Company makes initial presentation to hospital board
Three officers of Quorum Health Resources, based in Brentwood, Tenn., made a presentation about hospital management and consulting for the board of directors of St. Luke Hospital Thursday night.
The occasion was the board's annual meeting and a regular meeting for June.
QHR has been in business 30 years and works with more than 200 hospitals in 44 states, the men said. They focus on leadership and strategy, John Peel, company vice president, from Brentwood, said.
Headquarters of the Central Division of the company is in Plano, Texas, a Dallas suburb. The company usually works with county, city, community, and/or non-profit hospitals that have 25-150 beds — hospitals much like St. Luke, Peel said.
The company manages or helps to manage four hospitals in Kansas, in Coffeyville, Lawrence, Chanute, and Emporia.
It has three divisional offices and 18 regional ones. The Dallas Group II office would support St. Luke if a contract were arrived at later between the Marion hospital and QHR.
The Central Division includes Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Nebraska, Arizona, New Mexico, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, and part of Alabama.
Issues the company helps hospitals with include hospital regulations, reimbursements, recruitment problems, competition from larger providers, declining market shares, depleted resources, and the increasing difficulty of "standing alone," Peel said.
Other areas of concern in which the company provides expertise include business relationships, clinical service delivery, financial management, managed care service (if needed), patient financial services, and third-party reimbursement.
The QHR Learning Institute provides leadership and management expertise, governance/operational excellence, and national/regional/on-site programs.
"Knowledge is power" is the institute's slogan, and it is Web-based.
Consulting, group purchasing, strategic planning, and strategic service partnerships are some more offerings from QHR.
Also present were John D. Short, president, Central Division, QHR, and Thomas H. McCall, group vice president, QHR, both from Plano.
This was an initial meeting between the board and QHR representatives, so no action was taken in regard to the presentation.
