Story Created:
Aug 27, 2008 at 9:45 PM CST
Story Updated:
Nov 16, 2008 at 11:16 AM CST
UPDATE: The Adams County Board of Supervisors will begin a discussion Monday in Natchez on the sale of the county's hospital.
Bids on Natchez Regional Medical Center are due by Monday evening at 5 p.m.
Hospital CEO Scott Phillips says the bids will be examined by the president of the Adams County Board of Supervisors, Henry Watts, president of the Hospital Board of Trustees, Dan Bland, the attorneys for both boards and by Phillips.
Phillips said bids won't be made public as soon as they are received because that would affect his ability to negotiate with all of the bidders.
UPDATE: Natchez Regional Medical Center is now officially for sale. The Adams County Board of Supervisors passed a resolution Monday that allows administrators at the hospital to seek proposals from parties interested in purchasing the NRMC.
To qualify to purchase the hospital, a buyer must be a part of multi-hospital system which owns and operates two general acute care hospitals in one of a number of southern states and have annual patient revenues in excess of $100 million and net access in excess of $50 million.
If the hospital is not part of a multi-hospital system, it must be a single general acute care hospital located and licensed in Mississippi and meet the same financial requirements as the multi-hospital buyer.
Hospital CEO Scott Phillips said the combination of the buyer's qualifications and the supervisor's evaluation process is meant to find the most qualified buyer for the hospital.
For more than 50 years, Natchez Regional Medical Center has been the staple hospital for Adams County and surrounding areas. Since it opened, the facility has been a Major employer to county residents and its existence has helped many other businesses thrive as well. But the possibility that the hospital could be sold worries businessman Bruce Brice Jr.
"Personally it affects me, I employ approximately 15 people, moved my business back here. The county hospital was one of my largest clients and we treat those people benevolently. There are people on disability, social security on limited incomes that have large hospital bills and they make an effort to pay their bills every month and we initiate collections programs to recover money for the hospital so I would hate for it to be sold," said Brice.
Brice owns a collection agency in the city. He and his employees create payment plans or send patients to court in order to pay their medical bills. But now, after a study that recommends that the hospital's sale would be more profitable, Bruce says he may have to move his business elsewhere.
County officials held a public hearing to address residents to show them results from a study, showing that the only way to save the hospital--which officials say is drowning in debt is to sell it to a multi-health system, like the owner of Natchez Community Hospital, the other medical facility in the city.
"A stand alone hospital, it's hard to recruit and maintain good doctors," said CEO Scott Phillips.
Phillips told the audience that the data collected from the research showed that the hospital was overstaffed, was mismanaged, and could not adequately serve the needs of the public in areas like mental health and endocrine disorders. In addition, more than $50 million of hospital services were going elsewhere, as patients were traveling to other hospitals for care, and the hospital encountered a shortage of medical professionals.
Phillips said by joining a health system that oversees other hospitals, Natchez could not only keep the medical facility but add more jobs, improve the county's bond rating, and provide a competitive market place for health services.
There are about eighty to ninety potential buyers, which eight or nine are really good," Phillips said.
Adams County Board of Supervisors member Darryl Grennell says he is the only member of the five not willing to sell the hospital.
"Mainly I'm concerned about indigent care and I know there are federal laws that regulate and say to provide indigent care but I know for a fact that Natchez Regional Medical Center has provided health care for people with and without money here in Adams County and I don't want to compromise it," said Grennell.
One resident who relocated to Natchez from Columbus told the audience that the hospital there had been sold and produced positive results.
"The hospital just became alive. They were able to recruit doctors. Doctors were building complexes around the thing and when I moved away five years ago to come here, they were opening an eight story addition to the hospital. The hospital was not bigger [than Natchez Regional]."
The hospital could sell for $25 million to $30 million. The board must now adopt and resolution and begin bidding procedures.
