Methodist Opens Olive Branch Clinic — Rival Opposes Locating Hospital in the City

By Toni Lepeska

Methodist Healthcare will open a minor medical center in the spring in Olive Branch.

Methodist’s efforts to open a hospital in Olive Branch have been frustrated over the years, but the minor medical center will finally give it a presence .

The 9,900-square-foot facility at 5580 Goodman near Pleasant Hill will be the only Methodist Minor Medical Center in DeSoto County when it opens in March 2008.

The closest such Methodist facility to Olive Branch is across the state line at Hacks Cross and Winchester roads.

Methodist still wants to open a hospital in or near Olive Branch, said Gary Shorb, president and CEO of Methodist Healthcare. He said about 17,000 people have Methodist health-care coverage in North Mississippi. Most of them live in DeSoto County.

Shorb said the minor medical center “doesn’t have a lot of effect” on whether the city gets a Methodist inpatient hospital .

Baptist already has a presence in the county with a minor medical center in Olive Branch and a hospital in Southaven. It also recently opened a sleep clinic.

Methodist plans to have four beds at its facility to treat those with slumber problems. The medical center also will serve people who can’t see their primary care physician quickly and those who need immediate minor medical care.

That’s for anything ranging from a sinus infection to a cut needing stitches.

The facility will be open 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. seven days a week, said Mitch Graves, president of Methodist Healthcare Affiliated Services division. After 5 p.m., it will be staffed by an emergency room physician from Le Bonheur, in keeping with a focus on medical care for children.

For years, Olive Branch officials have sought a state-required certificate of need to locate a hospital in the city, an effort Baptist has opposed.

An effort to allow the city to bypass the certificate-of-need process died in the most recent legislative session.

One argument hospital supporters have used is that a whole segment of the population, those whose insurance directs them to Methodist, must be inconvenienced and drive across the state line for care.

Olive Branch city employees are among that group.

Mayor Sam Rikard has been among elected officials who’ve strived for a hospital in Olive Branch.

“This is not a hospital,” Rikard said, “but we’re glad they’re here. It provides our citizens with another health-care provider.”

Added Graves: “We’re excited about coming down there. It’s such a great community.”

– Toni Lepeska: (662) 996-1409

Originally published by Toni Lepeska lepeska@desotoappeal.com .

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