Lawrence Memorial Hospital leaders are discussing expansion.

Gene Meyer, president and chief executive of the nonprofit hospital, said LMH officials were looking at ways to expand the hospital’s services into new geographic areas and attract patients from outside Douglas County.

Meyer said the hospital was seriously contemplating opening a clinic in De Soto and looking at ways to attract more patients from Johnson County and Topeka.

“I think there’s a lot of potential for us in those markets,” Meyer said.

A new report by researchers at Kansas State University suggests the local economy has much to gain if the hospital is successful in its expansion efforts.

The report, “The Importance of the Health Care Sector to the Economy of Douglas County, Kansas,” found that the health-care sector — including the hospital, doctors’ offices, nursing homes and pharmacies — already provided about 6 percent of the county’s total employment base, or 3,880 jobs. It estimated the sector provided annual wages of more than $138 million, an average salary of $35,500 for workers in the sector.

The study also suggested that there was room for growth.

The authors estimated the county could attract a total of $335 million a year in health-care expenditures. An exact number of how much the county is attracting now is not available because many of the health-care providers are private businesses that do not disclose their finances. The hospital in 2003, though, generated operating revenues of $94 million.

Aaron Lusby, one of the study researchers, said it was likely Douglas County’s health-care industry had room to grow.

“It seems like there might be potential there to offer more specialized types of care,” Lusby said. “You have a lot more opportunities than a rural county does.”

Meyer said the hospital already had begun some strategies to attract new patients from outside the immediate area.

Nurse Cindy Weidl, Ottawa, tends to 2-day-old Claire Arnold and her mother, Amanda, Eudora, at Lawrence Memorial Hospital. Amanda and her new daughter prepared Thursday to leave the hospital. Employees and patients from out-of-town contribute to the growth of the Lawrence economy, and a study suggests the hospital should consider expanding to capitalize on its growth potential.

He said LMH’s oncology, sleep and wound-healing centers, all of which opened within the past three years, were designed to attract out-of-county patients.

Hospital officials are seeking a partner to begin offering angioplasty services at the hospital, which also likely would attract patients from outside the area.

Last year the hospital expanded its geographic base by opening a $400,000 medical office in Tonganoxie that is staffed by a full-time doctor. Meyer said LMH leaders were in the early stages of deciding whether to open a similar clinic in De Soto.

“I wish I had a dollar for every time we’ve discussed it,” Meyer said. “The big question we’re trying to answer is whether it is reasonable to expect people to come back west for their health care. We haven’t answered it yet. We’re hoping that is one of the things the Tonganoxie office will tell us.”

Meyer said a decision on whether to enter the De Soto market was likely still a year away.

Meyer also said the hospital was working on a strategy to more aggressively market its services in the Topeka area. While he said there was nothing wrong with the Topeka health-care system, he said he sensed there were residents looking for another option.

“I tell you, I’m shocked at the number of employees we draw from Topeka,” Meyer said. “Topeka has long had the strategy of drawing patients from Lawrence, so what’s wrong with us having a similar strategy?”