Madison River Oaks Hospital

Newsroom

January 27, 2010
Group behind $42M hospital west of Nissan
Madison County Journal
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While dozens of people rallied this week in support of the $42 million River Oaks Madison hospital under
construction off I-55 near Nissan, a separate rally is planned next week for another hospital proposed in
Madison.

The River Oaks hospital is set to open in the fall of 2011 off Nissan Parkway in Canton and is part of a plan
to provide quality medical care to all of Madison County and parts of two others in accordance with the
State Health Plan, executives with the owner, Health Management Associates, say.

HMA is leasing the hospital from Madison County and in 2002 was the only corporation to bid on taking
over the facility that was in debt.

In March of 2002 the Madison County Board of Supervisors entered into a 40-year,

$9 million lease agreement with HMA to operate the hospital.

Some of the same leaders who brought Nissan to Canton are rallying around HMA and the new River
Oaks facility, which currently operates as the Madison County Medical Center on the other side of town.

Canton Municipal Utilities (CMU) General Manage John Wallace, one of the architects of Nissan, spoke
Tuesday during the rally in Canton, noting the huge positive economic impact such a hospital will have in
the county.

"Economic impact can be boiled down to three simple things," Wallace said. "Private investment, creating
jobs and creating a tax base for the community. This new hospital will provide all three."

About 50 residents rallied on the historic square in Canton following a call to action by a group known as
Friends of Madison River Oaks.

HMA officials say the new facility will be more than twice the size of the existing hospital, built in 1965,
and will add more than 70 new employees.

Madison County Medical Center Chief Executive Officer Davis A. Richards, a Canton native, said HMA's
new hospital will be state-of-the-art and will move the 67 beds from their current facility located in east
Canton to a more centralized and location.

"We're real excited about the new facility," Richards said. "It was clinically, economically and
geographically built to serve all of Madison County, as well as parts of Yazoo, Holmes and Leake
counties."

Richards said employees and others formed Friends of Madison River Oaks to help inform the public.

Wallace said the investment by HMA has been a long time coming and something that would provide all
of Madison County with better health care.

"As a patient and as I grow older, I could not be more thrilled and relieved to have a brand new hospital
only minutes away," he said.

The new facility will offer 24-hour emergency care, women's services, orthopedics, pediatrics, surgical
services, lab, radiology and advanced diagnostics.

Richards said HMA currently employees 163 people in Canton, but the new facility will hire additional
physicians and professionals with a count of 230 total employees.

An estimated $1 million in property taxes will be generated from the new facility, he said.

Meanwhile, another hospital has also been pushing for public support of its proposed $121 million
hospital in Madison.

St. Dominic Health Services has proposed moving 71 beds from its Jackson campus to Madison east of
Interstate 55 along Parkway East and north of the proposed Reunion interchange.

St. Dominic's has filed a Certificate of Need (CON) with the state Department of Health, which will hold a
hearing on the issue beginning Feb 3.

A rally for St. Dominic's is planned for Monday at 6 p.m. at the Madison Square Center for the Arts in
downtown Madison.

In recent months, St. Dominic's has launched a public relations media campaign asking residents to sign a
petition in hopes of swaying the state Department of Health to approve their proposal.

Public officials and business leaders, including Madison Mayor Mary Hawkins-Butler, have spoken out in
favor of the Madison hospital.