Oklahoma briefs: Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Southwestern Medical Center in Lawton has been rated a five-star hospital for the treatment of stroke for the second year in a row, officials said.

The rating was conducted by HealthGrades, which does quality studies on health care nationwide.

The study, the largest of its kind, analyzed patient outcomes at virtually all of the nation's 5,000 hospitals over 2004, 2005 and 2006.

The study found Southwestern Medical Center is the best in the southern Oklahoma region for stroke services for 2008, the only five-star rated stroke program in southern Oklahoma in 2008, and ranked among the top five in Oklahoma for the treatment of stroke in 2008.

The 2008 Health Grades ratings for hospitals nationwide are available, free of charge, on the group's Web site, www.healthgrades.com. Southwestern Medical Center, a member of Capella Healthcare's family of hospitals, is a 199-bed hospital serving Comanche County and southwest Oklahoma.

Rural Enterprises of Oklahoma Inc. has opened its fifth office at Cameron University in Lawton.

Gilmer J. Capps, managing partner of Capps Angus Ranch, will lead the effort to provide economic development services to the southwestern part of the state. Previously, Capps served as director for Medical Imaging Inc. in Lawton.

REI services include business financing, homebuyer assistance programs, a women's business center and the Native American Business Enterprise Center. Other REI offices are in Durant, Alva, Oklahoma City and Tulsa.

For more information about the new office, located at 2800 W Gore Blvd., Suite 208A, call (580) 583-3725.

Coney Beach, a Tulsa-based gourmet hamburger and hot dog chain, will expand into Texas and New Mexico, parent company Beautiful Brands International announced Monday.

At least two restaurants will open in El Paso, Texas, and Las Cruces, N.M., by March 2009. Coney Beach is one of three concepts privately held by Beautiful Brands International, which also includes Camille's Sidewalk Cafe and Fresh Berry.

Dr. Donald B. Halverstadt, senior physician and former chief of the Donald B. Halverstadt, M.D., Center of Excellence in Pediatric Urology at the Children's Hospital of Oklahoma, has been named to the board of directors for Plano, Texas-based Legacy Hospital Partners Inc.

Legacy is a new hospital operating company, whose chief executive officer and chairman of the board both were executives with Triad Hospitals Inc.

Triad was sold last year to Franklin, Tenn.-based Community Health Systems Inc.

In a news release, Legacy Hospital Partners said it will own, operate and manage acute-care hospitals in small cities and select urban markets throughout the nation. It began operations Monday.

Halverstadt is also a former chairman of the University of Oklahoma Board of Regents and one of 10 governors of the University of Oklahoma Medical Center Hospital System of the Health Sciences Center.

From Staff Reports