Questions on stability of county hospitals arise during commission meeting

Last week’s closing of Thomasville Hospital in Clarke County has renewed questions about the stability of the hospitals in Escambia County.

On Monday, local physician Jimmy Adkisson was in attendance at the Escambia County Commission meeting to ask if any progress had been made in acquiring financial assistance for the local hospital in Brewton.

Previously, members of the Escambia County Health Care Authority had addressed the commission to request an additional 4-mil tax be added for the direct benefit of the authority and local hospitals. As a matter of law, the commission has requested an opinion on that possibility from the Alabama Attorney General’s office. The commission is waiting the response from the state office.

“If your hospital closes, it will have a serious effect on all of us,” Adkisson told the commissioners. “We’ve got to get some means to correct the problems.”

Commission Chairman Raymond Wiggins said the commission is doing all they are allowed to do to seek assistance on behalf of the hospitals.

“The only authority we have is to appoint members to the Escambia County Health Care Authority,” Wiggins said. “That’s where our power ends.”

Adkisson questioned the commission on their role in saving the hospitals in the county.

“Are you just gonna let the hospital die?” Adkisson said. “As a governing board, do you have no authority to intervene in what the (ECHCA) board does?”

County Attorney David Jordan echoed that information saying the commission’s hands are tied.

“The authority was created by statutes and operates by bylaws,” Jordan said. “The commission is only allowed to populate the entity by appointments.”

Adkisson accepted the information on the scope of authority the commission has over ECHCA, but continued to inform commissioners of the dire situation with the county’s hospitals.

“We are operating in a crisis mode that affects everybody in Escambia County,” Adkisson said. “Is there some way we can look into what’s going on? Who is going to take the liability for that if it closes? I don’t know that you understand where we really are.”

Commissioner Larry White said the closing of the Flomaton hospital years ago was a blow to the community.

“I don’t want to see any of our medical facilities fail,” White said. “But we have a limit to what we can do.”

White said the question of adding an ad valorem tax to an upcoming ballot was the first answer the commission is seeking.

“If he (attorney general) says yes we can put an ad valorem tax on the ballot, this commission will then ask for some financial information and a plan from the Escambia County Health Care Authority to make certain that the tax would solve the problem,” White said. “We would demand some financial accounting to see if it will solve the problem.”

Commissioners estimated that, if passed, the ad valorem tax would provide approximately $1.6 million annually for the hospital system. The commission will await the attorney general’s opinion and work to put the tax up for a vote by the people of the county. That would not happen until 2025, given that the minimum time period for placement on a ballot would be 90 to 120 days after the opinion is given.

“That would be like feeding an elephant with an eye dropper,” Adkisson said. “He’ll taste it but he won’t survive. Our hospital will be gone by then.”

Adkisson then laid out some information that he believed the commission was not aware of in the county.

“We have an unstable environment in our healthcare facilities in the county,” Adkisson said. “The Atmore administrator resigned last week. The Retirement System has been suspended.”

ECHCA Chairwoman Debbie Rowell confirmed that ACH Administrator Brad Lowery tendered his resignation about a week ago. Lowery will remain in his role as administrator for a couple more months.

Rowell said the ECHCA is actively working to fill the administrator’s position.

The post Questions on stability of county hospitals arise during commission meeting appeared first on The Atmore Advance .