The Greenwood City Council voted unanimously on Tuesday to authorize Greenwood Leflore Hospital to seek proposals to lease the hospital.
The hospital’s board voted Monday to recommend that proposals be solicited. The council’s vote Tuesday was 6-0, with Ward 5’s Andrew Powell absent.
Greenwood and Leflore County jointly own the hospital. The Leflore County Board of Supervisors, which meets Monday, must also give its approval for the hospital to seek proposals.
Gary Marchand, who has taken over some leadership responsibilities since the resignation of CEO Jason Studley on Friday, spoke to the council Tuesday.
He explained that a lack of federal money as well as the delta and omicron waves of the COVID-19 pandemic caused the hospital to burn through its cash.
The hospital can control costs, but it cannot control the lack of patients, he said.
“Our problem with a lack of patient volumes currently is a nationwide problem,” he said, “and it falls differently depending on whether you’re a small rural community, a small town or an urban area.
“The urban areas seem to be recovering in terms of volume and revenues. The small rural community hospitals, their volumes are not recovering. Their revenues are not recovering. That is what has created the situation that we are currently in.”
He said a long-term lease to a larger hospital would provide funds for future projects and expansions, keep appropriate health care expertise in the community and help stabilize the Greenwood hospital’s financial position.
The hospital reported Monday that it has lost $10.6 million in the current fiscal year and burned through another $1.7 million in June.
That left it with an operational cash on hand of $3.6 million, not counting $8.1 million in remaining advance Medicare payments that the hospital is paying back in monthly installments.
Marchand said the hospital is planning to apply for a loan extension or forgiveness on that Medicare money, but it cannot do so until after Sept. 30.
- Contact Kevin Edwards at 662-581-7233 or kedwards@gwcommonwealth.com.
