin has brought a “convincing spirit of compassion and teamwork” that’s given the organization new vigor.

“Mr. Lampkin’s personality has provided immediate confidence and trust,” Mitchell said. “He’s implemented a focused discipline on financial stewardship and organizational planning that has us on track. His spirit and compassion for excellence is what sets him apart.”

Combined with Lampkin’s leadership, the move to a 44-acre site on Northhills Boulevard is designed to prepare the hospital to meet the long-term needs of the community.

Moving out of the landlocked location on the corner of North Street and College Avenue will give the Washington Regional Medical Center room to grow. Eventual vertical expansion will be possible, too, because the new hospital’s base structure was designed to hold further additions.

By the Numbers

Recent financial records show solid figures that support the hospital’s move into the 340,000-SF edifice. According to Washington Regional’s financial administration, 2000 net income reached $4.8 million, down 11.1 percent from $5.4 million in 1999.

Because of an $85.2 million bond from the Arkansas Development Finance Authority, total assets topped $179 million last year, up 113 percent from $84 million in 1999.

Lampkin said another $90 million will be added after the move. The return on assets was 2.7 percent.

With 1,232 employees, revenue was $116 million, up 12.8 percent from $102.8 million in 1999. Return on revenue was 4.2 percent. With 198 beds, the hospital recorded a 75 percent occupancy rate in 2000.

“Health care is a huge business, but philosophically, our mission is healing,” Lampkin said. “We’ve got to be good stewards of finance, but it’s about healing.”

Smart resource management matters to a nonprofit that relies on the public’s opinion for livelihood. Washington Regional uses patient surveys conducted by Press, Ganey Associates Inc. of South Bend, Ind., to monitor public opinion.

During the third quarter of 2000, Washington Regional ranked in the 40th percentile of inpatient satisfaction in a peer group of 656 other hospitals in the nation. By the first quarter of this year, the hospital rose to the 70th percentile.

Within the hospital itself, surveyed patients indicated 84.7 percent satisfaction during March, compared with 83.9 percent satisfaction for the fourth quarter of 2000.

Press, Ganey contracts with hospitals to analyze inpatient opinions. The surveys are mailed after the patient has been discharged, and customers return them to Press, Ganey for tabulation.

Yellow-Brick Road Logistics

Washington Regional administrators hired Health Care Transitions LLC out of Aurora, Colo., to help prepare for the relocation. Established in 1988, the company has completed more than 30 transitions.

Meticulously organizing the details of the undertaking, the service offered Washington Regional both advice gleaned from experience and a flexible process for leaving the old hospital and starting operations at North Hills, said senior consultant Tom Van Hook.

“We bring them a systematic process that allows them to do a lot of planning ahead of time but also allows them to react,” Van Hook said. The company works to tailor a comprehensive shift into a new facility.

The hospital’s moving budget, including employee training and an expected period of overtime compensation, is $1.5 million to $2 million.

Transplanting Washington Regional Medical Center to Northhills Boulevard will reestablish a women’s clinic in the plaza, filling the absence of the Parkhill Clinic for Women which moved into the recently-opened Willow Creek Women’s Hospital in Johnson.

Washington Regional will also bring a busy emergency room into the neighborhood. Last year, the ER received 44,000 visits. Ambulances will access the site by Interstate 540, College Avenue and Gregg Street.

A yet-unnamed regional heart institute will also be included in the new hospital’s design. Nearly 350 open-heart surgeries were performed at Washington Regional last year.

Washington Regional Board of Directors

Name, board position, employer (title)

David McClinton, chairman, McClinton-Anchor Construction (retired president)

Richard Atkinson, vice-chairman, University of Arkansas School of Law (professor)

Doyle Baker, secretary, Boston Mountain Educational Cooperative (director)

Roy Clinton, member, Har-Ber Meadows (real estate developer)

Dr. Gareth Eck, member, Fayetteville Surgical Associates (surgeon)

Dr. Roger Montgomery, member, Fayetteville Diagnostic Clinic (physician)

Dr. James Moore, member, Ozark Orthopaedic Clinic (surgeon)

Curtis Shipley, member, Shipley Baking Company (retired owner and executive)