OCH Board of Trustees OKs affiliation conversations
The OCH Regional Medical Center Board of Trustees unanimously passed a motion to give Administrator and CEO of OCH Richard Hilton the authority to contact CEOs interested in a potential affiliation with the county-owned hospital.
Hilton discussed with the board how he was approached by larger entities in 2016 with the hopes of a potential affiliation arrangement.
Before any information could be assembled for preliminary discussions with the CEOs, Hilton said due to the conversation to sell the hospital, he did not see any reason to continue those discussions not knowing the outcome before the vote on Nov. 7.
An affiliation with a larger entity would allow specialty physicians to come to Oktibbeha County on a part time basis. There are currently two plastic surgeons willing to come to Starkville starting in December to offer breast reconstruction following a breast surgery from local doctors. The plastic surgeons would hold surgery in the morning and hold clinics in the afternoon.
“Those are the kinds of things that we may have the ability to attract through an affiliation arrangement and that would be very important for us to do that,” Hilton said.
Hilton said with an affiliation, it would also help “regenerate” momentum for specialist recruitment.
District 1 chairman of the Board of Trustees Jimmy Linley made the motion to approve Hilton’s request. The board passed the motion unanimously.
“This is not something that we just started today,” Linley told the Starkville Daily News. “We’ve been working on this a long time.”
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