ST. MARK’S MEDICAL CENTER TO CLOSE EFFECTIVE OCT. 12
St. Mark’s Medical Center in La Grange is closing its doors.
A press release from the hospital on Wednesday stated that all operations will cease effective at 7 a.m. on Thursday, October 12th. The closure is due to St. Mark’s ongoing inability to meet its financial obligations.
According to the Fayette County Record, about 62 employees were still working at the hospital and will lose their jobs after dozens of other employees were laid off in February. The layoffs came as the hospital pursued Rural Emergency Hospital (REH) designation, which is meant to preserve emergency department services and outpatient care, but resulted in inpatient services no longer being offered.
Apart from the REH designation, outside funding was needed in order to offset the hospital’s $13 million mortgage debt, years of revenue shortfalls and rapidly escalating expenses. After several efforts, a local group of investors called Hospital Centers of Excellence (HCOE) came forward with a plan to potentially secure additional funding to continue healthcare services.
St. Mark’s Board Chair Dudley Piland said the board commends HCOE for its efforts, and that its strategy was sound, but “servicing the hospital’s liabilities and mortgage debt was apparently too great.” Piland said had it not been for COVID-related funding and an agreement to reduce the mortgage payment, closure would have come years earlier.
Recently, the Texas Health and Human Services Commission granted payments of $187,500 per quarter for six quarters to support Texas rural emergency hospitals, while the La Grange Economic Development Corporation pledged $500,000 toward capital improvements. However, the hospital said those funds were not sufficient to meet the monthly mortgage debt payments of approximately $160,000 per month, along with other ongoing hospital expenses.
Piland said, “Closure is certainly not the outcome that anyone wanted for our community, the staff or their families. But without the additional local funding support HCOE was seeking, the hospital is out of options.”
Per the closure plan, the October 12th closure includes all hospital services within the hospital and the services provided in the adjacent medical office building. Sleep studies will not be performed after October 10th, and outpatients will not be scheduled for future visits after October 11th.
St. Mark’s President and CEO Mark Kimball said rural health care has faced financial struggles across the United States, and St. Mark’s has not been able to overcome those challenges. He said, “It’s heartbreaking to be in this situation, but there just isn’t a sustainable financial path forward.”