APRIL 2014

Faulkner County in transitionHealtH care cHanges offer cHallenges

and opportunities for conway regional

dr. Bart throneberry, chairman of the Board of directors with Jim lambert, president & ceo

Faulkner County Business Journal To subscribe call (501) 329-2927 • Log Cabin Democrat2D — Sunday, April 13, 2014

Toad Suck Daze is May 2-4 in downtown Conway. In addition to its long-standing attractions and events — such as the Mardi Daze Parade; Toad Suck Daze 10K/5K Run; Tour de Toad; Kids Crawl, Drag & Squirt; Toadal Kids Zone; and others — the festival has added new events to ap-peal to festivalgoers of all ages.

Toad Suck ChallengeArvest Bank and

Crain Automotive Team have collaborated to bring a new athletic com-petition to Toad Suck Daze. During the Arvest-Crain Toad Suck Chal-lenge, individuals and teams compete for prizes and trophies on an inflat-able, military-style ob-stacle course. The course will be located on Oak Street between Chest-nut and Court Streets in downtown Conway. Com-petitions will take place throughout the weekend.

The event will be a timed speed competition with multiple categories and divisions. In each competition, the individ-ual or team with the fast-est time wins.

• Daze Dash: In this competition, indi-vidual contestants com-pete for $5,000. To par-ticipate, register at any Arvest Bank or Crain lo-cation in central Arkan-sas from April 21 to May 1 or enter at ToadSuck-Challenge.com. Prelimi-

nary races will take place throughout the weekend with finals on Sunday af-ternoon.

• Individual Non-profit: Nonprofit agen-cies in central Arkansas can designate an indi-vidual to run the course on the organization’s be-half. The winning agen-cy receives a $1,000 cash prize.

• Individual Political: State and local political candidates can compete for a trophy or desig-nate someone to run the course on their behalf.

• Individual Media: State and local media personalities can com-pete for a trophy.

• Team Corporate: Teams of four people rep-resenting a central Ar-kansas business can compete for a trophy.

An individual compe-tition divided by gender and age is also available: senior (50 and older), adult (20-49) and teen (13-19).

For more information, including official contest rules and a schedule, vis-

it ToadSuckChallenge.com.

Ride and DriveCrain Buick GMC,

Crain Kia, Caldwell Toy-ota and Smith Ford will participate in a Ride and Drive event on Saturday and Sunday. As sponsors of Toad Suck Daze, the dealerships have the op-portunity to feature sev-eral new vehicles on-site at the Conway Area Chamber of Commerce.

“The Ride and Drive gives prospective car buyers a chance to com-pare different makes and models on the same day at one location,” said Mary Margaret Satter-field, director of Toad Suck Daze and events at the Chamber. “Custom-ers will be able to look at and test-drive cars in a relaxed, pressure-free setting.”

Toad RoundupEach year on the

Tuesday night before Toad Suck Daze, festival organizers, schoolchil-dren and their families,

and those in search of a fun time make their way to Tucker Creek to gath-er toads to compete in the World Championship Toad Races. The toads are returned to Tucker Creek after the festival.

This year’s “Toad Roundup” will take place Tuesday, April 29, begin-ning at 6:30 p.m. New this year is the oppor-tunity to catch a special “pre-marked” toad and win a grand prize pack-age worth $500. The Toad Roundup is sponsored by the Log Cabin Democrat.

The Toad Roundup is open to all ages. Chil-dren receive one Toad Buck, the official curren-cy of the festival, for each toad they find.

Toad Suck After HoursDowntown restau-

rants and entertain-ment venues with late hours and live music have the opportunity to promote their special events on the Toad Suck Daze schedule. “This is

DAZE < 3D

New events, festival favorites coming to Toad Suck Daze

The 2014 Toad Suck Daze, presented by Crain Buick GMC, will take place May 2-4 in down-town Conway.

All entertainment will take place on the Mc-Donald’s/Crain Kia Main Stage in Simon Park and is presented by Acx-

iom Corporation, Conway Convention & Visitors Bureau, Crafton Tull, and Southwestern Energy.

Friday, May 2Sawyer Brown with special guest Mac Powell

Saturday, May 3MC Hammer

Toad Suck Daze is a free-admission festival. There is no fee for enter-tainment.

For a complete sched-ule of events, visit Toad-Suck.org or download the official Toad Suck Daze app for iPhone and An-droid.

Toad Suck Daze entertainment lineup

Faulkner County Business Journal Sunday, April 13, 2014 — 3D Log Cabin Democrat • Find our online edition at www.thecabin.net

a great way for restau-rants to take advantage of the heavy foot traffic Toad Suck Daze brings to downtown Conway,” Mary Margaret Satter-field said.

Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre

On Friday and Sat-urday, Arkansas Shake-speare Theatre will pres-ent a variety of scenes from some of Shake-speare’s most well-known plays. The performanc-es will take place on the Preston Palmer Studios Stage in the Smith Ford Toadal Kids Zone. Chil-dren will have the oppor-

tunity to try on Shake-spearean costumes in the dress-up center.

For More InformationFor a complete sched-

ule of events during Toad Suck Daze, visit Toad-Suck.org or download the official festival app avail-able on iPhone and An-droid.

DAZE from 2D

When MC Hammer comes to Toad Suck Daze on May 3rd he’ll do more than just entertain fes-tival goers. He’ll help choose one promising en-trepreneur to take home $15,000. Hammer is one of three tech-savvy judg-es at “LaunchPad”, a start-up competition among ten Arkansas en-trepreneurs.

“When we chose Ham-mer to perform at Toad Suck Daze, we had this event in mind,” said Brad Lacy President & CEO of the Conway Area Cham-ber of Commerce. “Most people know his mu-sic, but they don’t know that he is a major player in Silicon Valley.” Ham-mer (Stanley Burrell) has lectured about busi-

ness and social media at Stanford and Harvard. He has been a found-er and early investor in a number of successful tech ventures.

Joining Hammer on the panel will be Nada Stirrat, Chief Reve-nue Officer for Acxiom and Jonathan Sasse, a consultant who helped launch Slacker Radio

and was President/CEO of iRiver America.

The ten participants will be composed of: six “invitational” partici-pants from the Arkan-sas start-up community, a team from the Arkan-sas High School Start-Up Weekend and three “play-in” spots to be se-lected from video sub-missions. “We’re espe-cially excited about the “play-in” spots,” said

Lacy. “We’re encouraging any budding Arkansas entrepreneurs to sub-mit a two-minute pitch video and a local panel will pick the three most promising.”

The LaunchPad com-petition has been or-ganized by the Start-Up Conway Steering Team chaired by Jeff Standridge. “Toad Suck Daze is a festival found-ed on fun but grounded

in education. LaunchPad will be an exciting way to celebrate new ideas and reward entrepreneurs,” said Standridge. “Our panel of judges has the reputation and credibili-ty to help these start-ups in a number of ways.”

LaunchPad is present-ed by Pleth and .BUZZ. For more information about pitch submissions and competition details visit Startup.buzz.

MC Hammer to judge business start-up competition‘LaunchPad’ offers $15K Prize to winner

Crain Buick GMC and Southwestern Energy have again partnered to underwrite the official vehicle of the Conway Area Chamber of Commerce. The companies have upgraded the Chamber’s 2011 GMC Yukon to a 2014 model. Similar to the previous SUV, the new Yukon is a dual-fuel vehicle that runs on both com-pressed natural gas and gasoline. Crain Buick GMC has the equipment and staff training to retrofit conven-tional gasoline-powered vehicles for CNG.

Crain, SWn Upgrade Cng VehiCleBill Doshier is Presi-

dent of dotStrategy. dot-Strategy is a Conway based company, created for the purpose of operat-ing the new Internet top level domain .BUZZ. Bill gave us a preview of the .BUZZ launch.

What is dotBUZZ?dotBUZZ is the new

edgy, cool, hip, young-er cousin of dotCOM. Since the Internet was opened to commercial use 20 years ago, the do-main namespace has been generally limited to three top level domains: .com, .net and .org. Good, short, meaningful do-main names are no lon-ger available. Consumers and businesses need new options for domain names specific to their individu-al needs and online iden-tities.

Of all the name pos-sibilities, why BUZZ?

Create buzz and you have the ear of the world. The .BUZZ registry cre-ates a sustainable, valu-able name space for those wanting to show the world what’s happening right now. Our marketing focus is towards groups related to communications, pub-lic relations, event orga-

nizers, social networking, entertainment, start-ups, advertising, marketing and new product develop-ment

How does one regis-ter a quality .BUZZ do-main name?

It’s very important to engage immediately with a .BUZZ contracted regis-trar, open an account — and pursue the domain name desired. Through understanding and aware-ness of the .BUZZ launch process, the general public has a great opportunity to secure a choice .BUZZ do-main name early.

General availabili-ty for .BUZZ opens Tues-day, April 15, at 10:01 am. Both preregistration and general availability can be accomplished by using a national registrar such as GoDaddy (www.godad-dy.com), or a local reg-istrar such as PlethPlus (www.plethplus.com).

What is the poten-tial market for .BUZZ and how are you creat-ing your own buzz?

This is a leading edge opportunity with unlimit-ed potential.

Globally, there are over 250 million Internet do-mains registered. Internet

usage is expected to dou-ble worldwide over the next three years. .BUZZ domains will help accom-modate this growth. We continually look for inno-vative ways to create our own ‘buzz’ to a variety of audience.

You’ve partnered with UCA to launch .BUZZ to the world this Tuesday. What’s up with that?

We’re spreading the word about .BUZZ with the University of Central Arkansas. In leading a class on Internet start-ups — whether it’s starting a business, building a blog, or developing an app — we’re educating Gen Z on the world of opportunities new TLDs, like .BUZZ of-fer.

We’re inviting the lo-cal community to join us for the First Annual Buzz Bash this Tuesday April 15, from noon to 2:30 p.m. on the front lawn of the UCA College of Business.

For more information regarding BUZZ BASH or for additional informa-tion on how best to secure your desired .BUZZ do-main name contact Bill Doshier at: bill@dotstrat-egy.buzz.

What’s all the .BUZZ about?

Faulkner County Business Journal To subscribe call (501) 329-2927 • Log Cabin Democrat4D — Sunday, April 13, 2014

Health care is in tran-sition in Faulkner County.

Conway Region-al Health System is ac-countable to the com-munity to provide high quality, compassionate health care services. The mission statement sets the expectations for ev-ery person who wears a Conway Regional badge.

This means the work lives of the Conway Re-gional staff should be dedicated to making deci-sions that will lead to the highest quality care for patients in Faulkner and surrounding counties. This level of accountabil-ity flows from the board of directors down to ev-eryone in the organiza-tion including both clini-cal and non-clinical staff.

The challenge of de-livering on these expec-tations is growing as we transition into a new era of accountability in providing health care. Health systems are en-couraged to provide more creative, smarter answers to delivering on those ex-pectations. The Conway Regional Board of Direc-tors and Executive Lead-ership Team are tasked with responding to these opportunities.

The way hospitals, physicians and other pro-viders are reimbursed is changing.

Health care reim-bursement is transition-ing from a fee for service system in which provid-ers (such as Medicare and Medicaid) pay based

on the number of servic-es or tests conducted, to a system where provid-ers are paid more for im-proving outcomes and driving value. Under the new system, provid-ers are being paid based on improved care expe-riences, improved health of populations and lower per capita costs.

The challenge current-ly is that most of the pay-ment is based on volume but as more and more of the payment moves to outcomes or improving overall health, providers will have to change their focus and processes to re-spond. The challenge is to know when to shift from the fee for service model to the value based model when they have conflict-ing incentives.

Growing government regulations and expec-tations have begun plac-

ing about 5 percent of hospitals’ federal reim-bursement at risk an-nually. Other payers are also moving more and more of their payment to a value based formula. “We have seen and will continue to see differ-ent models (such as bun-dled payments, primary care medical homes and others) as we search for the best way to drive im-proved outcomes and re-duced costs,” said Jim Lambert, Conway Re-gional Health System’s President and CEO.

The Affordable Care Act has resulted in sig-nificant changes in the country’s insurance structure to help many formerly uninsured or under insured people pay for health care. The cost of uncompensated care remains significant for the nation’s health care

facilities, including Con-way Regional.

In 2013 Conway Re-gional provided more than $10 million in un-compensated care. This means medical services for which no payment is received. Uncompensat-ed care includes charity care and bad debts.

It remains unclear how much relief the new insurance plans will pro-vide for hospitals, but Faulkner County’s unin-sured rate is projected to drop 12 percent by 2019.

Other significant challenges await:

• How does Conway Regional prepare to ful-fill its mission in a fu-ture world that requires increased integration of clinical services while still being rewarded based on high volumes of procedures?

• There is also the challenge of additional competition which is ex-pected to move from Lit-tle Rock into the Conway health care market.

“These are enormous opportunities for Con-way Regional to shine,” said Mr. Lambert. “We have always taken the approach that the best health care is always go-ing to be provided by people who have a vest-ed interest in the com-munity. People who are taking care of their fam-ily and neighbors are go-ing to be more committed to the health care they are providing. That be-

ing said, we knew it was just a matter of time un-til someone decided to come here. Our best re-sponse will center on the five strategic pillars that guide our decisions: quality, service, people, growth and finance.”

QualityThe health system

is going to build upon its accomplishments in the area of quality earn-ing a number of national and statewide awards for care and service:

• Number 1 in Arkan-sas for Major Cardiac Surgery (Healthgrades, 2012-2013)

• Top 10% in State in Patient Safety for Gener-al Surgery (CareChex)

• 2013 Recipient of the Arkansas Governor’s Quality Award, Achieve-ment Level

• Top 10 percent in the state for overall med-ical care, GI care, general surgery and pulmonary care, all in patient safety (CareChex.com)

• Top 100 in the na-tion for home health (HomeCare Elite)

• Top 100 in the na-tion in coronary bypass surgery (CareChex)

• 2013 Recipient of the state chapter of the American Diabetes As-sociation’s Cure Care Commitment Award, the ADA’s top award

Physicians and em-ployees are actively en-gaged in ongoing efforts to enhance the quality of care.

ServiceConway Regional’s

goal is to create a culture of service excellence that consistently exceeds ex-pectations. “We will mea-sure that by achieving the top 10 percentile na-tionally in patient care and maintaining our sta-tus of ‘most preferred provider’ in the commu-nity,” said Mr. Lambert.

PeopleConway Regional de-

pends on the physicians along with nurses, ther-apists, technicians and a host of other health care employees to provide the care that the com-munity is counting on. We want to be the best place to work for employ-ees and provide the envi-ronment for physicians to take care of their pa-tients. The satisfaction of employees and physi-cians is measured reg-ularly and plans are in place to maintain high levels of satisfaction and engagement.

FinancialFinancial goals are

tracked and set based on operating margin and other financial bench-marks to ensure the health system has the funds it needs. As a not-for-profit health system, Conway Regional in-vests income back into the equipment and facil-ities that are necessary to meet the community’s

HEALTH < 6D

COVER STORY

Faulkner County in transitionHealtH care cHanges offer cHallenges and opportunities for conway regional

Dr. Bart Throneberry, Chairman of the Board of Directors with Jim Lam-bert, President and CEO.

Faulkner County Business Journal To subscribe call (501) 329-2927 • Log Cabin Democrat6D — Sunday, April 13, 2014

Tupelo Bayou Site One Reservoir

Carter Lake

Laurel Park

Gatlin Park

CollegeHendrix

Central ArkansasUniversity Of

Baptist CollegeCentral

ClubValley GolfCentennial

Cadron Valley Country Club

ClubCountryConway

Oak Grove

Tyler

St

Oak St

Skyline D

S Sa

lem R

d

Caldwell St

S Harkrider St

Oak St

Dona

ghey

Ave

Dona

ghey

AveMeadowlake Rd

Highway 60 W

Salem

Rd

Harkrider St

Prince St

Dave Ward Dr

60

365

266

60

286

60

60

60

286

286

64 65

65

64

Gleason

Conway

200 Merlot Drive

1025 Applewood Dr.

925 Robynmar

1015 Burrow Avenue

2285 Ginger Kerry

Top 5 residential sales

Price Address Bed/Bath Subdivision SqFt P/SqFt Year

$370,000 1015 Burrow Ave. 3/2.5 The Village at Hendrix 2,230 $165.92 2013

$317,000 2285 Ginger Kerry Lane 4/3 Dogwood Estates 3,067 $110.53 2000

$290,000 1025 Applewood Drive 4/3 Applewood Cove 2,509 $115.98 2011

$250,000 925 Robynmar 4/3.5 Woodland Springs 3,328 $82.63 1993

$247,500 200 Merlot 4/2.5 Chapel Creek 2,110 $117.30 2011

needs instead of paying shareholders.

GrowthThe leadership of

Conway Regional is ded-icated to making the strategic decisions nec-essary to grow its ser-vices and facilities. To that end, a $32 million surgery and obstetrics addition is now part of the medical center to meet the needs of Con-way physicians and the growing numbers of families in and around Faulkner County. “We are also working with the community and our medical staff to deter-mine which services to expand or add based on

the needs of the commu-nity,” added Mr. Lam-bert. “While we continue to look for opportuni-ties to add services we know that we can’t, nor should, provide certain high level services such as transplants. It just wouldn’t be appropriate from a quality or cost perspective.”

Conway Regional leadership is also active-ly researching partner-ships and affiliations to complement the health care services current-ly offered in Faulkner County. “We are sim-ply reaching out to some like-minded health care providers to determine if a partnership or affil-iation would be benefi-cial to Conway Regional,

our employees and the community,” said Mr. Lambert. “Our health system board and lead-ership team are com-mitted to looking for business models that enhance health care ser-vices and position Con-way Regional to contin-ue our ability to meet the needs of the commu-nity now and into the future.”

It is too early to know the result of these ef-forts, but as Mr. Lambert has said, “Any affiliation would have to enhance the services that are al-ready being offered to our community. It would have to be compatible with our mission of pro-viding high quality, com-passionate care.”

HEALTH from 4D

Unemployment RateFebruary

Seasonally AdjustedUS ....................................................6.7%Arkansas........................................7.1%Not Seasonally AdjustedUS ....................................................7.0%Arkansas........................................7.5%Faulkner County ....................... 7.3%Conway .........................................7.2%

Sales Tax CollectionsConway*

January2014 ....................................$1,617,6542013 ....................................$1,745,284Percent Change -7.3%Annual2013 ................................. $23,235,8912012 ................................. $22,944,1632011 ................................. $22,366,464Percent Change 2013-2012 1.3%*Tax Rate 1.75%

Faulkner County*January2014 ....................................... $600,4652012 ....................................... $638,279Percent Change -5.9% Annual2013 ....................................$8,588,8352012 ....................................$8,465,6862011 ....................................$8,279,301 Percent Change 2013-2012 1.5%*Tax Rate 0.5%

Restaurant Sales*February2014 ................................. $13,202,1852013 ................................. $12,955,298Percent Change 1.9% Year to Date2014 ................................. $26,299,4372013 ................................. $25,484,037Percent Change 3.2% Annual Sales 2013 ...............................$165,124,8072012 ...............................$161,318,5632011 ...............................$147,820,786Percent Change 2013-2012 2.4%*Including mixed drink sales

Hotel SalesFebruary2014 ....................................$1,306,8522013 ....................................$1,195,171Percent Change 9.3%% Year to Date2014 ....................................$2,485,4402013 ....................................$2,227,644Percent Change 11.6% Annual Sales2013 ................................. $18,556,9112012 ................................. $18,683,676Percent Change 0.7%

Conway Building PermitsSingle Family Homes

Year to Date (March)2014 .....................................................232013 .....................................................36Percent Change -36.1%Annual2013 .................................. 147 Permits2012 .................................. 186 Permits 2011 .................................. 153 PermitsPercent Change 2013-2012 -21.0%

Average Construction Cost*Annual2013 ....................................... $228,2752012 ....................................... $207,5372011 ...................................... $204,387Percent Change 2013-2012 10.0%*Not including land or lot im-provements

Average Square Footage*Annual2013 ...............................................3,0022012 ...............................................2,9102011 ...............................................2,814Percent Change 2013-2012 3.2%

Average Construction Cost Per Square Foot*

Annual2013 ............................................ $76.042012 ............................................ $71.332011 ............................................ $72.64Percent Change 2013-2012 6.6%* Total under roof

Lottery SalesFaulkner County

Year to Date (March)2014 ....................................$4,010,1332013 ....................................$4,542,209Percent Change -11.7%Annual2013 ................................. $17,038,2772012 ................................. $16,943,9092011 ................................. $16,768,678Percent Change 2013-2012 .06%

Total StateYear to Date (March)2014 ...............................$111,429,8132013 ...............................$121,084,343Percent Change -8.0%Annual 2013 ...............................$432,932,7992012 ..............................$452,245,2152011 ...............................$474,879,701Percent Change 2013-2012 -4.3%

Natural GasSeverance Tax Distribution

ConwayAnnual2013 ....................................... $276,5232012 ....................................... $162,4572011 ....................................... $254,822Percent Change 2013-2012 70.2%

Faulkner CountyAnnual2013 ....................................... $224,4552012 ....................................... $131,4182011 ....................................... $204,052Percent Change 2013-2012 70.8%

Faulkner County Business Journal Sunday, April 13, 2014 — 7D Log Cabin Democrat • Find our online edition at www.thecabin.net

Information provided by pulseofconway.com

ConwayEconomy

By RogER LEwis

The prices for gro-ceries and gasoline have increased notice-ably in Conway in re-cent months. But how does Conway compare to other cities? And what about other categories such as housing, health, and utilities?

A Cost of Living In-dex is prepared quarter-ly by the Council of Com-munity and Economic Research. It establishes comparative living costs among 300 cities. The national average is ar-bitrarily set at 100 and Conway’s index is 90.1. The cost of living in Con-way, Arkansas is 10% be-low the U.S. national av-erage.

Data are collected for specific commodities in six categories: groceries, housing, utilities, trans-portation, health care and miscellaneous ex-penditures. The data are weighted — hous-ing is 27% and groceries is 13.6%. Miscellaneous gets the most weight,

32.2%. Miscellaneous consists of clothing, per-sonal care items, recre-ation, fast food (use res-taurants?), and sales tax (state and local). State income taxes and real estate taxes are not in-cluded in these calcula-tions. Comparing the tax burden of Arkansans to other states is a topic for a future article. These weights are the same as those the US Bureau of Labor Statistics uses to compute the consumer price index (CPI), which is somewhat different from the Cost of Living Index.

The table compares Conway to selected cit-ies in Arkansas and the U.S. nationally. Average rent is for a 2 bedroom, 1-1/2 bath 950 sq. ft. un-furnished apartment, re-cently constructed and excluding utilities except for water and sewer. Av-erage home is for a 2400 sq. ft. four-bedroom new home of good or very good construction.

Except for Little Rock–NLR (98.3), the

cost of living in the listed Arkansas cities are all about the same (range 87.7 to 92.5). There is no surprise that San Jose, in the heart of Cal-ifornia’s Silicon Valley, is very expensive. Data for Palo Alto California, the brains of Silicon Valley, are not available. Dallas and St. Louis are more expensive cities to live in than Conway but Fay-etteville and Hot Springs are less expensive. Mem-phis is the least expen-sive city on the list.

The Council of Com-munity and Economic Research conducts the quarterly survey for the American Chamber of Commerce Research As-sociation Cost of Liv-ing index publication. To gather data, the Council has participating organi-zations (usually Cham-bers of Commerce or local government agen-cies) follow strict guide-lines to collect data. The council lists 60 specific items and participants obtain prices from spec-ified vendor types. Ap-

proximately 300 cities across the nation partic-ipate. Cities that partic-ipate must be within a metropolitan statistical area or have a popula-tion greater than 35,000 in a county with more than 50,000 people.

Whereas the Cost of Living Index is designed to compare costs among urban areas, the US Bu-reau of Labor Statis-tics Consumer Price In-dex (CPI) measures the cost of living for the en-tire U.S. The Cost of Liv-ing Index is recognized by the US Census Bu-reau, US Bureau of La-bor Statistics, and The President’s Council of Economic Advisors. It is often referenced in their publications.

You can obtain com-parisons among cities by going to the Pulse of Conway website (www.pulseofconway.com). Se-lect cost of living under the Business Data tab.

I thank my friend Chris Spatz for editing and helping me with this article.

Cost of Living in Conway, Ark.