HMC owner eyeing joint venture with troubled Decatur General
By By Leada Gore, Hartselle Enquirer
For more than 60 years, Hartselle Medical Center has provided healthcare to area residents. Now, with the future medical services in the county at a crossroads, HMC’s owners, Capella Healthcare, are expressing interest in Decatur General. It’s a move they said would strengthen services in the area.
Capella owns HMC and Parkway Medical Center in Decatur. According to Capella President Tom Anderson, the organization is interested in forming some sort of alliance with financially troubled Decatur General.
Decatur General has been plagued by financial difficulties in recent months, coupled with a loss of obstetrics and cardiology services.
Anderson said he was approached by physicians from Decatur General to see if his company would be interested in the hospital.
Capella officials are not ruling out a merger with Decatur General, however, they said they prefer to see an arrangement with shared management and ownership.
Anderson said he approached Decatur General’s board several months ago with the joint-effort proposition but he didn’t receive any response. Now, he’s appealing to community leaders to push for discussions in the area.
Talk about Capella’s interest in Decatur General has prompted concerns among local residents that HMC would be closed or services limited.
Anderson is pledging Capella’s interest in keeping HMC open and able to provide an array of services, saying its had a “vested interested in Hartselle.” He did not rule out, however, some changes if Decatur General is added to its network but said none of the specifics had been determined. He stressed the need to keep the facility open, especially if the area sees an influx of residents from the Base Realignment and Closure relocations.
Franklin, Tenn.-based Capella officials have met with community leaders this week to discuss their plans. The company currently operates 14 hospitals.
HMC is a 150-bed full service hospital with a local board of directors. Local board members are Mike Tarpley, Bill Camp, Philip Hines, David Burleson, Dr. Dinesh Ghandhi, Dr. Alan Walker, George Crawford and Catherine Ann Sims.
