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Last week’s closing of Thomasville Hospital in Clark 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.
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 hospital. As a matter of law, the Commission has requested an opinion on that possibility from the Alabama Attorney General’s office. The commission is awaiting 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 told Adkisson that 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 questioned. As a governing board, do you have no authority to intervene in what the (HCA) 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 HCA, 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 Atmore Community Hospital Administrator Brad Lowery tendered his resignation a week ago, but will remain in the role for a couple more months.
The ECHCA is working to fill the administrator’s position, Rowell said.
Adkisson said there are ways to solve the problem.
“Escambia County is not an average county because our county is wealthy,” Adkisson said. “There are systems to correct our problem. Let’s see what the reason is for our hospitals to be teetering on the brink.”
Wiggins said he and others had been to Montgomery to find solutions to fix the problem.
“We have gotten no answers,” Wiggins said. “We are willing to work to help find a solution.”
White said he didn’t want to see any hospital fail, citing the closure of the hospital in Flomaton as evidence of the impact it has on a community.
“I appreciate your professionalism and compassion for what’s going on in this situation,” White said. “I’ve seen our hospital fail and how it affected our community. I don’t want to see the other two hospitals fail in our county. In Flomaton, we have no facility and no ambulance. It takes 22 minutes for ambulance response in our community. I am aware of the situation and am just as frustrated as you are, but your concerns are being addressed to the wrong entity.”
Wiggins invited Adkisson to return to a future meeting of the commission to further address the issue.
“We will be happy to have you and Dr. (Steve) Nelson and Dr. (Dan) Raulerson come back before the commission,” Wiggins said. “We will reach out and invite members of the Health Care Authority to be here as well to address this again.”
After some discussion, Adkisson said he and the other doctors would be happy to return to meet with the Commission at their November meeting.