LA GRANGE — HCOE signed a term sheet on Friday, the 28, and that term sheet lays out the basis for a transition of management at St. Mark’s Medical Center (SMMC).
Since the term sheet has been signed, HCOE has been very busy working through a long list of due diligence activities with the help of SMMC and CHC.
The team is working together well, and everything that has been requested by HCOE to date has been provided.
Just to understand the magnitude and complexity that we are wrapping our arms around, this data provided consists of over 823 individual files contained in 197 separate folders.
After executing the term sheet, the team immediately set up a meeting with SMMC to discuss next steps in the due diligence and drafted a joint press release with SMMC that was subsequently released on Saturday, July 1. Last Friday, HCOE and the SMMC current management team met with three different groups of employees in a town hall-type open format to present the plan for transition according to the term sheet, the next steps, and the current plans for the hospital after the transition.
These staff meetings were all well attended, and staff members were prepared with good questions. HCOE came away with an overwhelming impression that the staff is dedicated, passionate about their job, and working in a team culture.
Subsequently, to these staff town hall meetings, a series of meetings were established with department heads at the hospital. Individual meetings included representatives from the business office, health information management, financial services, human resources, two sessions with information technology, maintenance and operations, medical operations, respiratory therapy, and rehabilitation services (physical therapy). Three of the current board members were present in separate discussions to gain perspective on prior operations and review HCOE plans for the future.
In addition to the SMMC representatives above, HCOE members met with a number of community groups, banking institutions, potential investors, and the current mortgage holder who is Lument Real Estate Capital Holdings, LLC, a subsidiary of ORIX Corporation USA. HCOE also met with several community members to answer questions and share information about our current plans.
These meetings involved a total of 67 members of the staff and board at SMMC, plus 29 members of the community including three individuals representing area medical service providers.
In total HCOE representatives spent just over 120 hours across these various engagements.
HCOE established the website presence and a Facebook page in order to keep the community informed of our progress, and has begun posting information pertaining to questions that we are receiving in the community.
Dr. Russel Clark also taped an Interview with Dr. Larry Hatfield for his Doctors Corner that we hope will air on the radio soon.
The team also worked with the Fayette Community Foundation to establish an account for tax-deductible contributions for anyone that wants to help support our efforts.
Any money contributed will go 100% towards direct expenses in completing the transition and no funds will be used for any salary or labor efforts by HCOE representatives.
The link to the Foundation page is https://fayettecommunityfoundation. networkforgood. com/projects/138305-designated- funds .
Next week HCOE will continue with our efforts to develop a comprehensive model of financial operations, and we will continue to meet with the remaining hospital departments and board members, area medical providers, and our equity investment partners in the community.
We are also looking into an issue that has been raised by numerous community members regarding invoices received from prior services, and hope to have more information on that next week.
Stay tuned for more progress reporting next week, and feel free to reach out to Sam Wilson, Chief Strategy Officer at [email protected] if you have specific questions, concerns, or ideas for the hospital.
