Good Samaritan Hospital in Kearney plans to invest $65-million to boost patient care and hopefully heal strained relations with physicians.
The hospital’s interim CEO Steve Loveless says expansion plans have been in the works for months, but were accelerated in light of a proposed plan by several physicians to build a $20-million hospital in southwest Kearney.
Loveless hopes Good Samaritan’s plan will address the doctors’ concerns. “We’ve got tremendous physicians in this community,” Loveless says. “They’re very skilled and they’ve helped to build this medical community to what it is today. We’ve done great things and we hope this will continue to bring us together.”
Loveless called the addition of a second, investor-owned hospital in the community a “serious threat to the health care needs of people in the region.” Loveless says they’ve been meeting with the investor group behind the second hospital and hope to come to a reasonable conclusion.
“We think that we’ve made some strides recently,” he says. “We’re hopeful that that is the case.” The plans at Good Samaritan call for more private patient rooms, new operating rooms and enhanced cardiology services.
Thanks to Rob Osman, KHAS, Hastings
