Hope for the Hospital
To the editor:
On June 21, the Record reported on the efforts of St. Mark’s Hospital’s Board and Progressive Health Group (PHG) of Oxford, Mississippi to reopen the hospital as a rural emergency hospital (REH). The Board stated that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) needs to accept the newly proposed terms to purchase the assets securing St. Mark’s note by La Grange Hospital Holding, LLC, the company formed by PHG to own and operate the hospital. The hospital also needs to be relicensed by the State of Texas and obtain authorization from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).
An article in the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal on May 10, 2024, reported that the hospital in rural Chickasaw County, Mississippi which was closed for 10 years was purchased in 2023 by PHG and re-opened on May 9, 2024, providing 24-hour emergency services and other services such as radiology, intensive outpatient programs and cardio-pulmonary services. (REHs are not permitted to provide labor and delivery services or in-patient surgery.) That article also states that PHG (established in 2019) owns hospitals in Panola County (MS) and Quitman County (MS) and other healthcare facilities in Mississippi.
Fayette County EMS does a fantastic job but the County not having an Emergency Hospital with ER doctors and staff that people can go to puts their health at risk and is detrimental to the stability and growth of the local economy. I can say that if you’re having a heart attack, you will hope that you are very close to an ER. Minutes count. An ER in La Grange – in the center of the County - makes sense.
PHG is a private, for-profit company. Its website ( www. phghealth.com) says that it operates in Arkansas, Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi and Texas. Operating a rural hospital is risky – a narrow profit margin. Private companies go broke, get sold and can just cease operations at any time. Since Fayette County voters rejected the proposal to establish a hospital district to operate the hospital in 2019, PHG is now the “only show in town” to get the hospital reopened and functioning. Hopefully, St. Mark’s Board has determined that PHG is financially sound, capable and committed for the long term.
County residents should contact State Representative Stan Kitzman, State Senator Lois Kolkhorst, U. S. Congressman Michael McCaul and the County Commissioners and County Judge and ask them to urge HUD approval of the purchase by PHG and re-licensing by the State and CMS.
Russell Friemel Fort Worth and Ellinger