OKTIBBEHA COUNTY — For the second time in seven years, county supervisors have started a process that could lead to privatizing OCH Regional Medical Center.
In a special-call meeting Thursday with OCH trustees and administration, supervisors voted in executive session to hire Raymond James Financial Services to perform a “due diligence study” of the county-owned hospital and develop recommendations. The county also retained Butler Snow as its legal counsel through the process.
The closed-door meeting with hospital trustees before the vote was meant for “strategic planning” including partnering, selling or leasing OCH or “maintaining the status quo,” county board attorney Rob Roberson told The Dispatch.
“I honestly think everybody on both boards were very cooperative in their responses and willing to listen to each other,” Roberson said. “I wouldn’t suggest there is 100% agreement (between the county and hospital boards). Both sides want there to be information that is real, that is tangible for the public, and an ability for us to move forward.”
A due diligence study is the first required step before a sale or lease could be considered, Roberson said. The study in 2017 recommended the county sell OCH, but more than 58% of voters in a referendum rejected privatization.
This study should take about 75 days to complete, after which Raymond James will deliver its findings to both the county and hospital boards, Roberson said. If it recommends a sale or lease, supervisors will set a public hearing. Forcing a referendum, just like in 2017, would take at least 1,500 registered voters signing petitions that are delivered to the circuit clerk’s office for verification within 21 days of the hearing.
If no referendum is needed, Roberson said the county would then request proposals from interested suitors for OCH.
“In that request for proposals, we will put certain minimum standards that we’re asking for,” Roberson said. “An example of a minimum standard might be, ‘You must keep the current employees for six months,’ or whatever. Or we could put something in that says we want to know how much investment you would put into this hospital over the course of the next few years.
“Even after we accept a proposal from an entity, that entity would have the right to do their due diligence,” he added.
‘Losing money, patients and doctors’
OCH operated at a combined $5.6 million deficit in Fiscal Years 2022 and 2023, CEO Jim Jackson told The Dispatch in February. It privatized its ambulance service in July 2023, with Jackson reporting it had been operating as much as $140,000 in the red annually, even after contributions from the county and Mississippi State University.
The hospital’s affiliation with the larger University of Mississippi Medical Center — which its leaders touted in 2017 as an alternative to a sale or lease that would improve services — has accomplished little, Jackson said last summer.
OCH also struggles with staffing shortages and decreased use. That has caused frustration for the county and hospital, alike, Roberson said.
“If we were breaking even or losing money a little bit, and the health care system was moving in the right direction, I think everybody would stop and say, ‘Let’s hang on,’” he said. “… We’re losing money, patients and doctors.”
While the county doesn’t contribute to hospital operations, supervisors levy tax millage each year to repay outstanding bonds for its capital improvements. This year’s county budget sets aside roughly $1.67 million toward that debt. By shedding ownership of the hospital, the county can reallocate that money in future years.
“You can’t go back and make up a lost hand,” said District 2 Supervisor Orlando Trainer, who supported privatization in 2017. “I’m of the opinion that had this been successful when we pursued it the first time we would be so much farther ahead. … that can be debated, I suppose.”
Trainer said he would be surprised if this study didn’t also recommend a sale or lease.
Roberson isn’t so sure.
“The market is different,” he said. “We’ve gone through COVID, an economic downturn. It may not be the right timing to put it for sale. … Maybe the best thing that comes out of this study is a direction.”
‘We’ll see how it comes out’
OCH trustee Linda Breazeale called Thursday’s meeting with supervisors an “honest, upfront discussion.” She said she’s willing to give Raymond James the “benefit of the doubt” as it conducts the hospital study.
“It’s never a bad thing to consider our options,” she told The Dispatch. “… Our priorities are providing quality health care and taking our fiduciary responsibilities seriously.”
Likewise, Kimberly Brooks, president of the OCH trustees, said the meeting was productive.
“I hope it all works, and they keep the hospital the way it is,” Brooks said. “… We’ll see how it comes out.”
Zack Plair is the managing editor for The Dispatch.
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