Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, February 3, 1994 TAG: 9402030193
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BRIAN KELLEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Last year, the agency had given the two hospitals - which are a 10-minute drive apart - four months to try to hammer out an agreement.
One board member, using the analogy of a "shotgun wedding," asked whether it was realistic to expect negotiations between the hospitals to ever succeed.
But top officials with both hospitals said afterward they were willing to resume talks. They acknowledged differences of opinion and philosophy on patient charges, management and the location of the cancer center.
Pulaski Community's executive director, Christopher Dux, for instance, insisted that Radford Community's estimate for its charges for cancer treatment were too low.
But Tom Hancock, a lawyer who spoke for Radford Community, said the figure of $161 per treatment visit, compared with $305 for Pulaski, had been "tested and retested mathematically."
Cancer patients in the New River Valley and father southwest now must drive to Roanoke, Salem, Richlands, Bristol or Winston-Salem, N.C., for radiation therapy. Both hospitals contend their proposals will best serve the region while relieving overburdened facilities in the Roanoke Valley.
Last week, the Health Systems Agency staff recommended that the board back Pulaski Community's proposal, even while noting that a joint venture would offer many benefits overall.
Several members of the board of directors noted this before moving to recommend denial of both applications to the state health commissioner.
Board members encouraged the two hospitals to proceed jointly based on what is best for cancer patients in the region.
Pulaski Community is owned by Nashville, Tenn.-based for-profit HealthTrust Inc., the nation's third-largest health-care provider. Roanoke-based nonprofit Carilion Health System owns Radford Community.
Both seek a certificate of need from the state health commissioner. Without the certificate, their plans to build radiation therapy centers cannot go forward.
"A joint venture has a lot of appeal to us," said Lester Lamb, Radford Community's president. "Our attitude is, we want the most patients having service available."
Lamb said his staff would have to talk over whether to continue to pursue its certificate of need application with the state Health Department and health commissioner. He welcomed participation in the talks by other hospitals in the region, including Montgomery Regional, also a HealthTrust hospital, and facilities in Wythe, Smyth and Giles counties.
The commissioner last summer denied an earlier application for the same Radford proposal, along with one submitted by Lewis-Gale Hospital of Salem.
Dux, who contended that Pulaski Community is more centrally located for the entire region, said he was willing to negotiate again with Radford officials, but would also continue to pursue his hospital's application with other state health officials.
Still, "If you work out the site, you work out the management," Dux said.
Pulaski proposes housing the cancer treatment center in a $3.6 million addition to its building off U.S. 11. Radford proposes a free-standing, $3.4 million center off Virginia 177 near Interstate 81. Hospital officials have proposed moving the entire Radford Community complex to that area by 1998.
by CNB