Perry County Hospital temporarily suspends all services

Reprinted from Buffalo River Review

Less than two weeks after announcing the reopening of its inpatient geriatric behavioral services, Perry Community Hospital is temporarily closing its doors-and this time the emergency room is included.

The hospital has experienced a turbulent year, hit hard by the pandemic in the last few months, and struggling despite efforts to rebrand, expand offerings, and stay afloat.

The latest announcement that all services would be suspended was made the day before Thanksgiving, and became effective noon, Friday, November 27.

The reason, the announcement stated, was "due to the coronavirus effect on our employees, low patient volume resulting in low collection and a poor financial condition."

The statement continued, "We plan to reopen in approximately two months; we will take this time to improve operations and our financial condition."

The earlier closure just weeks ago left the emergency room operational.

According to an "inactive plan" document, the hospital will be seeking a $1 million loan to keep the doors open, and is prepared to file for bankruptcy protection "if necessary."

The document states that "cash is available to fund shutdown from accounts receivable collections to pay staff during shutdown."

The number of affected employees is unknown. In July, in an interview with the Review, former administrator Liane Parker said the hospital employed 115 people at the time-up from 72 when she became CEO earlier in the year.

According to data from the Paycheck Protection Program approved by Congress in response to the pandemic, Perry Community Hospital received between $350,000 and $1 million in a forgivable PPP loan through FirstBank to retain 83 positions.

The PPP website does not provide exact loan amounts, only ranges.

The suspension plan called for the transfer of all medical, surgical, and behavioral health patients within 72 hours of the closure notice.

Reopening is planned "once adequate funding is in place."

Hospital owner Jason Weil did not respond to a text message or email about the number of employees affected by the closure or the status of the PPP loan.

On November 1, Weil released these details:

"Financially speaking, PCH has taken in approximately one fourth of what we had budgeted over the last four months. This coupled with increased spending on hospital renovations and COVID-19 related safety measures has diminished our cash on hand.

"The drop off in revenue from reduced services and procedures will continue to be felt over the next few months but should begin to increase as we begin readmitting patients for services work and add new lines of business.

"Also we will work with federal and state representatives to secure grants and other funding sources to improve cash flow."

Weil also named the hiring of a new CEO, Michael Layfield.

County Mayor John Carroll released the following statement about the situation on Friday:

"While we are sad that Perry Community Hospital has announced that it will be temporarily suspending all services today at noon, we wish them the best as they implement their plan to regroup and reopen. 

"Perry County Ambulance Service will still be fully operational during this time. We had a conference call last night with TEMA, other ambulance services, and hospitals to make sure everyone we work with was aware of the situation. They all readily volunteered to help in any way they can-something we greatly appreciate-until the hospital can reopen."

Jason Weil, Expertus Health LLC, took full ownership of the hospital on March 5, 2020.