Local officials are now seeking a buyer for the Oktibbeha County Hospital Regional Medical Center amid an ongoing healthcare crisis in Mississippi.
Seven years after residents in the Golden Triangle county elected to keep the hospital under local government control, things pivoted last week with the decision now being to entice a buyer to take over the medical center. The shift in public opinion came after a thorough evaluation of OCH Regional Medical Center’s feasibility highlighted a concerning future for the hospital if action is not taken soon.
State Sen. Bart Williams, a Republican who represents Starkville, confirmed that the county’s board of supervisors has decided to employ investment banking firm Raymond James to issue a request for proposal for a potential suitor to buy the hospital.
“At the end of the day, I think our community has decided that the time for the county to be in the hospital business has passed,” Williams said. “We want the best quality of healthcare that we can get and we think the model that has been applied in the past, it’s probably time to sunset that.”
With the healthcare landscape changing at a rapid pace, Williams finds it necessary to have a private entity take over operations at the medical facility while allowing local influence over decisions being made that could impact healthcare outcomes in the county.
“We’ve got the best people that work in healthcare — our surgeons, our doctors, our nurses, our staff, everybody, but we understand that it is time for a change,” Williams continued. “There is uncertainty. There is a fear factor with that. But we know if we do it right, if we do it diligently, and we keep all the stakeholders involved, there’s a brighter day for healthcare in Starkville.”
One of the primary concerns with OCH’s current makeup is people living in Starkville and surrounding cities electing to visit other nearby hospitals for specialized care — an outcome the hospital cannot afford due to the area being sparsely populated.
Leaders, such as Starkville Mayor Lynn Spruill, are optimistic that someone will utilize the hospital to its fullest potential to best serve the community rather than allowing patients to be poached by other medical centers offering “better” services.
Spruill, echoing similar sentiments as Williams, further contended that she does not find running a hospital to be a basic function of government. Instead, she believes the government can do its job of fostering an environment conducive to facilitating a thriving, privately-run hospital.
“I don’t think government should be involved in healthcare. I don’t think that’s where our expertise lies. I think we should be doing public safety and infrastructure and those things that we are good at that are much more in our wheelhouse,” Spruill said.
“We’re wanting to develop a good, strong healthcare system here in town. You have a growing university. You’ve got an athletics department. You’ve got a retirement community. There are all kinds of needs and I think with us growing, we deserve a better healthcare system.”
The bidding process for the hospital to be bought out will open up in the near future, though no specific timetable has been provided at this time.
