Community Health Systems is running Northwest Mississippi Regional Medical Center in Clarksdale, but that is only the first step in making sure the hospital remains open.
The takeover occurred at midnight Sunday and CHS is operating things in a management role.
Curae Health Inc. took over running the hospital in November 2017 and its name was on the lease with CHS. Curae declared bankruptcy in August.
A deal was made at a bankruptcy hearing in Nashville for CHS to take over the hospital for approximately one year until a buyer is found.
After some paperwork issues are taken care of with Curae’s bankruptcy in February 2019, CHS will be the lone company on the lease.
CHS will take over handling the lease at that time.
“Everything went smooth,” said Paul Pearson, president of the Coahoma County Board of Supervisors.
“They were, at one point, discussing maybe having to discharge and readmit everybody at midnight, but they said, ‘No, they didn’t have to do that.’ That, I’m sure, made everybody happy because a lot of people had to work at midnight. Everything’s good.”
Pearson said he spoke with hospital CEO Joel Southern, who informed him everything was running as expected.
The supervisors have wired Curae $3,291,364.88 from the county government’s hospital reserve fund to get through three pay periods. The most recent wiring was $1,097,015.71 on Dec. 3 to get through a two-week pay period.
The entire $1,097,015.71 may not have been needed and some of the money may be returned to the county for the reserve fund.
“We don’t know yet,” Pearson said on whether or not some of the money will be returned.
The Coahoma County Board of Supervisors regular meeting was held Wednesday afternoon, Dec. 19, and more hospital issues were expected to be discussed.
Pearson is glad CHS is running the hospital.
“It puts some stability back into the operation of the hospital,” he said. “CHS is going to manage it. It’s going to be on their dime. They’re going to run it. They’re going to pay for it, manage it. Eventually, they’ll take over the lease.”
The next step of finding a buyer is not expected to begin until February 2019.
“Really, not a whole lot is going to happen until CHS assumes the lease and Curae is out of the picture completely,” Pearson said.
“Then, we’ll be looking for somebody to either assume the lease or we have time to do some due diligence on folks and make sure. If we can’t find anybody at the end of the time period that we’re allotted to do this, then the county may have to operate it... hiring someone like Trilogy to manage it for us.”
At that time, Pearson said representatives from the county will meet with CHS and Trilogy Healthcare Solutions to find someone interested in taking over the lease.
The county will be looking for a company that has financial stability and is committed to the hospital.
“Nowadays, the way it looks like health care is going, we’ve got to have somebody that is really going to think outside the box,” Pearson said.
“We’ve got to offer stuff that maybe we never offered before. We’ve got to really think about new things and new opportunities to be able to provide services to citizens of Coahoma County.
“We’re really going to have to really have somebody that’s going to be willing to think about how a rural hospital is going to operate and generate revenue in a fashion that can keep the doors open and generate enough to be able to put enough back in this hospital.
“We’re going to have to look at all the different possibilities. We can’t keep doing, obviously, what we’ve been doing.”
Pearson said, the sooner a buyer is found, the better, but he was unsure how long the search would take.
He added the negotiation process will determine whether CHS will remain on the lease with a new buyer.
It is likely, if the county takes over the hospital, there will be a local board.
Pearson said there could be a local board, regardless.
“It’s a bad situation, but I believe we could turn it into something very positive,” Pearson said.
