“It has taken a lot of legwork for us to just get to this point,” Joe Ayers, chair of the county board, said during a meeting. “Whether we lease or sell, our end goal is to get a provider in there to start servicing the citizens of our community once again.”
The 43-bed hospital attempted to reopen as a rural emergency hospital in August under a federal rule that allows facilities in rural areas with less than 50 beds to convert to rural emergency status.
A public hearing will be held during the board’s next scheduled meeting Feb. 12 regarding the hospital. Once state requirements have been fulfilled, interested parties will receive bid packages, the publication said.
“Once we start getting feedback from them, we will begin the review process, and the negotiations will begin on whether they are interested in leasing or buying,” Mr. Ayers said. “It is almost impossible to say how long that process will take. Ideally, it would be great to see some traction and direction in two or three months, but that is a wild guess at best.”
Becker’s has reached out to the county board and hospital for comment and will update this story should more information become available.
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