Hutcheson gets back to babies: Fort Oglethorpe hospital to relaunch labor, delivery service

photo Vice president of operations Kevin Hopkins, left, president and CEO Farrell Hayes, center, and vice president of physician services and communications Stacey Kaufmann lead a tour of the newly renovated women's center Monday at Hutcheson Medical Center in Fort Oglethorpe.

Hutcheson Medical Center plans to get back into the business of birthing babies.

The Fort Oglethorpe hospital announced Monday that it will reopen its labor and delivery service on Dec. 1 - almost exactly one year after the hospital's board voted to shut down the Women's Center, which employed 37 people and takes up the fourth floor of one of the hospital's buildings.

Hutcheson has at least $60 million in debt, and officials said then that labor and delivery lost about $2 million, annually.

But the service is coming back by popular demand of ther community and the seven obstetricians affiliated with the hospital, Hutcheson's President and Chief Executive Officer Farrell Hayes said.

"It was not popular closing it, and we just got overwhelming demand to reopen it," Hayes said. "We're going to do some things to make us more competitive."

For example, the five labor and delivery rooms have been refurbished with wood-grain flooring, high-definition TVs and robust wi-fi so that mothers can more easily share news with the world.

"We know there's a lot of social media associated with giving birth," Vice President of Physician Services and Communications Stacey Kaufmann said.

The improvements should result in 70 to 90 births a month at Hutcheson, Hayes said, up from about 50 when labor and delivery closed on Dec. 31 of last year.

The reopened Women's Center also will offer gynecological and pediatrics care. Some of the employees who lost their jobs when the Women's Center closed stayed on in other departments, Kaufmann said. They'll be offered their jobs back, as will nurses who left Hutcheson.

"They felt like they were a family," Kaufmann said of the Women's Center's staff.

Meanwhile, Hutcheson officials hope that a change in Georgia's Medicaid rules could really boost business.

The hospital's births could jump to 100 or 120 a month, Hayes said, if Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal signs an order prohibiting Georgia Medicaid patients from using Tennessee hospitals, except for emergencies or for services unavailable in Georgia.

"It would be great if Gov. Deal would sign that," Hayes said.

Hayes met two weeks ago with Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle to lobby for the order's approval. Hayes was accompanied by state Sen. Jeff Mullis, R-Chickamauga, and state Rep. Tom Weldon, R-Ringgold.

Three months ago, Hayes met with Deal along with Mullis and Walker County Sole Commissioner Bebe Heiskell.

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photo Labor and delivery rooms have received numerous upgrades including hardwood floors and better Internet service at the newly-renovated women's center at Hutcheson Medical Center in Fort Oglethorpe.

"I'm for the Medicaid rule change," Mullis said Monday via text message. "Except for emergencies, Georgia Medicaid money should not be used in other states. Shamefully, Erlanger and other Chattanooga hospitals only allow the Georgia Medicaid obstetrician patients in their facilities because it pays well."

Deal's spokeswoman, Sasha Dlugolenski, said the governor isn't planning to change Medicaid rules.

"We have no plans to take executive action of this nature," Dlugolenski wrote in an email Monday.

Hutcheson and Chattanooga-based Erlanger Health System are at odds over the $20.5 million plus interest and fees that Erlanger loaned to Hutcheson as part of its agreement to manage the Fort Oglethorpe hospital from April 2011 to August 2013.

Hutcheson officials, represented in court by former Georgia Gov. Roy Barnes, argue that because Erlanger damaged Hutcheson's business and took away its patients, Hutcheson shouldn't have to repay the $20.5 million, interest and fees. The loan is backed by Walker and Catoosa counties.

Erlanger, meanwhile, initiated foreclosure proceedings in July against Hutcheson and hoped to have the hospital's properties auctioned in August on the Catoosa County Courthouse steps.

Attorneys for both sides are still filing legal briefs in U.S. District Court in Rome, Ga., where the dispute should eventually be heard.

Contact staff writer Tim Omarzu at tomarzu@timesfreepress.com or www.facebook.com/tim.omarzu or twitter.com/TimOmarzu or 423-757-6651.

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