In April 2000, the University of Mississippi Medical Center began operating the hospital in Lexington, Miss., after Methodist Healthcare signed an agreement with UMC to transfer ownership of its hospital in Lexington--Methodist Healthcare-Middle Mississippi Hospital--to UMC.

The Lexington Hospital, owned by Methodist since 1983, has 84 licensed beds and 160 employees.

The contract represents the transfer of $4,825,000 in assets and property to the Medical Center.

UMC also operated the hospital in Durant, Miss., prior to taking ownership of the Lexington Hospital. That 29-bed hospital is currently being converted to a long-term care facility. The institution has leased and operated the 60-bed University Hospital-Nursing Home in Durant since 1994.

" We are grateful to Methodist Healthcare, " said Ted Woodrell, director of University Hospitals and Clinics. "This acquisition greatly enhances our teaching and research mission by giving us another site to provide health care in a rural community."

" We are extremely pleased to have reached an agreement to ensure uninterrupted care to the residents of Lexington and Holmes County," said Maurice W. Elliott, chief executive officer of Methodist Healthcare. "It was important to us that the hospital continue to operate to benefit this community. We worked diligently to find just the right fit and found that UMC's philosophy meshed with ours in our commitment to provide health care to Holmes County."

UMC Vice Chancellor Dr. Wallace Conerly said, "This gift came at an opportune moment in our history. More than ever, our students need exposure to all kinds of medical practice to prepare them for inevitable changes in health care."

"I am confident that the health care of the citizens of Holmes County will be in good hands with the university," said Bishop Marshall L. Meadors of the Mississippi Conference of the United Methodist Church. Methodist Healthcare is affiliated with the Memphis, Mississippi and North Arkansas conferences of the denomination.

Both Methodist and UMC officials commended work of state lawmakers Mary Ann Stevens and Robert Clark who helped facilitate the transfer of ownership.

The Lexington hospital was merged with the hospital and nursing home in Durant to form a countywide system, which will be the University Hospitals and Clinics--Holmes County. The system is managed as one unit.

This is not the first time UMC has played a major health care role in Holmes County. In 1969, the Medical Center began a joint project with the Mississippi Department of Health, the Mississippi State Medical Association, and the Mississippi Medical and Surgical Association. In three years, the County Health Improvement Project (CHIP) had reduced the infant mortality rate in Holmes County from double the national average to below the national average.

---

	Web site content is Copyright 2004 by The University of Mississippi Medical Center, 2500 North State Street, Jackson, Mississippi 39216. The University of Mississippi Medical Center offers equal opportunity in employment, education and all programs and services, M/F/D/V.