As anticipated, and reported in a story last week in The Reporter, the buildings at the former Richards Memorial Hospital campus have been released from bankruptcy.
It’s a milestone, according to Dick Burns, chair of the Rockdale Hospital District board of trustees.
There’s been a great deal of hope that the district can to forge a relationship with an established health care provider to return some kind of service to the hospital campus.
ST. JOSEPH’S—Burns said on Thursday the hospital district bankruptcy trustee and bankruptcy judge held a telephonic meeting during which the judge issued an order to release the facilities.
“With this release the district is prepared to begin working with CHI St. Joseph-Health Point to establish a working relationship for the establishment of health care operations,” he said.
Health Point has an areawide network of 12 facilities, including Caldwell and Hearne.
Health Point has already run an ad in The Reporter seeing a family practice/ internal medicine position in Rockdale.
Rockdale’s hospital, and associated clinics, closed in December and entered Chapter 7 Bankruptcy (liquidation).
Many items have been moved out of the facilities which include the main hospital building, clinics and offices.
Officials have noted reopening a hospital facility is not likely and that negotiations are expected concerning a clinic and, perhaps, an urgent care facility.
Rockdale is not without health care, however. A new Rockdale Medical Clinic opened Feb. 11 at 602 North Main, site of the longtime Rockdale Medical Association clinic.
It can be reached at 512-429-0189 and is open Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
CONUNDRUM—A big hurdle remains. Burns said a revenue stream of some magnitude will be required for facilities eyed for the RMH campus.
And the district, currently, does not have one.
Burns has visited the Rockdale City Council and Rockdale Municipal Development District asking those entities share sales tax collections to help ensure a revenue stream for a new health care system to open facilities at the campus.
The hospital district once collected a half-cent sales tax, and an ad valorem tax. It now collects neither. The half-cent sales tax which once went to health care now goes to the MDD, the result of elections in 2010.
“It’s unfortunate the (hospital) district does not have its half-cent sales tax as that would satisfy probably 80 percent of the need,” he said.
Burns pointed out the district still has ad valorem taxing authority.
“That’s why we were asking for cost sharing of the sales tax from the city and MDD, to minimize any ad valorem tax,” he said.
“The district’s thinking was that the sales and use tax revenue comes from a broader based revenue area,” Burns said.
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