Rivercross Hospice to move HQ near Towne East Square

President Mark Rowe plans to move Rivercross Hospice into new headquarters near Towne East Square by July 1.

Rowe said Rivercross Hospice bought the Rainbows United building at 251 S. Whittier a couple of months ago and should have it ready for occupancy later this month. Marty Gilchrist of J.P. Weigand & Sons' commercial division was the agent on the purchase, Rowe said, and Clifford Nies Construction is doing the remodeling.

Rivercross Hospice has been at 10333 E. 21st St., Suite 401, since opening last year. It also has offices in Tulsa, Drumright and Bartlesville, Okla. Rowe said the Wichita office will become headquarters for all Rivercross operations.

The building on Whittier, west of Towne East and Target, has about 10,000 square feet and used to have classrooms at its south end. That area is being remodeled for use as a small inpatient facility, Rowe said, so patients can be cared for on-site as well as in their homes.

Rivercross Hospice is "going really well," he said. "A year ago, we had 35 patients, and we've got nearly 200 today. It's just exploded."

He said Rivercross is preparing for expansion into new areas, including Wellington, Winfield, Newton and Hutchinson, by the end of this year or early next year.

Rowe has been hiring and is seeking a nurse with Six Sigma certification — usually associated more with manufacturing processes — to be quality assurance performance improvement manager.

The hospice industry, he said, has to demonstrate to government surveyors that it has ways to assure quality and is implementing measures to make the hospice better, and finding someone with Six Sigma certification is a way to do that — though he doesn't know how many nurses may have the certification.

Rowe, the former owner of Hospice Care of Kansas, said a lawsuit filed against him in late 2008 by the current owners has not yet been resolved.

Hospice Care of Kansas and its parent companies allege that Rowe violated several noncompete and nonsolicitation agreements that he signed when he sold the company in 2004.

This story was originally published June 10, 2010 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Rivercross Hospice to move HQ near Towne East Square."