The City Council met Thursday, Sept. 25, at 6 p.m. One agenda item discussed a grant presented by the Rural Practice Program of UAMS and Baxter Regional Health.
CFO Luke Feighert said, “Baxter Regional approached us about an Arkansas Community Match Recruitment Program. Since we were approached, it does require the Mayor to sign off on the program for bringing a physician to town and allowing them to participate. The state grants $40,000 and allows another entity to match that amount. The city does not match, and there is no funding mechanism to do that.”
The Rural Practice Program Administrator, Tammy Henson, included additional details for the council members.
Henson said, “This state program has been in place since 1949. In 2017 some information was updated to assure the community receiving the new doctor would not be obligated in any way. Baxter Regional would administer the program, and the state would match that money.”
Dr. P. Corey Jackson works for Baxter Regional Health and needed an additional physician for his Harrison practice. The rural program would offset some of the medical school expenses by granting the new doctor a total of $20,000 a year for four years.
A discussion continued with comments from Dr. Corey Jackson, NARMC Board Chair Dr. Steve Beeler, and Ron Peterson, the president/CEO of Baxter Regional, Dr. Brent Rosson and NARMC board member Dan Bowers.
Mayor Jackson commented that the city had agreed to this same grant for Dr. Branscum who partnered with Cox and continues to see patients at the Medical Plaza.
A portion of the discussion involved questioning the need for another family practice doctor in Harrison. Both sides were adamant about sharing facts to prove their point.
The Mayor shared his opinion after the public and council had fully discussed the issue's pros and cons.
“Over the last few months, we have been working hard on recruiting businesses to Harrison. We have a lot of new businesses interested in our area. When it comes to thinking if this will hurt the business next door, I can not consider that. It sounds like something we were accused of many decades ago. But I think this is different. I support Baxter fully. I will never be against Baxter Health, Cox, or Washington Regional. That said, I have spoken with many doctors and board members from NARMC this week. I have learned a lot. Up to now, our concern, along with a lot of community leaders, has been the financial situation of the hospital. Nobody can question the service, facility, or leadership,” Jackson said. “But the financial situation has been questionable. We want to have a hospital. We must have a hospital. With that said, I believe, and I’m going to encourage and recommend – even though I’m not sure it is going to matter, that we reject the resolution. This is a way to show support to NARMC and the 700 employees of the hospital. The morale is on the way up, and I heard they have been operating in the black for several months. I told Dr. Beeler to let more people know this good news.”
Beeler said, “There were periods when we operated in the red. During the financial and inflation crisis the whole world went through, we did operate in the red. We chose to. We could have pulled the lever and got in the black at any time in that period. You wouldn’t like it. We’d be getting rid of EMS, OBGYN, and other services. But for the good of our citizens we serve, we choose to spend that money down to serve the people we need to serve. We were never in dire financial straights. We don’t have those problems anymore.”
Jackson said, “We’ve got all kinds of health care here, and we’ve got to support them all. But in this case, I feel we need to show our support to our hospital. I like Dr. Jackson and I like the doctor who wants to come here, but this is what our hospital is asking for. So I’d like to encourage this council to vote ‘no’ for this resolution.”
After further discussion about tabling the item or voting, it was decided to vote. The council members had a split vote of three for and three against. Legal council reviewed the resolution, and a mayor can only vote to break a tie when it is for the purpose of approval. Councilman Larry Phillips abstained.
The resolution did not pass.
Dr. Steve Beeler said in a quote on Friday, "It was a pleasure for me to represent the interests of our hometown hospital. I was welcomed with a very cordial and in depth conversation with Mayor Jackson, and I thank him and his team for being constructive and encouraging to me and the team at NARMC. I found the questions and comments of the city council to be well-informed and I want to thank them as well for their thoughtful consideration."
Mayor Jackson added Friday, “Last night was much more than one doctor. It was about our community supporting our hospital.”
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