The meeting can be seen in its entirety on the City of Hope’s facebook page.
This step has been taken to keep the hospital open after its parent company Steward Healthcare declared bankruptcy in May. With the city and Hempstead County in possession of the real estate, the two governments were in a better position to influence the choice of who would end up owning the right to operate the hospital.
This gambit seems to have paid off, with Pafford Health Systems, a local company most known for providing emergency ambulance services, emerging as the favored bidder for the purchase of the license to operate the hospital and then being approved as purchaser by Steward Healthcare.
A hearing has been scheduled for Tuesday in a U.S. bankruptcy court in which the judge is thought likely to approve the purchases by Hope and Hempstead County of the hospital's real estate from MPT of Hope and to approve the purchase by Pafford Medical Systems of the right to operate the hospital.
In Wednesday evening's meeting, an ordinance was passed on an emergency basis with all city directors voting in favor of suspending the rules, adopting the ordinance and adopting the emergency clause.
Discussion before the vote concerned making it clear to directors and to the public that the ordinance has the approval of all the other parties involved, including City Attorney Randal Wright, who read the ordinance; District Prosecutor Ben Hale, who acts as Hempstead County's attorney and MPT of Hope, the seller. The city's purchase of half-ownership of the hospital's property is contingent on Hempstead County also agreeing to buying its respective half of the property, also for $250,000.
Other questions from the directors answered during the meeting by Wright and by Anna Powell, Executive Director of the Hope-Hempstead County Economic Development Corporation (HCEDC), included establishing that the holder of the title to the property would be the city of Hope and Hempstead County, that the ordinance needed passing in time for a hearing before Judge Christopher Lopez in the United States Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of Texas this coming Tuesday, August 13th and that Powell will sign agreements in the city and county’s name.
Until a final decision is made by Lopez on whether to approve the purchase of the hospital’s real estate, negotiations cannot yet begin on a lease agreement between Hope and Hempstead County and the prospective buyer, Pafford Health Systems, who bid to purchase has been approved by Steward Health Care, the current parent company that operates Hope’s only hospital.
During the meeting, Powell said, in response to director Trevor Coffee’s question about whether Pafford would be taking over the operation of the hospital after Tuesday’s Bankruptcy Court hearing that Pafford would be immediately working to transition the hospital to be operated by Pafford. Steward Healthcare staff would still be involved in this transitional period in helping Pafford take over contracts, communications and security systems.
Powell told the directors there would likely be a months-long transition period starting as soon as Tuesday. After that, the Pafford Health Systems purchase of the right to operate Hope’s hospital is not expected to reach final closing for at least two months. But Pafford will be operating the hospital during this period as it operates its emergency facilities now.
Should the purchase is approved by Judge Perez Tuesday, then another source of revenue can be applied for, Powell said. “After the bankruptcy court approves the purchase of the property and the purchase of the license, which should happen on Tuesday, then a formal request for ARPA [American Rescue Plan Act] funds can be moved to the state level of government.”
