Scheduled to open Feb. 16
HANNIBAL, MO -- A recent survey found 45 percent of hospitals nationwide have postponed upcoming improvement projects.
Thirteen percent have halted expansions already underway.
But we haven't found that to be in the case here in the Tri-States.
Earlier this week, we checked in with the new Memorial Hospital in Carthage and discovered plans there are right on track.
This afternoon, KHQA's Rajah Maples headed to Hannibal Regional Hospital to find out if the economy has negatively impacted the construction of its new medical office building.
President John Grossmeier says, "It's true that many hospitals have been challenged by the economic uncertainty and have had to cancel or postpone construction projects. Fortunately in Hannibal, it's not the situation. We're able to go forward with the projects we have underway and it in no way puts us in jeopardy of our financial health."
Grossmeier says this new medical office building is scheduled to open February 16th. It'll house 35 physicians who are part of the newly formed Hannibal Regional Medical Group.
Grossmeier said, "The ability of Hannibal Regional to take on this construction project is driven by our planning. Planning the financing well in advance. Just like individual families save, we save for future expenditures, so we don't have to go into debt to construct a project like this."
Grossmeier says the challenges with health care during a struggling economy are much more severe in metropolitan areas. He says Hannibal Regional diligently sought bids from local contractors and businesses and contracted with more than 30 of them to help build this $12 million facility.
Blessing and QMG are in talks about a possible consolidation, has there been any kind of discussion between Hannibal Regional and Hannibal Clinic?
Grossmeier says, "Specifically on that subject, there has not been, but the Hannibal Clinic and Hannibal Regional Hospital are in continual discussions about how we can best serve the needs of our community. The consolidation topic has been a very low level discussion over the years. But there's nothing active at this time."
You'll recall how we reported a couple of weeks ago that Blessing Health System and Quincy Medical Group are in talks to possibly consolidate their physician groups.
We checked in with one of those organizations to see if there's any update on those talks.
Amanda Wangler with QMG told us no decision has been made at this time, and that both organization are still in the discussion stage.
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