Being part of a regional healthcare system will give Fort Payne, Ala.-based DeKalb Regional Medical Center access to local resources it does not have, Huntsville (Ala.) Hospital Health System CEO Jeff Samz told al.com in a Jan. 4 report.
Huntsville (Ala.) Hospital Health System is planning to acquire the 134-bed rural hospital in a deal expected to close March 31.
Mr. Samz said Huntsville Hospital can help DeKalb with recruitment, contracting "any number of issues that are local where they need regional scale."
He said in a news release announcing the acquisition that Huntsville Hospital's mission "includes helping rural communities maintain local access to quality care." The system said it is committed to employee retention and indicated that employment will continue "for substantially all employees in good standing at the time of transition."
Mr. Samz told al.com that talks have been happening over the past year while "looking for a model that would be sustainable.
"Our efforts at first will revolve around recruiting additional doctors to the community and getting its core services shored up," Mr. Samz told the news outlet.
A report released in 2022 found that nearly half of Alabama's rural hospitals were in danger of closing due to financial losses on patient services, according to al.com. Seven rural hospitals in the state have closed since 2005. Nationwide, a July 2023 report found that more than 300 rural hospitals are at immediate risk of closure because of the severity of their financial problems.