New CEO: St. Mark’s Must Build Relationships
New St. Mark’s CEO Mark Kimball introduced himself to the La Grange City Council at a meeting Monday night.
Kimball comes to St. Mark’s with 22 years of experience leading hospitals in Georgia, Tennessee and North Carolina. At Monday’s meeting, he spoke about the need for St. Mark’s to stop the “leakage” of patients from Fayette and Lee Counties seeking healthcare services at other hospitals in the area. As part of that effort, he said St. Mark’s plans to do a better job of educating area residents about the services it offers.
“We’ve got to build stronger relationships with the communities we serve,” Kimball said.
Councilman Ken Taylor asked Kimball whether there would be another effort to establish a hospital taxing district in Fayette County to support St. Mark’s. Supporters of the deeply-indebted hospital successfully petitioned for such an election in 2017, but it failed by more than 80 percent of the vote.
“I wasn’t here at that time, but I think if we had to do it all over again we would do it a lot differently,” Kimball said. “My understanding is that they probably got into it a little too late in the game. We’ve got to step back and help people understand the financial condition.
“We’ve got to get community support,” Kimball added. “If you punch something at someone too early and people do not understand, people are going to back up and refuse it.”
“So I take it that part of your answer is that you will be coming back with a taxing authority at some point in the future,” Taylor said.
“I do not know that,” Kimball said. “I think we have to explore everything. I spoke last week at the Lions Club, and a number of members came up to me and said, ‘I supported this and urge you to bring this up.’ We have got a tremendous amount of debt in this hospital. I think with the communities that we serve, we have to understand how we are going to overcome this.
“Is a hospital basic infrastructure for a community, just like a sewer system, just like your water systems, just like your infrastructure for roads?” Kimball added. “I think we have to build a relationship with our partners, such as our local governments, the communities we serve. If that’s the right avenue, then start with an educational process, so people have time to understand.”
Councilman Pat Janca asked Kimball whether the hospital might consider reopening the birthing center, which closed in 2017. Kimball said there are not enough births in the area to sustain maternity services at St. Mark’s.
“Reimbursement for birthing has changed tremendously,” Kimball said. “Unfortunately, I’ve been a part of closing two labor and delivery departments, and that’s not a fun decision to have to make. A minimum of anywhere from 300 to 500 births a year is what you honestly need to maintain a program. You can’t have one OB/GYN. You have to have multiple OB/GYNs. Here, my understanding is that we were delivering about 100 births a year. That’s just not a program that could be sustained.”
Kimball said he and his wife are currently looking for a home in the La Grange area. He said he looks forward to meeting everyone in the community.