Effort to get state funding for Hillcrest is expected

(Oklahoma City-AP) -- A lobbyist for Hillcrest HealthCare Systems in Tulsa says an effort to get $20 million in state funding there is based on medical education and rural health care.

Dick Wheatley says about one-third of Oklahoma's physicians get clinical training in Tulsa, but the training facility run by Hillcrest gets no state funding. He says the University of Oklahoma receives about $45 million dollars a year from the state to train doctors in Oklahoma City.

Tulsa state Senator Penny Williams adds that Hillcrest treats most of the indigent patients in the area and receives no state funding.

Officials say the taxpayer-funded O-U hospitals provide most of the indigent care in the central part of the state.