Since August, the landscape for physician clinics in Little Rock has changed.
CARTI of Little Rock started the trend of partnering with clinics when it announced in August that it was joining Little Rock Hematology Oncology and Radiation Oncology Associates P.A. to form a multi-specialty cancer group with plans to build a new cancer treatment center, which should open in about two and a half years.
After CARTI’s announcement, Baptist Health, St. Vincent Health Systems and Arkansas Heart Hospital all issued announcements of their own.
The moves are driven by health care reform, Russ Harrington, president and CEO of Baptist Health of Little Rock, told Arkansas Business earlier this month.
“That legislation is trying to force all of us to become more effective and more efficient,” he said.
Baptist Health announced earlier this month that it had partnered with Arkansas Cardiology, which has 14 doctors whose specialties include interventional cardiology, nuclear cardiology, heart failure and peripheral vascular diagnostic and intervention, to form Baptist Health Heart Institute.
Arkansas Cardiology is No. 20 on Arkansas Business’ list this year of largest physician clinics, which is ranked by the number of licensed physicians in Arkansas.
To see the list click here.
St. Vincent Health System also announced this month that it had bought Heart Clinic Arkansas for an undisclosed price. Heart Clinic Arkansas is the state’s largest cardiology group with 29 physicians and it ranks No. 12 on the list.
After the purchase, the clinic changed its name to St. Vincent Heart Clinic Arkansas and its workers now are employees of St. Vincent.
Peter Banko, president and CEO of St. Vincent, told Arkansas Business that the move would “improve quality for the patient and reduce costs.”
Arkansas Heart Hospital of Little Rock
also announc-ed earlier this month that it was forming a partnership with Saline Memorial Hospital. Arkansas Heart Hospital, officially the Little Rock Cardiology Clinic PA, landed at No. 17 this year with 16 licensed physicians.
The partnership will provide the Benton hospital with 24/7 call coverage for emergency heart care needs and add a clinic to the hospital.
The clinic is open five days a week and called Arkansas Heart Hospital-Benton. The arrangement will provide “diagnostic, non-invasive testing and invasive services” and allow for “seamless access to specialty services at Arkansas Heart Hospital when appropriate,” according to a news release that announced the deal.
Murphy told Arkansas Business that the partnership would allow the Ben-ton hospital to remain independent.
“This partnership bucks a trend of super consolidation of medical care through system-wide ownership,” he said.
The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Medical Center also announced an expansion this month. It opened a 9,300-SF West Little Rock Clinic that will house an internal medicine clinic, an obstetrics/gynecology clinic and a sleep lab. Six doctors will be stationed at the lab.
The List
The list of largest physician clinics underwent some changes since its inaugural appearance last year as the largest physician groups. Arkansas Business added more clinics to the list and removed some that didn’t own or manage clinics, such as SHARP Inc. (St. Bernards Healthcare Associated Regional Providers) of Jonesboro, which provides administrative services to clinics.
Arkansas Business also found a number of physician clinics that weren’t on the list last year, but should have been. The Little Rock Diagnostic Clinic wasn’t on last year’s list, but it has 44 licensed physicians, which was good enough for No. 10 this year.
But those clinics that were on both lists saw little change in the number of their physicians.
The Cooper Clinic PA of Fort Smith had 92 licensed doctors in January 2011 and 87 doctors this year.
The Arkansas Health Group of Little Rock, which has offices across the state, reported 158 doctors in January 2011 and 159 this year.
And Sparks Clinic of Fort Smith listed 80 doctors last year and 82 this year.
Sign up for Daily E-news
