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Angel Medical Center
Christopher Lugo
The Highlander
editor@highlandsnews.com
With Angel Medical Center in full-on construction mode, new CEO Clint Kendall updated the Macon County Economic Development Commission on how they want to operate with the community.
One difference between the old Angel Medical Center and the new hospital under HCA that Kendall mentioned is financial backing.
“The hospital in Highlands had some great financial backing, whereas the hospital in Franklin did not,” Kendall said. “That is one thing that this community has done very well, which was keeping healthcare on the mountain and understanding what it meant to not have healthcare. Franklin had great backing in the beginning, but it kind of fizzled out. I would say that if COVID would have come around and we did not purchase the hospital, then Angel would not be here today. That is because of the financial conditions and operating rural hospitals the same way you would operate a larger facility, like Duke or Carolina. It just doesn’t work out.”
Kendall said his job now is to figure out how to keep growing as a hospital with the community.
“As we move forward, that is the main focus for Tom [Neal] and I,” Kendall said referring to the Highlands-Cashiers Hospital CEO. “So, how do we put the community back into our facilities? How do we become part of the community again? For the past five years, the hospital in Franklin hasn’t sponsored anything. This is the first year we are part of the Christmas parade in forever. It may seem like a small thing, but if we aren’t part of that process, it just means that people will think that the community is not good enough for the hospital.”
Revamping of women’s services
Before the announcement of the new Angel Medical Center, many residents were calling for the return of labor and delivery, including former Franklin Mayor Bob Scott. Kendall said they are fully equipped for labor and delivery and for all women’s services, but still do not provide them. Though Kendall said they are revamping the women’s services.
“We do everything,” Kendall said. “We don’t limit the things we do at our facility. We have MRIs and CT scans. We have cardiologists, two general surgeons, and an orthopedic surgeon. We are working on a urologist and hope to get him in the next couple of weeks. We just got through interviewing two primary care physicians. If you look at our line of service, it is the exact same, except for one, women services. We can provide that care. We still have women come in in labor because it is a long way with us being here at the western end of the state. We still have OB supplies, and everything we need to do a C-Section or deliver a baby. We have the warmers and the bassinets. So, we can still do those things. Are we revamping it? Yes. We picked up Dr. Amelia Clyne over the last month and a half and they have started doing surgery again. We are doing gynecological surgery at least two days a week, every week. They have done a lot of bringing that back to the community.”
MAMA base in Franklin
Kendall said Angel Medical Center brings several opportunities to the community. For 2022, he is looking at about $1 million in property taxes.
“We have about 300 employees and 64 physicians that actively provide care,” Kendall said. “Right now, we are contributing about $357,000 in taxes to the community. In capital investments for 2020, we invested $4.3 million. Financial assistance for our patients is right at $16.1 million and cost of charity care for the uninsured was $7.2 million. We had about 4,500 admissions this year and about 41,000 outpatient visits. We are doing about 850 surgeries, which doubled since last year. The bad news is the charitable care is up to $9.1 million in 2021.”
Another big plus for Angel Medical Center, according to Kendall, is that Mountain Area Medical Airlift (MAMA) is moving its base to Macon County.
“We are spending another $4.7 million placing a heliport beside the hospital,” Kendall said. “We will have two landing structures and a repair hangar for both MAMA 1 and MAMA 2. What that means is that if we do have an accident on one of these roads and you need to be flown from scene, you won’t have to wait anymore.” The hangar will be about 60,000 square feet and include sleeping space for pilots and mechanics will be stationed there, reducing the need to go to the Asheville airport for repairs or fuel.
What happens to the old hospital?
Kendall said they are not sure what will happen with the old Angel Medical Center.
“We have put it out there to the city, and we have put it out there to the county about what we would like to do with the building,” Kendall said. “It just depends on what the legal system allows us to. We are a public entity, and we are on the public exchange system, so we have to abide by a lot of rules. It can’t go to a referral source. So, the county would be a referral source because they have the ambulance service and the health department, which means they have physicians and healthcare personnel that could be swayed by the amount of money that we put into the county. So, that is not an option. The city does not have any healthcare connections, so we could provide it to the city. That is what we are full for, to gift the building to the city. There are about five things the city can do with it and none of them can do with me. It can be office space and you could lease it out to another doctor, if you did a medical plaza or something, it just can’t have an X-ray suite in it or any other services that we provide.”
Moving forward, Kendall said they are focused on being a partner to the community.
“I think the whole Mission thing got us off on the wrong foot,” Kendall said. “Now, we want to come back and figure out how to partner with the communities we serve and how do we start infusing money into sponsorships. Both hospitals here are striving for excellence. Having HCA behind us is making us do things better.”
The new Angel Medical Center is scheduled to open in the fall of 2022.