• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Locals Respond With Mixed Emotions to Hospital Bid Choice

Posted on: Friday, 2 June 2006, 18:00 CDT

By The Herald, Rock Hill, S.C.

Jun. 1--FORT MILL -- They cheered and they jeered.

Locals responded with mixed emotions after hearing Piedmont Medical Center won the bid to build York County's second hospital in Fort Mill.

Fort Mill Mayor Charles Powers said he is "delighted" with Piedmont's selection.

"One, being in our city, and being a taxpayer means a lot to our community and our schools especially," Powers said. "I think they'll be a good corporate citizen for our town."

Piedmont had touted its per-profit status, which means it must pay property taxes on the new hospital. Two of its three competitors in the Fort Mill hospital fight would not have paid taxes because they are nonprofit.

Piedmont's bid was opposed by many county residents in part because of perceptions about the quality of care at the company's Rock Hill hospital.

"I go to Charlotte," Joan Kindig of Fort Mill said Wednesday while eating lunch outside Bistro One Sixty. "I wouldn't go to Piedmont because of everything I have heard about it."

Greg Miller, president of the York County Medical Society, oversaw a May vote by the local doctors group that resulted in an opinion "strongly in favor of competition" to improve the health care of York County. The group, which represents 200 physicians, overwhelmingly favored Presbyterian Healthcare's bid.

"I hope the dialogue will open between the physicians and administration at Piedmont," Miller said. "There are some issues the physicans have, and I hope we can really work together to address some of those issues."

Sarah Larson of Rock Hill said she liked PMC's services but said the patient rates were "too high."

After years of having the highest prices in the region, the hospital lowered its patient rates by 13 percent, according to the latest Medicare data released last fall.

PMC also began accepting Aetna health insurance on Feb. 15, after nearly two years of not doing so.

Larson gave birth to a daughter last Thursday at the hospital.

"I like Piedmont," Larson said. "I had my son and now my daughter at the women's center there. They've always been so good to me."

Larson spoke to The Herald while standing in the parking lot of The Peach Stand store and Exxon gas station, which sit across the road from where Tenet Healthcare, Piedmont's parent company, plans to build the hospital. The location is at the intersection of S.C. 160 and U.S. 21.

Many locals expressed concern about this location, which they said will increase traffic in an area that is already saturated.

"The main thing is that the traffic we're going to get at this intersection is going to be horrendous," said Laura Brown, who works at the old peach stand, which sits beside the proposed site. It's been in business at that site since the 1930s, she said.

Still, others were just grateful a decision has been made.

"I mean, it's been about 18 months on this," said York County Councilman Jeff Updike, who represents the Fort Mill area.

Updike said Piedmont's selection makes things easier for county officials because they already have an established relationship and contract with the company.

"We were willing to work with whomever won," Updike said. "We look forward to continuing a relationship with Piedmont Medical Center."

York Mayor Eddie Lee agrees and hopes the hospital keeps its promises about future amenities.

"Even though I have not seen the written commitment from Piedmont to provide the citizens of western York County with 24-hour health care," Lee said, "we are looking forward to Piedmont fulfilling that promise."

Last month, Piedmont Medical Center CEO Charlie Miller told the county council that the company would begin offering 24-hour health care in western York County within about a year.

-----

Copyright (c) 2006, The Herald, Rock Hill, S.C.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.

NYSE:XOM, NYSE:THC,

Source: The Herald

More News in this Category