PHG Reiterates Interest In Reopening La Grange Hospital

In a phone conversation with The Record Wednesday, Mississippi-based Progressive Health Group COO Mark Hallman reiterated his company’s interest in acquiring the closed St. Mark’s Medical Center in La Grange, and reopening it as a hospital.

Hallman pushed back on information from St. Mark’s Medical Center board chairman Dudley Piland, who said in Tuesday’s edition of the newspaper that a change of course in PHG’s plan to acquire the hospital had “complicated the path” to reopening.

The biggest hold-up in the process, Hallman said, is trying to get health care licenses re-instated by the state. He said much of the delay could have been avoided had CHC and St. Mark’s Medical Center board not allowed those licenses to expire when the financiallystrapped hospital closed Oct. 12.

Hallamn said the state has gotten all needed paperwork from PHG and now his group is awaiting an inspection of the hospital before the license renewal process can move forward.

Another decision Hallman said PHG is working through is whether to assume the roughly $13 million still owned on the hospital mortgage, or to negotiate directly with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to try to lower that debt.

Hallman said PHG has first right of refusal for St. Mark’s, meaning they have the option to purchase the property prior to its sale to a third party.