MPACT Memphis and Memphis Urban League Young Professionals will host Thursday a “YP MeetUP” with Dr. Reginald Coopwood, president and chief executive officer of The Regional Medical Center at Memphis.

2. Gov. Contender McWherter Tours MED - Monday, August 30, 2010

For candidates running for Tennessee governor, their frequent trips to Memphis this summer have resembled pilgrimages at times.

No one has made the most obvious Memphis pilgrimage stop yet – Graceland – but two other points in the city have been popular.

3. Conversion to Private Rooms Helps MED Meet Demand - Thursday, August 12, 2010

Moving in stealth-like fashion, the new leadership at The MED has begun upgrading hospital rooms to single-bed, private lodging with new flat-screen televisions.

The conversion of the semi-private rooms at The Regional Medical Center at Memphis is occurring unit by unit at three-week intervals. The MED is investing about $160,000 in the endeavor to make it more competitive until it can replace its sprawling and outdated facility.

4. Downtown's Hospital - Wednesday, August 04, 2010

Patients in a hospital bed could always use one more supportive visit, gentle touch or encouraging word.

Sometimes, that’s also the case for the hospitals themselves.

The Regional Medical Center at Memphis, which has been buffeted in recent years by financial challenges, is one example. The safety-net hospital has a new CEO, is executing on a turnaround plan and is making strides to improve features of the hospital both large and small.

5. Parker Joins Management of Semmes-Murphey - Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Dr. Autry Parker has joined the pain management team at Semmes-Murphey Neurologic & Spine Institute. Parker is a board certified, fellowship trained anesthesiologist, specializing in the treatment of severe and chronic pain.

6. Towns’ MED Job Proves You Can Go Home Again - Wednesday, July 07, 2010

Tish Towns has just finished her first year at one of the most challenging jobs in the city – spearheading the effort to secure funding for The Regional Medical Center at Memphis.

It is a mission that brought her back home after 28 years.

7. MED Board Approves 2011 Hospital Budget - Tuesday, June 22, 2010

The board of trustees for The MED approved a budget Monday with a more promising financial picture for the publicly owned hospital that only a year ago faced the prospect of closing.

The budget anticipates that The Regional Medical Center at Memphis will end its 2011 fiscal year $8.8 million in the black. The hospital is currently on track to close out its current year $7.03 million ahead, compared to a loss of $20.2 million for 2009.

8. MED Leadership Begins Competitive Strategy - Monday, June 21, 2010

A few hours after Dr. Reginald Coopwood, the new chief executive officer of The MED, proclaimed that it “is going to lead in this health care community,” he unveiled the first actions toward making the publicly owned hospital more competitive.

9. MED Leadership Team Takes Shape - Monday, June 14, 2010

Dr. Reginald Coopwood is close to having his top leadership team in place three months after taking the helm at The Regional Medical Center at Memphis as chief executive officer.

10. Med Loses Wing Stake, Gains Write-Off - Thursday, May 27, 2010

The Regional Medical Center at Memphis will write off about $4.4 million in assets because it no longer has an ownership stake in the Hospital Wing.

Hospital officials did not know until recently that the charter for the air ambulance service had been modified to change it to a nonmember organization. The original owners of the service were The MED, Baptist Memorial Health Care Corp. and Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare.

11. Commissioners to Vote on Health Loop Clinic Funding - Monday, May 24, 2010

When The Regional Medical Center at Memphis decided late last year to spin off five of its outpatient care clinics, administrators of the hospital said the decision would give the institution financial breathing room. It would save the county $3.8 million annually.

12. Mississippi Approves MED Payments - Thursday, May 13, 2010

Mississippi officials have given final approval of a plan to allow The Regional Medical Center at Memphis to participate in that state’s Medicaid program, according a press release issued by The MED.

13. Hospitals Recognized for Quality Measures - Friday, April 30, 2010

The Memphis Business Group on Health Wednesday recognized area hospitals that have achieved “best odds of survival” for high-risk surgical procedures as measured by the 2009 Leapfrog Hospital Survey.

14. MED Halts Spin-Off of Loop Clinics - Friday, April 23, 2010

The board for The Regional Medical Center at Memphis decided Thursday to rescind the decision to spin off its Health Loop clinics to the Memphis Health Center.

The spin-off, which was recommended by FTI Cambio as a cost-cutting move, was originally proposed for completion months ago.

Dr. Reginald Coopwood, who became chief executive officer of The MED on March 1 when FTI Cambio’s management contract expired, had reservations about the hospital being without a primary care network.

At his job interview last November, he questioned whether the Memphis Health Center would continue referring patients to The MED.

Last month, he told Shelby County commissioners the hospital was reconsidering the decision to spin off the clinic.

It has yet to be determined, however, whether the hospital will keep the clinics for the long-term or strike a partnership with another health care entity.

“What our team will be doing is looking at whether the Loop Clinics are a good deal for The MED, or do we need to consider other options for Loop Clinics outside of The MED,” Coopwood said.

The clinics had an $8 million operating loss for the hospital during its 2009 fiscal year, an estimated $4.4 million loss for this year, a $2.6 million projected loss for 2011 and a $1.5 million projected loss for 2012.

A projection sheet the board considered Thursday would have the clinics operating in the black if Shelby County provides $2 million in subsidies this year and next year, which would be lowered to $1.5 million in 2012.

In the past, the county has subsidized the operation of the clinics with $3.8 million a year.

The MED early last year approached Christ Community Health Services and Memphis Health Center, which are federally qualified health clinics, about taking over their operations.

FTI Cambio had hoped to spin off the clinics by year’s end.

Only the Memphis Health Center agreed to consider the proposal.

On Dec. 17, The MED board passed a resolution approving the proposal to spin off five outpatient care clinics. The locations are the Hollywood, Bisson, Frayser, Third Street and Gurthrie clinics.

The decision Thursday to rescind that resolution was announced after an hourlong closed- door session, but the action will not become official until a follow-up vote occurs. That vote will be scheduled after seven days have passed, in accordance with state law.

Delays with the proposed spin-off were also a factor in the board’s decision.

“This was supposed to have happened in December,” Coopwood said. “We’re into late April going into May. In order for us to make the right decision, give the board good information, this is the first step that we had to do, is rescind that decision.”

15. Coopwood: MED Must Get Competitive - Friday, March 12, 2010

A few weeks into his new job as chief executive officer of The Regional Medical Center at Memphis, Dr. Reginald Coopwood has identified an important priority – getting The MED past its culture of constant crisis.

16. Task Force Seeks Community Support for MED - Thursday, March 11, 2010

Shelby County Mayor Joe Ford has asked executives with some of the city’s biggest corporations to donate to The MED Foundation through direct gifts and employee payroll deductions.

17. Life or Death for The MED - Monday, March 01, 2010

A hand as tiny as a budding leaf punched at the air inside a baby incubator.

Kelley Smith, the head nurse of the neonatal intensive care unit at The Regional Medical Center at Memphis, checked on the little fighter.

18. MED Leadership Change Almost There - Friday, February 26, 2010

The leadership transition between a temporary contract management company and a permanent chief executive officer at the Regional Medical Center at Memphis is nearing completion.

Dr. Reginald Coopwood attended his first hospital board meeting Thursday morning since becoming CEO of the Regional Medical Center at Memphis.

19. New MED CEO Signs Contract - Thursday, January 21, 2010

Dr. Reginald Coopwood takes over the helm of The Regional Medical Center at Memphis March 1. The MED this week announced a three-year contract has been finalized.

20. 2010 - Monday, January 04, 2010

Is it over yet? That may be the most frequently asked question in the New Year. “It” is the worst national economic recession since the Great Depression.

Accurately reading the indicators will not be easy. Some will predict the recession is about to end, just as new indicators point to continuing economic agony for thousands of Memphians.

21. MED Committee Picks Coopwood for CEO - Friday, December 18, 2009

The executive search committee for the Regional Medical Center at Memphis unanimously voted Thursday to recommend Dr. Reginald Coopwood to be the chief executive officer for the financially struggling public hospital.

22. MED May Offer CEO Job To Coopwood - Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Dr. Reginald Coopwood, who leads a publicly owned hospital system in Nashville, has emerged as the leading candidate to be the new chief executive officer at The Regional Medical Center at Memphis.

23. County OKs Spinoff Of MED Clinics - Wednesday, December 09, 2009

The Regional Medical Center at Memphis has the blessing of the Shelby County Commission to spin off its Health Loop clinics as part of a cost-cutting plan for the financially struggling hospital.
The move was approved by the commission on Monday. The spinoff is one several actions recommended by FTI Cambio, the consulting firm providing interim
management of the MED and devising strategies to cut costs.
The firm has lived up to its contract in the eyes of the finance committee for the county-owned hospital. The committee recommended in another meeting Monday that the hospital pay FTI Cambio its full $10.4 million fee. A portion of that amount, $3.2 million, was tied to specified performance standards.

24. First MED Task Force Meeting Focuses On State Funding - Thursday, December 03, 2009

Shelby County Commissioner Mike Ritz identified Tennessee as the primary deadbeat for failing to pay its share to The Regional Medical Center at Memphis during the first meeting today of a special task force looking for ways to help the financially struggling hospital.

25. MED CEO Finalists Question Hospital’s Board - Friday, November 20, 2009

Comments about “getting rid of the board over at The MED” made by Shelby County Mayor-elect Joe Ford shortly after being chosen for the post Tuesday caused some awkward moments the next day when hospital members interviewed candidates to lead the Regional Medical Center at Memphis.

26. CEO search at MED down to two - Thursday, November 19, 2009

The search for a new chief executive officer to lead The Regional Medical Center at Memphis has been narrowed to two candidates.

The MED’s executive search committee on Wednesday evening interviewed Dr. Reginald Coopwood, the chief executive officer of the Metropolitan Nashville Hospital Authority, and George N. Miller Jr., who has served at the helm of hospitals in Texas and Ohio.