OSU Medicine to provide staff for McAlester Regional emergency department

Board-certified emergency medicine physicians from Oklahoma State University Medicine will now be working in the emergency department at McAlester Regional Health Center.

The staffing agreement between OSU Medicine and McAlester Regional Health Center went into effect March 14, so now OSU Medicine emergency medicine physicians will staff the emergency department during every shift, every day of the year.

“I am excited to begin a new partnership with OSU Medicine and their Department of Emergency Medicine. Their group of board-certified emergency physicians set the example in compassion, quality care and teamwork. I welcome that commitment to our community,” said MRHC President and CEO Shawn Howard.

Five years ago, the McAlester Regional Health Center expanded its emergency department from a 3,400 square feet facility serving about 27,000 emergency visits a year to a 20,000 square feet facility with the capacity to serve 60,000 visits a year.

MRHC serves not only patients in Pittsburg County, but also the surrounding seven counties — Atoka, Coal, Haskell, Hughes, Latimer, McIntosh and Pushmataha. In fact, the majority of patients served at MRHC live outside Pittsburg County.

OSU’s Department of Emergency Medicine includes 46 board-certified emergency physicians, three board-certified pediatric emergency physicians and a board-certified clinical pharmacist bringing high quality medical care to nine locations across Oklahoma.

“We are proud to partner with the McAlester Regional Health Center to provide those living in and around McAlester with compassionate, consistent care from our board-certified physicians who live and work in Oklahoma and care about the communities they serve,” said Dr. Dennis Blankenship, dean of the OSU College of Osteopathic Medicine and emergency medicine physician with OSU Medicine.

OSU-COM was founded more than 50 years ago with the mission to educate and train physicians to meet the health care needs of rural and underserved communities in Oklahoma.

OSU Medicine and its network of clinics and physicians are meeting that mission through virtual health care programs and staffing agreements like the one with McAlester Regional Health Center.