Spotlight on Fayette, Lamar & Marion: Health Care

Northwest Regional Health

Northwest Regional Health in Winfield is a 49-bed rural acute care hospital and serves more than 1,000 inpatients and 40,000 outpatients annually. It has about 235 employees, is owned and operated by the Healthcare Authority of Winfield and is affiliated with St. Vincent’s/Ascension and UAB.

In June 2023, the hospital opened its new $4 million Emergency Department, with 10 beds, 9,500 square feet, spacious trauma bays, all private exam rooms, negative pressure exam room, separate negative pressure waiting room, as well as a decontamination area.

The hospital also opened a four-bed Intensive Care Unit with negative pressure rooms in 2020. Other capital improvements include new 3D mammography and nuclear medicine camera, as well as facility renovations and enhancements. The hospital has added new providers in family medicine, sleep medicine, ophthalmology and oncology.

Hospital services include inpatient services, swing bed services, emergency care, surgery services, imaging, lab, rehab, senior care, wound care, inpatient dialysis, a wellness center and sleep lab along with primary care and specialty clinics.

North Mississippi Medical Center-Hamilton

North Mississippi Medical Center-Hamilton is the only hospital in Alabama to receive the coveted five-star rating from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. It is a 49-bed acute care, not-for-profit hospital affiliated with North Mississippi Health Services in Tupelo, Mississippi.

North Mississippi Medical Center-Hamilton has more than 200 employees and includes a 79-bed nursing home, along with a wellness center in Hamilton that offers 24-hour access for members. Hamilton Primary Care Center offers care for adults and children.

In November 2023, Robin Mixon was appointed as hospital administrator.

The hospital offers 24-hour emergency care, surgery, inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation services, outpatient specialty clinics, lab services, respiratory therapy and cardiac rehabilitation. Radiology services include MRI, low-dose CT and 3D digital mammography.

In 2020, the hospital received the Quest Award for High-Value Healthcare from Premier Inc. for providing outstanding patient care.

Fayette Medical Center

Fayette Medical Center, serving the county and surrounding areas since 1958, has been part of the DCH Health System since 1984 and has 61 licensed beds along with 122 long-term care beds. DCH Health System also includes DCH Regional Medical Center in Tuscaloosa and Northport Medical Center.

The hospital offers a wide range of services, including an emergency department, full-service diagnostic imaging, ICU, swing bed rehabilitation, several inpatient and outpatient surgical services and advanced endoscopic procedures, eye surgery and orthopedic surgery, and a family medicine clinic.

For the fifth consecutive year, Fayette Medical Center has been recognized in America’s Best-In-State Hospitals list by Newsweek. FMC was ranked No. 2, just behind the University of Alabama at Birmingham. The hospital also received a patient satisfaction award.

“This is outstanding recognition of everything our staff works to accomplish as a team,” says Donald Jones, FMC administrator. “I am proud to work with some of the most dedicated caregivers I’ve ever known.”

The hospital also was honored on a national list for nurse communication and was one of five hospitals that made the list from Becker’s Hospital Review.

Always working to enhance patient care, FMC recently added 3D mammography and a 64-slice CT scanner.

The hospital’s long-term care facility continues to receive high marks for quality. It’s currently ranked as a five-star facility by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, and in the latest Alabama Medicaid Survey Report in 2023, the center ranked in the 96th percentile nationally for customer satisfaction.

This article appears in the February 2024 issue of Business Alabama.