Memphis, Tenn.-based Baptist Memorial Health Care and Tupelo-based North Mississippi Health Services are reportedly open to affiliating with Starkville, Miss.-based OCH Regional Medical Center after residents voted Nov. 7 to nix a proposal to potentially sell the hospital, according to the Daily Journal.
The OCH Regional board of trustees green-lighted hospital officials Nov. 8 to begin negotiating a potential affiliation with interested parties. The board of trustees would retain control over the facility and the hospital would remain county-owned, the report states.
Baptist Memorial and NMHS previously expressed interest in buying OCH Regional prior to the Nov. 7 vote.
"We hope North Mississippi Health Services is one of the systems OCH intends to contact regarding their interest in an affiliation. If so, we look forward to listening to OCH's understanding of the needs of the community and what OCH sees as opportunities for growth," Shane Spees, president and CEO of NMHS, told the Daily Journal.
Jason Little, president and CEO of Baptist Memorial Health Care, also reiterated the health system's interest in working with OCH Regional leaders.
"We want to help however we can. We all want what's best for OCH, its patients and Oktibbeha County," Mr. Little told the Daily Journal.
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