All quiet on the Natchez Regional Medical Center front should sound like an alarm to anyone who has been paying attention to the ongoing sales process. I agree whole-heartedly with Kevin Cooper’s column that appeared in the May 18, edition of The Natchez Democrat.

After testifying under oath at a bankruptcy court hearing on April 24 that an announcement concerning a binding sales agreement with the potential purchaser should be forthcoming within 48 to 72 hours, Scott Phillips of Health Management Partners, the consulting firm hired to conduct the sales process, quickly backtracked from that self-imposed deadline by saying that he “misspoke,” and that they should have an announcement by May 6.

Here we are, and no announcement has been made. I can only surmise that Phillips again “misspoke” with his self-imposed May 6 deadline for the big announcement. He seems to have a penchant to misspeak concerning such matters.

What should be alarming to the majority of county residents, who seem to have resigned themselves to the idea that the best outcome we can now hope for is for Community Health Systems, the parent company of Natchez Community Hospital, to buy NRMC is that the potential sale might be in trouble.

They seem to be having difficulty signing off on an agreement that has been rumored to be a done deal, for weeks now. Of course since we ordinary citizens, taxpayers and owners of NRMC are kept totally in the dark as to this process, this is pure speculation. But experience tells me there may be trouble in paradise as far as the proposed sale is concerned.

Perhaps the potential purchaser is trying to squeeze for something more than a bargain basement price, and an $8 million tax abatement that the City of Natchez threw in to help the deal move forward. I wonder if the county powers that be even thanked the city powers that be for that one?

Or perhaps the potential purchaser has gotten cold feet and our crack consulting team is trying to come up with additional enticements to lure them into moving forward with the deal. Who knows?

All this begs the question: Have any of the powers that be given any thought as to how we will proceed if this sale falls through? I certainly hope we have not put all of our eggs into this one sale basket, which is being carried right now by Phillips.

I guess we will all just have to wait for the big announcement, or maybe not.

 

Chuck Fields

Adams County Resident