Arkansas Heart Hospital, a system with more than two dozen medical facilities in the state, plans to open its first out-of-state clinic next month in Texarkana, Texas, reports the Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette.
The expansion brings fresh challenges. The physicians will have to be licensed in Texas, and its cardiac care center will have to comply with a different set of regulations.
“Complying with Arkansas regulations has been pretty easy,” said Bruce Murphy, Arkansas Heart Hospital’s chief executive officer. “It is different to go do it in Texas, and we are in the process of doing so.”
But Murphy said the challenges make the effort more rewarding.
“There’s such a vacuum there for cardiology services,” he said of a region that extends well beyond Texarkana proper and touches four states.
In addition to Texas and Arkansas, the region extends into Oklahoma and to Louisiana. Altogether, Murphy figures, there’s a population of nearly 500,000. Read more.
