Madison River Oaks Hospital

Newsroom

February 7, 2010
Hospital Battle Timeline
ClarionLedger.com
Download PDF

• Dec. 19, 2002: State Health Officer Dr. Brian Amy rules Health Management Associates of Naples,
Fla., cannot move 67 beds from the Madison County Medical Center in Canton to the closed Central
Mississippi Medical Center North Campus in Jackson. HMA manages the hospital for the county. St.
Dominic Health Services had teamed with Baptist Medical Center to fight the move.

• Dec. 30, 2002: Madison County signs over management of the financially ailing Madison County
Medical Center in Canton to HMA in a 40-year, $9 million deal. HMA has said it will consider building a
new hospital along I-55 between Gluckstadt and Canton. St. Dominic also had proposed to build a
hospital at Gluckstadt but withdrew its proposal after supervisors kept delaying a vote on a request to
rezone the area to allow hospital construction. At one point, county supervisors asked St. Dominic to
lease Madison County Medical Center, but St. Dominic declined.

• Aug. 13, 2003: St. Dominic and HMA renew their battle, arguing their cases in a hearing at the state
Department of Health over St. Dominic's proposal to move 100 beds from Jackson to a new $35 million,
acute-care hospital in south Madison County.

• May 27, 2004: Hinds County Chancery Judge William Singletary reverses a January decision by the
Department of Health granting St. Dominic approval to build a $35 million acute-care hospital on the
campus of St. Catherine's Village in south Madison County. Singletary says construction of the 50-bed
hospital is not the same as relocating beds, as argued by St. Dominic. He bases his decision on the same
argument of law St. Dominic presented in a challenge to HMA's proposal to move beds to the north
campus of Central Mississippi Medical Center. St. Dominic eventually appeals Singletary's ruling to the
Mississippi Supreme Court.

• June 14, 2005: During a Department of Health hearing, St. Dominic questions HMA's plan to close
Madison County Medical Center and build a $42 million hospital on the Nissan Parkway near Canton.

• Sept. 8, 2005: In a 7-1 decision, the Mississippi Supreme Court rules that St. Dominic Health Services
cannot open an acute care hospital in Madison. The decision upholds the 2004 ruling by Singletary.
Justice Chuck Easley says the court agreed with the chancellor that St. Dominic was trying to locate a
new hospital in Madison. St. Dominic will eventually file a petition with the court to rehear the case.

• Oct. 27, 2005: The Department of Health gives its approval for HMA to relocate Madison County
Medical Center from its present location on Mississippi 16 East to Nissan Parkway. St. Dominic, which
opposes the move, eventually files an appeal with the Hinds County Chancery Court.

• Feb. 1, 2006: Singletary's ruling clears the way for HMA to shut down the existing Madison County
Medical Center facility and build a $42 million hospital on Nissan Parkway. St. Dominic had tried to stop
the plan.

• December 2006: Legal challenges by St. Dominic continue to stymie HMA's plans to move Madison
County Medical Center. In spite of a Hinds County Chancery Court ruling clearing the way for the move in
February, St. Dominic appealed the decision.

• April 17, 2007: The state Court of Appeals sides with the Department of Health in upholding relocation
of Madison County Medical Center. St. Dominic had argued before the Appeals Court in January that
HMA failed to prove it needed to build in Madison County.

• May 3, 2007: St. Dominic announces it will not continue to challenge Madison County Medical Center's
planned move.

• June 4, 2007: St. Dominic officials announce they are seeking state approval to build a $93 million
hospital and medical office at a proposed satellite campus in Madison County.

• November 2008: St. Dominic withdraws its application for a certificate of need from the state because
of technical issues with its 2007 filing. The hospital plans to submit a notice of intent for filing a new
application Dec. 1.

• March 2009: St. Dominic hopes the state health officer will approve its proposed $121 million hospital in
Madison County, despite an unfavorable staff review. An analysis by the staff of the Department of Health
had said there is no need for more acute hospital beds in Madison County, which sits in the same
geographic health district of Jackson, where several hospitals exist.

• Sept. 10, 2009: City and medical officials break ground on the site of the new home for Madison County
Medical Center, which will be renamed Madison River Oaks Hospital.

• November 2009: HMA opposes St. Dominic's plan to build a $121.6 million hospital in Madison County.
It is St. Dominic's third attempt to open a facility in the county, which has one hospital in Canton.

• Feb. 4, 2010: On the first day of an expected two-week hearing on St. Dominic's application for a
certificate of need to build a 71-bed facility in Madison County, a Department of Health official says the
county already has 33 more beds than it needs.