Yet another rural Alabama community faces losing a hospital as leaders in Clarke County worry Thomasville Regional Medical Center may have closed its doors forever.
Thomasville Mayor Sheldon Day and the hospital both posted on Friday that a meeting was scheduled for Monday with “stakeholders” on the 29-bed medical center’s future.
Day spoke with AL.com Tuesday about the meeting and the current path forward concerning ownership of the hospital.
Day said that he was given the impression that Curtis James, the CEO of Thomasville Regional Medical Center and leader of the hospital’s ownership group, was currently preparing a plan to handle the situation after the closing announcement.
Efforts to reach James for comment were not immediately successful.
“They called a meeting yesterday to basically just say hey we’re not sure what we’re going to do yet and we’re kind of in a holding pattern,” Day said. “My impression is they’re going to be looking at steps forward and will be back in touch with us in a few days.”
The center announced Friday that it is suspending operations over staffing issues until further notice.
Day stated that there are numerous entities interested in buying the medical center already and there are USDA loan guarantees that will help buy down accumulated debt after foreclosure. Day is confident the facility will be very attractive to potential suitors.
“It’s going to significantly buy down the debt and be in a position where the [hospital] will be very attractive for someone to acquire it and reopen it,” Day said. “So, we’re confident long term that things are going to get worked out but at this point we’re in kind of a holding pattern.”
In a lengthy Facebook post on Saturday, the mayor said the hospital has long been plagued by financial troubles.
“It is without question that TRMC has struggled for various reasons since it opened,” he said. “The last year and a half have been a literal hell for all of us who have worked so hard to bring TRMC to fruition. However, it has been extremely difficult for the dedicated staff at TRMC.”
A little more than two weeks ago, Day said, the city was told that cash was short at the hospital. Employees didn’t get paid on time last week and some of them had checks bounce, he said.
On Friday, the mayor said, employees were told there was also a “good chance” they would not be paid this week, either.
The city’s healthcare authority, Day said, offered the hospital a short-term loan but James would not agree to the authority’s insistence that he sign a guarantee to a pay it back. One of the hospital’s doctors also agreed to loan the money so workers could get paid but they, too, backed out because of the lack of a guarantee.
“That basically [led] us all to the conclusion the owners were not willing to personally back the actions of the HCA and doctors. That is when we knew the end was drawing near,” Day said. “No one should expect their employees to work under these circumstances.”
Day claimed James told him as well as hospital workers that the struggling facility was approved for a $20 million loan, but the city later verified that the loan had not even been applied for.
“At best, I think the owner was wishful in thinking this loan was coming anytime soon and at worst, had his back against the wall and simply was trying to keep staff a little longer while he worked to find a solution. Either way, the employees nor the HCA and I should have been told the loan was near approval,” he said.
The lender is among other groups with an interest in buying the hospital, Day said.
But the mayor said the top priority is for workers to be paid.
“We intend to work with TRMC ownership to ensure the hospital remains compliance with state regulatory requirements at the facility so it can be in a position to restart operations under a new owner as soon as possible,” he said.
“TRMC is one of the finest rural hospitals in the nation,” the mayor continued. Someone will certainly be interested in buying it at a good price. We expect increased interest in the coming days.”
While the mayor said “virtually all” of the hospital’s equipment and furnishings will be available for its next owner, a nearly $1.3 million judgment was issued against the hospital in Clarke County Circuit Court.
GE Health Financial Services said in court papers filed earlier this year that the hospital reneged on its lease agreement for medical equipment.
On Monday, Clarke County Circuit Court Judge J. Perry Newton issued a $1.29 million summary judgment in GE’s favor after lawyers for the hospital failed to respond to the lender’s complaint, records showed.
Rural hospitals, as well as maternity services, have been closing across Alabama.
In south Alabama, that includes the closure of Georgiana Medical Center in Butler County and Monroe County Hospital stopping its labor and delivery services last year.
Alabama Daily News has reported that a report from the Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform said more than half of Alabama’s 52 rural hospitals are at risk of closing, 19 of which the center says are at an “immediate risk” of closure.
AL.com reporter Patrick Darrington contributed to this report.
