Methodist Healthcare officials say the hospital is leasing a 2,000-square-foot space in a medical office building on the grounds of Connally Memorial Medical Center in Atascosa County. The hospital plans to open a new health clinic in that space, called the Metropolitan Methodist Hospital Family Health Center — the fifth such center under the Methodist Healthcare umbrella.

The Connally campus is located in Floresville, Texas. And Methodist Healthcare officials say this is the furthest south of San Antonio that the hospital system has ventured to date.

That new Family Health Center will provide patients in Atascosa County with free physician referrals, CHIP and Medicaid assistance, free pregnancy testing and periodic health screenings and educational seminars. The Metropolitan Methodist Hospital Family Health Center is expected to open around late August.

Methodist Healthcare officials say Metropolitan Methodist also plans to lease an additional 2,000 square feet of space in Floresville where it will house a specialty time share.

That facility will provide patients in the area access to specialists who presently are not available in Floresville. And it is expected to open later in the year.

Boone says this is just part of the big-picture plans for a hospital campus he says has tremendous growth potential.

“There is a shared vision that we should work together, medical staff, hospital system leadership, to determine what is the direction for this facility,” Boone says. “And we have the strong foundation upon which to build at this hospital.”
Momentum building

Geoff Crabtree is senior vice president for Methodist Healthcare. He has been instrumental in the growth of the hospital system and its expanding footprint.

Crabtree says Metropolitan Methodist Hospital is a key campus.

“It is very important for us and for those growing areas outside of San Antonio,” he explains. “It has become a regional hospital.”

In fact, Crabtree says Metropolitan Methodist has grown its in-patient volumes by 15 percent over the last four years.

“We have some momentum building at that hospital,” Crabtree adds. “Bernie is the right guy at the right time.”

In 2004, Methodist Healthcare announced plans to invest some $50 million to expand and renovate Metropolitan Methodist Hospital. That expansion included the construction of a roughly 80,000-square-foot women’s pavilion.

At the time, one Methodist Healthcare official noted that the expansion represented a huge commitment for an inner city hospital, but stressed that it also was a move that would significantly enhance the delivery of health care in the downtown area.

Now, Crabtree says the hospital is attracting patients from a number of counties outside of Bexar.

Boone is new to San Antonio. He comes to the Alamo City from the John Randolph Medical Center in Hopewell, Va. But he already understands that this is a growing region that will require increased access to care.

“If we have that inherent efficiency, it will create greater capacity to serve the growth in these populations,” Boone contends. “But that growth will also challenge us to look at the facility from a bricks and mortar standpoint so that we add physical capacity at the same time.”

Crabtree says Metropolitan Methodist is already attracting patients from Atascosa, Guadalupe and Wilson counties. He expects that volume to grow as those populations increase.