Hospital Board Member Steps Down

MCCLINTON SERVES NEARLY 24 YEARS AS DIRECTOR ON PANEL

— David McClinton remembers standing in the middle of a field with Dr. Bill Martin “wondering if the hospital should spend the money to buy the 40 acres” that was for sale at the time.

Decades later, McClinton is sure the decision to buy that and another nearby tract land was the right one. Today, they form the campus of Washington Regional Medical Center and buildings east of the hospital housing Ozarks Orthopedic Clinic, Fayetteville Diagnostic Clinic and other medical facilities.

McClinton, 71, has had an up-close view of such changes in Fayetteville’s medical landscape for nearly 24 years as a member of the Washington Regional board of directors. In early December, he attended his final meeting.

He was the last of the three longest serving board members to retire from the board, but noted the 23-plus years was a long time to serve as a director. He retired after his term as chairman of the board expired.

He easily admits he will miss the board members he served with, the doctors and the hospital staff. He just as easily says he won’t miss dealing with federal regulations, such as those that will come with health care reform Congress is dealing with now.

Over the years, McClinton has observed as the nonprofit hospital’s facilities and medical capabilities have changed. Technology and drugs make patient care better today than two and a half decades ago.

“Doctors have so many more tools. The medicine for patients is so much better,” he noted.

“The government programs are so much worse,” he said, without hesitation. “All the Medicare rules seem to me to be picky, picky, picky.”

The rules cost the hospital a bundle of money but provide little benefit to patients, he added.

Another example of government intervention which he disdains is the privacy laws, known as HIPPA.

“Medicare and Medicaid (rules) are overly controlling, as the government tends to do, with little or no benefit to the patient,” he said.

Greg Lee, a Tyson Foods executive, replaced McClinton on the hospital board.

“I told him the quality of the board was raised a whole bunch” with the addition of Lee, McClinton said.

“I don’t like accolades,” he said.

But there are events of which he is most proud during his service.

“One of my best accomplishments was to get Bill Bradley to run the hospital,” he said, referring to Washington Regional’s top administrator. Bradley was at a competing hospital but impressed McClinton when the two served on a finance committees of their church, University Baptist Church. “I felt really good leaving the hospital with him running it.”

Bradley said McClinton was diligent in his service to the hospital and expects, even in his retirement, he will continue to support the hospital.

“David was always there,” Bradley said. “He led by example and had a strong commitment to the hospital. That speaks volumes about him.”

A boyhood friend and later former business partner, Boyce Davis of Lincoln, recalled first meeting McClinton when the two were in third grade together at Jefferson Elementary School.

“He’s a good guy,” Davis said. “He does what he says he will.”

“He’s as a chip off the old block,” Davis said, referring to McClinton’s father, the late Clark McClinton.

McClinton joined the board of governors, as it was called then, in 1986 when the hospital was under the control of Washington County and located at the intersection of College Avenue and North Street.

“As a county hospital, we couldn’t joint venture with a for-profit organization like the rehabilitation hospital or the one-day surgery center,” he recalled. He was on the board when ownership was transferred to a corporation that provides local ownership of a not-for-profit hospital.

“Everyone understood that medicine was changing and we needed to change, too,” he said.

His second favorite milestone was seeing the hospital moved from College Avenue and North Street to its current location off Appleby Road and North Hills Boulevard.

The hospital has grown exponentially during McClinton’s tenure, although he is quick to note, “not because of me.”

“It’s always been known as a great specialist’s hospital. We were the first to have a hospitalist on staff,” he said. “What hospitals need to keep going are patients, and doctors who want to admit patients there.”

A hospitalist is a hospital-based general physician to care for hospitalized patients in the place of patients' primary care physicians.

Today, the hospital operates clinics in Bella Vista, Bentonville and Springdale that provide residents across Northwest Arkansas access to Washington Regional.

“We are the only one to keep profits here for the benefit of the community,” McClinton said.

He is thankful to have served with the board members he worked with over the years.

“We were always cohesive,” he said.

In the sunroom of his Mount Sequoyah home with Charlie, a miniature schnauzer, in his lap and a German shepherd mix named Max asleep on the couch next to his chair, McClinton looked out over downtown Fayetteville and the University of Arkansas.

“I’ve got no clue where we’re headed. Change is needed, but I’m concerned about more government intervention,” he said. “Costs may be better but wait times will increase and patient care won’t be better.”

“I feel a sense of loss because I’m not a part of the solutions but I’m relieved I don’t have to deal with government intervention.”

PROFILE

David McClinton

Age: 71

Education: Attended Jefferson and Washington elementary schools and graduated from Fayetteville High School. He attended the University of Arkansas.

Business: Associated with McClinton-Anchor Co., a company founded by his father and uncle in 1947.

Family: Married to Imelda for 37 years. Four grown children, five grandsons, one granddaughter.

Hobbies: reading, model railroading, photography, taking off in his recreational vehicle with or without a destination.

Source: Staff Report

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