A new ownership group plans to buy and reopen Healthmark Regional Medical Center, a 50-bed hospital in Defuniak Springs, Fla., that closed in March 2022, mypanhandle.com reported June 28.
The hospital, expected to reopen Jan. 1, will provide emergency services, orthopedics, dental surgery and other specialty care.
The ownership group has begun recruiting surgeons for the facility and will begin hiring for other positions in October, according to the report. New ownership hopes to hire Healthmark Regional employees who were laid off without notice when the hospital closed.
"This is an explosively growing community and right now it doesn't have any significant healthcare assets such as a hospital, an emergency room or operating room capability," Huy Nguyen, MD, CEO of Doctors Memorial Hospital in Boniday, Fla., told the publication. "[We're] bringing back that facility as part of an overall broad campus scheme, but certainly the emergency room and the OR are going to be significant for this community."
Editor's Note: This story initially reported that Doctors Memorial planned to buy Healthmark Regional, which is inaccurate. The ownership group purchasing the hospital is a separate entity to Doctors Memorial. This article will be updated when more information becomes available.