STARKVILLE — OCH Regional Medical Center is for sale, and Baptist Memorial Health Care and North Mississippi Health Services both intend to take a shot at it.
Supervisors approved a request for proposals Monday and published that RFP online Wednesday afternoon, indicating what the county wants from a potential buyer.
“We had several meetings, and we identified some important factors that we’d like to see a potential buyer entertain,” Marvell Howard, president of the Oktibbeha County board of supervisors, said. “We discussed what we felt would be important and beneficial for our community when it comes to health care, what a potential buyer would bring to the table care-wise.”
The RFP includes “minimum requirements” for buyers, like having more than $750 million in annual operating revenue for the last three fiscal years and maintaining the OCH Emergency Department’s status as a Level III Trauma Center or greater.
The proposal also asks bidders how they would collaborate with Mississippi State University, retain employees for at least some time frame, commit to charity care and to capital improvement. Buyers must also provide a “strategic vision” for OCH within its overall system and community.
The RFP also requires potential buyers to provide strategies to recapture or rebuild “impaired service lines” such as gastroenterology, orthopedic surgery and otolaryngology (ear, nose and throat care). It calls for potential plans for cardiology and neurology departments, along with a proposal to offer behavioral health services.
OCH Board of Trustees Chair Linda Breazeale said the hospital board submitted priorities to the supervisors during the RFP development process, many of which made it into the final RFP.
“We compiled a list of items we wanted to be sure were addressed in the RFP and sent that in the form of a letter to the supervisors,” Breazeale said.
Mississippi State University and the Greater Starkville Development Partnership also submitted letters to supervisors that were used in the RFP’s development. District 2 Supervisor Orlando Trainer said the supervisors kept all three parties in mind as they were building the RFP.
“From what I can tell, it was considered and all the points were met,” he said. “We covered everything from them, the business community and Mississippi State. I’m satisfied, I think everything is moving in the right direction and hopefully we get some good responses.”
Interested suitors
Supervisors voted to move forward with the sale in September after Raymond James Financial Services presented results from a feasibility study recommending its sale.
The county attempted to sell the hospital previously in 2017, but voters petitioned against it and forced a referendum to vote against the facility’s sale. At that time, both Memphis, Tennessee-based Baptist Memorial Health Care Corporation and Tupelo-based North Mississippi Health Services submitted proposals to purchase the hospital before the sale was shot down.
But after the RFP was published this week, both of the health care providers have indicated they are interested in submitting proposals once again.
North Mississippi Health Services Chief Executive Officer Shane Spees told The Dispatch Thursday that the system meets the minimum requirements of the RFP, including net revenues that exceeded $1 billion per year for the past three years.
“We are very interested in OCH and excited about the potential to work with the medical staff, the team at OCH as well as MSU on continuing to improve the health of residents of the county and region,” Spees said in an emailed statement. “We intend to respond to the RFP.”
Kimberly Alexander, Baptist Memorial Health Care’s director for public relations, said the organization met the RFP’s minimum requirements with net operating revenues of $4.4 billion in 2024, $3.6 billion in 2023 and $3.4 billion in 2022.
Alexander also indicated the Baptist system is interested.
“Baptist Memorial Health Care is very interested in partnering with the county’s government and residents to deliver a proposal that will significantly enhance health care services in the community,” she said. “We are reviewing the request for proposal and will submit a thorough response that addresses each of the required elements, along with other information that will support our ability to deliver high-quality, comprehensive health care to the community.”
Another system that would meet the RFP’s minimum criteria is Jackson-based University of Mississippi Medical Center, which generated $2.1 billion in total revenue in Fiscal Year 2024, $1.8 billion in 2023 and $1.7 billion in 2022, according to its most recent annual report. OCH affiliated with UMMC in 2018, though OCH CEO Jim Jackson said in 2023 that the affiliation had paid little dividends.
The Dispatch couldn’t reach UMMC representatives by press time.
Still, the door is open for all interested parties that meet the criteria to submit final proposals by April 17, with the county anticipating picking the “highest and best” by May 5.
Howard said that the RFP’s various points aren’t hard limits on what proposals will and won’t be considered. Even elements labelled “minimum requirements” might be negotiable if a given proposal meets the county’s needs otherwise.
“If one potential buyer can’t check off one potential requirement, I don’t think the board is saying that automatically disqualifies them,” he said. “But we wanted to put together a document of items that we want potential buyers to know were important to us going forward through this process.”
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 35 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
