Local governments across the country have set their sights on closed hospitals in an effort to keep care close to home.
It has only been 15 days since St. Mark's Medical Center in La Grange, Texas, closed its doors. Quentin Whitwell, CEO of Progressive Health Group — an Oxford, Miss.-based hospital management group with experience in the rural sector — has spent the past few weeks attempting to gain ownership of the shuttered facility before pharmaceuticals and other supplies are compromised. Now, the governments of La Grange County and Fayette County are asking St. Mark's board chair, Dudley Piland, to pass control to Mr. Whitwell.
On Oct. 20, the Fayette County judge and La Grange mayor penned a letter to Mr. Piland, alleging the hospital's operator — Plano, Texas-based Community Hospital Corp. — has deferred consideration of a new operator to him.
"The Fayette County Community of Citizens and businesses contributed the funds necessary to induce the Department of Housing and Urban Development to guarantee the construction mortgage to build SMMC," reads the letter shared with Becker's. "We, on behalf of the citizens and institutions of Fayette County, demand the SMMC Board, which now appears to have no useful function, to transfer SMMC to Progressive Health Group, that we may have the opportunity to regain the healthcare on which we relied, and as promised."
St. Mark's isn't the only shuttered hospital garnering local governments' attention. Martin General Hospital in Williamston, N.C., filed for bankruptcy and ended operations on Aug. 3, but was brought up during an Oct. 25 county commissioners' meeting. Martin County Attorney Ben Eisner was named the county's interim manager, and residents are depending on him to help reopen the hospital, NBC affiliate WITN reported.
The city of Atlanta has been debating the future of Atlanta Medical Center for more than a year. Mayor Andre Dickens has had a redevelopment ban on the land since Marietta, Ga.-based Wellstar Health System closed the facility last October, preventing the system from selling or redeveloping the land. Previous city planning efforts "have designated the Atlanta Medical Center as a piece of essential infrastructure for the community, and further contemplated that the medical center would continue to be a staple in the community providing both health care and jobs," according to the order, which Mr. Dickens plans to renew for another six months.
La Grange, Williamston and Atlanta have at least one thing in common: the hospitals left a gaping hole in their communities. In the small rural towns of La Grange and Williamston, residents now must travel for care. In Atlanta, underserved populations that once relied on the 460-bed AMC are short one option — and the city is down to one level 1 trauma center.
"Bodies are dropping," Sean Wilson, a Martin County resident, said during the Oct. 25 meeting. "It could be my family member, it could be your family member, or one of us. We need our hospital back."
Read more about the reasons behind recent hospital closures here.