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Medical Center at Terrell closing doors
By Justin Jones: justin_jones@terrelltribune.com
In 60 days, residents in Terrell and surrounding communities will have to find a new hospital with Medical Center at Terrell and Wills Point Rural Health Clinic closing their doors.
“It's a sad day for Medical Center at Terrell,” said Ken Pittman, CEO of Medical Center at Terrell, which along with Wills Point Rural Health Clinic, is owned by Terrell Healthcare LP. “But in today's health-care environment, we can no longer subsidize care without governmental support. Through October, we have provided $4.7 million in uncompensated care. While the closure is disappointing, the community should be proud of the dedicated hospital employees who did everything within their control to help the hospital succeed.”
According to a statement announcing the closing, the hospital has had multiple owners over the years but in each case it continued to sustain losses.
The statement also said the hospital was successful in limiting its losses while investing more than $2 million in updated equipment and technology, however, unexpected business developments hindered the turnaround.
Those unexpected business developments, according to the statement, included both the unexpected departure of physicians and care provided to an increasing number of patients who did not or could not pay for services.
“It's not so much physicians who have physically picked up and moved, it's physicians who are not actually using the facility as much as they were in the past,” said Candy Countryman, the hospital's director of business development, citing one of the reasons for the hospital's imminent closure. “But it's more of the physicians who aren't admitting or admitting as many patients as they were in the past.”
Why is that?
“I really couldn't tell you,” Countryman said. “If we knew, I guess we could maybe have addressed it.”
Another reason for the hospital's upcoming closure, according to Countryman, is the amount of bad debt the facilities take in monthly.
“More significant is the 30 percent of bad debt we are looking at every month,” she said. “The industry standard is 12 percent. There are not a whole lot of businesses that can take that for a long time.”
Doctors and employees were advised late Monday afternoon of the plan to close the hospital within 60 days.
“The plan is for the hospital to be open for 60 days and we are hoping to provide service for those 60 days,” Countryman said. “Usually people in the medical profession, not all of them, like nurses and technicians can fairly easily find a job someplace else because they are very much in demand. There are certain it will be harder for them to find a job. But the point is, most of them don't want to find a job someplace else because they enjoy where they are working and want to be here.”
The city of Terrell released a statement Tuesday morning stating, “It is unfortunate that the Medical Center at Terrell will close but the City Council has directed staff to immediately begin a search for a new operator. City management and staff have already begun this process.”
The hospital, which has 180 full-time and part-time employees, expects to remain open and continue to provide both inpatient and outpatient services.
Meetings are also scheduled to assist employees with a transition of new jobs and to address insurance and other labor matters.
“There is disappointment for sure,” Countryman said. “I think this facility has a lot of long-term employees who are here because this is were they want to be. One [employee] was telling me yesterday, this is not just a place to work, this is like family to me. It's that kind of mood for a lot of people.”
In 2006, the hospital had around 14,000 outpatient visits and nearly the same amount for emergency room visits.
There were also 2,259 admissions, 278 births, 360 inpatient surgeries and 393 outpatient surgeries.
“They [last year's numbers] are down from what is has been in years past,” Countryman said. “There are a fairly significant drop in inpatient and outpatient surgeries ... everything, I guess.”
And once the news spreads about the closing of the hospital, which has 130 licensed beds and is one of Terrell's major employers, Countryman said the impact of Medical Center at Terrell closing will be hard-felt throughout the area.
“Because of the growth of Terrell, which to me is a progressive city, I think it will make it a lot more difficult to attract businesses because the hospital is an important part of a town, so economic development-wise it will be hard,” Countryman said. “Also, I think there is a lot of people who depend on this hospital. Just the security of knowing there is an emergency room right here, whether you need to use it or not, is important to people.”
“It's a sad day for Medical Center at Terrell,” said Ken Pittman, CEO of Medical Center at Terrell, which along with Wills Point Rural Health Clinic, is owned by Terrell Healthcare LP. “But in today's health-care environment, we can no longer subsidize care without governmental support. Through October, we have provided $4.7 million in uncompensated care. While the closure is disappointing, the community should be proud of the dedicated hospital employees who did everything within their control to help the hospital succeed.”
According to a statement announcing the closing, the hospital has had multiple owners over the years but in each case it continued to sustain losses.
The statement also said the hospital was successful in limiting its losses while investing more than $2 million in updated equipment and technology, however, unexpected business developments hindered the turnaround.
Those unexpected business developments, according to the statement, included both the unexpected departure of physicians and care provided to an increasing number of patients who did not or could not pay for services.
“It's not so much physicians who have physically picked up and moved, it's physicians who are not actually using the facility as much as they were in the past,” said Candy Countryman, the hospital's director of business development, citing one of the reasons for the hospital's imminent closure. “But it's more of the physicians who aren't admitting or admitting as many patients as they were in the past.”
Why is that?
“I really couldn't tell you,” Countryman said. “If we knew, I guess we could maybe have addressed it.”
Another reason for the hospital's upcoming closure, according to Countryman, is the amount of bad debt the facilities take in monthly.
“More significant is the 30 percent of bad debt we are looking at every month,” she said. “The industry standard is 12 percent. There are not a whole lot of businesses that can take that for a long time.”
Doctors and employees were advised late Monday afternoon of the plan to close the hospital within 60 days.
“The plan is for the hospital to be open for 60 days and we are hoping to provide service for those 60 days,” Countryman said. “Usually people in the medical profession, not all of them, like nurses and technicians can fairly easily find a job someplace else because they are very much in demand. There are certain it will be harder for them to find a job. But the point is, most of them don't want to find a job someplace else because they enjoy where they are working and want to be here.”
The city of Terrell released a statement Tuesday morning stating, “It is unfortunate that the Medical Center at Terrell will close but the City Council has directed staff to immediately begin a search for a new operator. City management and staff have already begun this process.”
The hospital, which has 180 full-time and part-time employees, expects to remain open and continue to provide both inpatient and outpatient services.
Meetings are also scheduled to assist employees with a transition of new jobs and to address insurance and other labor matters.
“There is disappointment for sure,” Countryman said. “I think this facility has a lot of long-term employees who are here because this is were they want to be. One [employee] was telling me yesterday, this is not just a place to work, this is like family to me. It's that kind of mood for a lot of people.”
In 2006, the hospital had around 14,000 outpatient visits and nearly the same amount for emergency room visits.
There were also 2,259 admissions, 278 births, 360 inpatient surgeries and 393 outpatient surgeries.
“They [last year's numbers] are down from what is has been in years past,” Countryman said. “There are a fairly significant drop in inpatient and outpatient surgeries ... everything, I guess.”
And once the news spreads about the closing of the hospital, which has 130 licensed beds and is one of Terrell's major employers, Countryman said the impact of Medical Center at Terrell closing will be hard-felt throughout the area.
“Because of the growth of Terrell, which to me is a progressive city, I think it will make it a lot more difficult to attract businesses because the hospital is an important part of a town, so economic development-wise it will be hard,” Countryman said. “Also, I think there is a lot of people who depend on this hospital. Just the security of knowing there is an emergency room right here, whether you need to use it or not, is important to people.”
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