Birmingham, Ala.-based UAB Health System is discussing a potential management agreement to prevent a 60-year-old rural hospital — J. Paul Jones Hospital in Camden, Ala. — from closing, according to the Birmingham Business Journal.
UAB has entered into a nonbinding memorandum of understanding with J. Paul Jones Hospital. Under the potential agreement, the rural hospital would become a managed associate of UAB Medicine. In addition, the agreement would potentially create a state healthcare authority to own and operate the facility.
J. Paul Jones Hospital's board of trustees previously announced the rural hospital would close as a result of high operating costs and dwindling reimbursement rates.
"Small hospitals, in particular those in Alabama's underserved, rural counties, are under tremendous financial pressure," Will Ferniany,PhD, CEO of the UAB Health System, told the Birmingham Business Journal. "Several have closed over the past few years, and the outlook going forward looks bleak. We welcome the opportunity to work with the dedicated health care professionals in Wilcox County to find a way to keep the doors of this hospital open."