Fulton Medical Center set to close in September

The Fulton Medical Center has announced that it will be closing by Sept. 22 of this year.

The hospital has 37 beds and 158 employees.

“After careful consideration and in light of the challenges facing rural hospitals in today’s healthcare environment, we have made the difficult decision to close Fulton Medical Center, no later than September 22th, 2017,” said Mike Powell, chief executive officer of FMC.

According to the release, the reasoning behind the closure is:

— Low patient volumes that made financial sustainability impossible, despite $1.8 million in capital improvements;
— A very old physical plant in Fulton that needs extensive and expensive repairs and upkeep that we cannot justify based on low patient volumes;
— The inability to expand FMC to provide additional operating revenues; and
— The inability to provide a new care delivery model due to the denial of a Certificate of Need application by the Missouri Health Facilities Review Committee necessary to expand the FMC clinical footprint.

The release said that as of July 20, FMC had 12 inpatients that it intends to keep caring for until further notice.

Fulton Mayor Leroy Benton told ABC 17 News that the City Council was disappointed and is very concerned for the nearly 150 employees who will lose their jobs in nearly 60 days.

Benton said right now the city is looking at both short-and long- term solutions.

“We need help on a short-term basis quicker than we can react,” Benton said.

One of the first major solutions that is needed is to try and get an emergency room back in town. Facilities such as Fulton State Hospital rely heavily on the current facility’s emergency room.

In the meantime, Benton said the city has met with a health care advisor firm that will look into more short-term solutions for the city to pursue.

One of the ideas that Benton brought up to ABC 17 news is to have a hospital district, similar to the city’s ambulance district.

“I would anticipate an increase in taxes,” Benton said. “They (ambulances) will have more transportation issues than they have now.” That is due to the increase in driving distance the ambulances will have when going to area hospitals.

It’s unclear what the hospital will do with the building space since it’s privately owned. The city said it would like to entertain the idea of purchasing the building or having it leased out to a company that could operate it.