The plan was always for Northwest Mississippi Regional Medical Center to remain open, but the way it will keep things operating is a question mark until late this morning.
The Coahoma County Board of Supervisors unanimously voted late this morning for Community Health Systems to take over the hospital when the clock strikes midnight on Sunday, which is also the beginning of the next pay period. Curae Health Inc. was running the hospital.
To help get things started with the transition, Pearson said Curae Health Inc. will help CHS run things.
While there was never any doubt the hospital would remain open, Board of Supervisors president Paul Pearson was unsure how things would continue to run as of Tuesday morning.
Curae Health Inc. had been running the hospital and declared bankruptcy. However, a deal was made at a bankruptcy hearing in Nashville in October to keep it open.
As part of the deal, CHS, which is also on the lease, was scheduled to take over running the hospital on Monday for close to a year until a buyer is found for Northwest Mississippi Regional Medical Center, but the delays caused it to happen six days later.
Through the past six weeks, Curae Health Inc. was able to still run the hospital thanks to the supervisors wiring $3,291,364.88 from the reserve fund every two weeks. The most recent pay period was Dec. 3 .
“Talking with Tom Ross, our attorney, apparently there’s some negotiations between all parties and it changes hourly,” said Pearson Tuesday morning. “So, as of right now, the attorneys are still talking and trying to come up with a definite settlement. But, at the end of the day, the hospital is going to stay open. Everyone is going to maintain their jobs and we’re going to be able to provide health care.
“I think the county end of it, we’re OK. I think it’s possibly some negotiations between Curae’s attorneys and CHS’s attorney and I don’t think it’s anything real serious. I think it’s just nailing everything down to what will happen when the takeover takes place. There may be some creditors in this negotiation.”
But then things changed this morning.
A final bankruptcy hearing in Nashville was scheduled for 9 a.m. Thursday in front of a federal judge. However, thanks to all sides working out a deal, the Board of Supervisors working things out, the hearing will not take place Thursday.
Pearson was confident all along something positive would happen.
A phone conference was held to discuss the matter on Friday and the Board of Supervisors met Thursday, spending between 30 minutes to an hour in executive session.
If a deal had not been worked out, the supervisors were expected to continue pulling money from the reserve fund to keep the hospital open.
“That’s what the reserve fund is for,” Pearson said. “It’s there to keep the doors open, in case you have these situations.”
The next step is to find a buyer for the hospital.
“CHS has come forward and offered their assistance to operate and manage the hospital for up to 12 months, so we’ll have time to do some due diligence on anybody that would be interested on assuming the lease,” Pearson said.
“Or, if we can’t find anybody that would be comfortable assuming the lease and taking over the operation of the hospital, that will give us time, the county, to get everything set up so we can take over the operation and it be managed by Trilogy or some management team that we choose at the time.”
