Page 152 - BWM Dec 2012

152 | Business World Magazine | December 2012
Health Care System Envisi
Baptist Memorial Hospital’s plan to relocate and
expand upon operations in northern Mississippi
is closer to realization as the Mississippi State
Department of Health recently issued a Certifi-
cate of Need for a proposal that involves more
than 680,000 square-feet of planned construc-
tion. With projects costs estimated at more than
$313 million, the new hospital campus repre-
sents the single largest economic investment in
the history of Mississippi’s Oxford and Lafayette
Counties.
The CON is the culmination of more
than three years of negotiations with the city
for BMH to relocate to a site a little more than
a mile away from its existing 217-bed licensed
facility off South Lamar Boulevard. “This was
another large step in our plans to build a larger,
more advanced facility,” says Hospital Spokes-
person Ashley Compton.
She adds that principles of the health-
care system are eager to provide the benefits
that a new facility will accommodate. Among
these, Compton indicates, are larger rooms for
patients, better access to diagnostic centers and
private physician practices that function in clos-
er proximity to the hospital and greater conve-
nience in terms of transport as the hospital will
be located closer to a main highway. Access is an
important concern of the hospital as it is a re-
gional referral center serving a 12-county area of
northern Mississippi.
Access is important to staff too, and
Compton says the new facility will provide both
space for more parking and room for future
growth that its current site does not allow. Bap-
tist Memorial has maintained a presence Oxford
since 1989 when it first leased its current hospi-
tal the county. Over the years, medical staff has