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Another consultant again suggests hospitals consolidate Several years after a study suggested Grove Hill as the best location for a consolidated regional hospital for Clarke County, another consultant has offered a similar view. Last week, the Jackson City Council heard Mayor Richard Long report that a consultant hired by Jackson Medical Center said he could locate no buyers for the Jackson hospital and suggested that the best solution for hospital care would be for the county's hospitals to consolidate into a larger regional facility, located in or near Jackson. Ralph Hobbs, who was employed by Jackson Medical Center, nudged his recommendation for a consolidated hospital toward Jackson. Hobbs suggested last fall that the community needed a "state-of-the-art medical facility" in light of ThyssenKrupp's announcement of a mega steel mill 35 miles south of Jackson in Calvert. However, Long said that Hobbs had contacted several larger hospitals but none were interested in taking over the local hospital and building a bigger facility. Long said Jackson Medical Center owner Gil McKenzie has plans for expansion for the hospital and is proceeding with them. The mayor called the plan impressive and said the work would basically create a new facility. Over $80,000 was spent on a detailed study of the issue several years ago that suggested Grove Hill as the best and most practical site for a regional hospital. T'ville hospital seeks HUD funding In Thomasville, Southwest Alabama Medical Center has completed the pre-application process with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for a government-backed loan to construct a new $35 million hospital, Anne Thompson, executive vice president of the hospital's parent company, Resurgence Health Group of Atlanta, Ga. reported last week. The idea for a regional hospital in Thomasville was announced by Resurgence shortly after it bought Thomasville Hospital a few years back and renamed it the more ambitious Southwest Alabama Medical Center. Thomasville Mayor Sheldon Day has been a vocal advocate for the new facility and has made space available in a new industrial park on the south side of town for it and an adjoining medical complex. If HUD accepts the initial application, Resurgence will have to make a more detailed, formal application that will include details of the new facility, projections for business and other financial and medical information. Both Jackson and Thomasville are privately owned hospitals as opposed to Grove Hill Memorial Hospital, which is owned by the Town of Grove Hill but overseen by a board appointed by the Town Council. In 2006, hospital officials from Jackson and Grove Hill looked at some kind of joint venture between the two. Thomasville hospital officials were asked to participate in the 2006 meeting, too, but apparently declined. There were meetings and talks but nothing ever came of it- just as nothing has ever come of other similar efforts. Grove Hill said best for maximum reimbursement Grove Hill hospital administrator Doug Sewell has contended consistently that Grove Hill is the logical choice for a regional hospital for many reasons. One of the main ones is that the county seat meets the requirements for sole community provider status so as to maximize reimbursement dollars. "You've got to be 35 miles farther than the nearest facility. There's only one certain place in this county that it will fit," he explained last year, meaning Grove Hill. It looks like the issue is no closer to being resolved than it ever has been, as each of the three hospitals continue along separate pathways. Neighboring hospitals
There is a hospital in Chatom, in Washington County to the south of Jackson and one in Monroeville in neighboring Monroe County, to the east. To the north of Thomasville, Camden and Demopolis offers hospitals. Neighboring Choctaw County does not have a hospital but has been trying in recent years to secure one.
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