Journey of Change

Hunt Regional Healthcare was unveiled Thursday (September 25) as the new operating name for the Hunt Memorial Hospital District (HMHD), which also announced new names for its two hospitals and a new flagship affiliation with the Baylor Health Care System.

“These changes recognize that we offer a more extensive array of services, more technological advances and a greater range of expertise to our expanding service area than ever before,” said Ron Wensel, HMHD board chairman, in making the announcement.

“Baylor has been the most recognized name in North Texas healthcare for more than a century,” Wensel said, “and we are excited to be forging a relationship with that exemplary healthcare organization.”

The affiliation with Baylor Health Care System will become effective Jan. 1, 2009.

Joel Allison, president and CEO of Baylor Health Care System, said, “Hunt Regional Healthcare and Baylor share compatible missions and values around integrity, servanthood, quality, innovation and stewardship. We look forward to collaborating with these two hospitals to deliver quality patient care.

“This agreement formalizes years of informal cooperation and mutual support,” Allison added.

With Hunt Regional Healthcare becoming the new public operating name on Oct. 1, the organization’s legislated name of “Hunt Memorial Hospital District” will be reserved to identify the board of directors and for other statutory purposes.

Hunt Regional Medical Center at Greenville is the new name for the former Presbyterian Hospital of Greenville, while Presbyterian Hospital of Commerce is renamed Hunt Regional Community Hospital at Commerce. Among other entities that will bear new names are:

• Hunt Regional Medical Plaza at Quinlan, formerly Presbyterian Medical Plaza;
• Hunt Regional Home Care, formerly Citizens Home Health;
• Hunt Regional Emergency Services, formerly Hunt County Emergency Medical Services, and
• Hunt Regional Minor Care Clinic that will soon open in south Greenville.

“ Our Board of Directors and administration have recognized for some time that we have been evolving into a regional healthcare organization,” said Richard Carter, CEO of Hunt Regional Healthcare. “We needed a name that better reflects the scope of our programs and our expanding service area.”

“Our care has never been limited to residents of Hunt County, and our patient base has been expanding over the years,” Carter said. “We want everyone to know they are welcome here and we are able and willing to serve their health care needs.”

The HMHD board’s decision to move in a new direction has been under study for several months and coincides with a major reorganization within Texas Health Resources, the parent organization for Presbyterian Healthcare System.

Hunt Memorial Hospital District has been affiliated with Presbyterian Healthcare System since 1993.

“We believe that the timing for us to move in this new direction couldn’t be better,” Wensel said, “and we look forward to a long and mutually-beneficial relationship with Baylor Health Care System.”

Hunt Regional Medical Center at Greenville, a 201-bed acute care hospital, recently opened its new $25-million West Wing that features The Lou and Jack Finney Cancer Center and a new 16-bed intensive care unit.

Hunt Regional Community Hospital at Commerce, a 24-bed critical access facility, offers a full range of in-patient services and hosts the Heritage Program for Senior Adults, an out-patient mental health treatment program.

In 2007, the two hospitals admitted nearly 10,000 patients, treated more than 42,000 emergencies, provided more than 38,000 individual outpatient treatments, performed more than 3,200 surgeries and delivered more than 1,200 babies.

With a staff of more than 800 employees, Hunt Regional Healthcare is one of the largest employers in the Northeast Texas area. The active medical staff includes more than 90 physicians, 85 percent of whom are board certified.

In recent years Hunt Regional Medical Center has assumed the role of a teaching hospital with the introduction in 2004 of a growing podiatry residency program.

“ Our employees, medical staff and leadership embrace the opportunity to work alongside one of the premier healthcare provider organizations in the nation,” Carter said. “Baylor has a long history of medical care and services to the citizens of North Texas. The people of Hunt County will benefit from the affiliation of these two organizations.”

FAQs

1) Why are we no longer going to be affiliated with the Presbyterian Healthcare System?

Texas Health Resources is going through a re-branding of its organization to align all of their existing brands – Presbyterian, Harris Methodist and Arlington Memorial – under the common banner of “Texas Health.” We have had a long and beneficial relationship with Presbyterian, but we felt it was prudent to examine all of our options in light of their reorganization. We made the choice to go in a different direction. This is an amicable parting. As we were exploring our options, the opportunity arose for an affiliation with Baylor Health Care System. Our discussions with Baylor were very positive, and we feel that this new affiliation is the best option for Hunt Memorial Hospital District.

2) Why is the name changing?

Obviously, the fact that our affiliation with Presbyterian is ending requires that our hospitals must have a new name. Our Board has recognized for quite some time that we are evolving into a comprehensive, regional healthcare organization, thus the name Hunt Regional Healthcare was selected as the umbrella name for our re-branding of the organization. Our hospitals and other services have been re-branded under the “Hunt Regional” banner as well. Our statutory name, “Hunt Memorial Hospital District,” continues as the identifying name for our Board and for legal and financial applications.

3) What does an affiliation with Baylor mean?

Our agreement with Baylor is structured very much like our affiliation with Presbyterian. We anticipate that the value of the benefits we receive through bulk purchasing, managed care contracts, and employee health insurance discounts will exceed the benefits we have enjoyed during our affiliation with Presbyterian. Additionally, we are aligning ourselves with an organization whose name is generally regarded as the most recognizable among healthcare systems in North Texas.

4) When will the name change and new affiliation become effective?

The name change to Hunt Regional Healthcare is effective October 1, 2008, and the marketing rollout will begin immediately. However, we recognize that it will take 90-180 days or more to make a complete transition. Our affiliation with Baylor Health Care System will be effective January 1, 2009.

5) Will the administration and elected board remain the same?

Yes. We will continue to be governed by a 9-member elected Board of Directors, two representatives from each of the four precincts of Hunt County with one member elected at-large. The new affiliation will not result in any changes to our administration.

6) Who decided what the new name will be and how did they make that decision?

Board Chairman Ron Wensel appointed a committee that he chaired for the purpose of considering and recommending a new public operating name for our organization and new names for our hospitals and other operating units. The committee was composed of members of the Board of Directors, administration, staff, and medical staff. A Dallas-based marketing firm advised the committee throughout the process. The new names that the Board will be asked to approve on Thursday night were unanimously recommended by the committee.

7) What does the logo mean?

Our new logo continues the tradition of the tree as a symbol of life, strength, stability (roots) and antiquity. The letter “H” formed by the branch angle of the tree on the left represents the “H” in Hunt and Healthcare. The typographic elements are cast in a sans serif typeface called Optima which is considered legible, friendly, and forward looking. Because this typeface makes an optimistic statement about the future, it is the typeface that was chosen for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.