Hospital Receives A License To Reopen After Months Of Back And Forth With OSDH

It's been 9 months since Clinton Regional Hospital closed its doors, but there’s a renewed plan to re-open.

It's one that will force the city to foot the bill at least for a little while.

The interim CEO Mike Thomas told me it'll save the city millions in the long run. They're reopening October 30th, after recently receiving their license from the state health department.

Right now, people in Clinton have to travel out of town to find an emergency room.

“The loss of that license was a real dagger in the heart for the hospital of Clinton,” Thomas said.

The hospital has been closed for about 9 months. The city filed for an initial license after Alliance Health left.

“We're starting from scratch,” Thomas said.

The Oklahoma State Department of Health issued a license to the hospital for 22 beds. Thomas said 11 beds will be available next month.

The hospital will have a pharmacy, emergency department and radiology services. Thomas said they hope to have all their beds available after they get their certification for Medicare and Medicaid services.

“The city of Clinton will have to float all the operations, including supplies and everything until we could bill for patients,” Thomas said.

It's been a long process for everyone involved, many people lost their jobs, and it took a lot of planning and discussions with the state to get licensed something Thomas has been working on since May.

“We were able to convince the state we should open up under existing and they agreed,” Thomas said.

But the health department said the hospital did make some changes before getting licensed.

In a statement the health department said:

Over many months the Oklahoma State Department of Health (OSDH) has worked diligently with the City of Clinton and clearly communicated the requirements of opening their local hospital. OSDH has been consistent and clear on the process, never wavering on the actions that must be taken to ensure patient safety and meet the regulatory responsibilities required of the OSDH. There has been no confusion or mixed communications from the OSDH, rather, there has been a stubborn refusal to accept the regulatory requirements by the City’s representatives. This trend of non-acceptance appears to originate with the notification from Alliance Health that they did not intend to continue operation of the hospital. Even at that early stage, Alliance Health clearly made the City aware of the requirements and challenges inherent in licensure status, even providing a plan on next steps for maintaining the existing license and avoiding an interruption of services. The responsibility to maintain required licensure and standards rests with the Clinton Hospital Authority (CHA), and OSDH remains committed to work alongside and assist, but resists the CHA’s representatives continuing efforts to shift responsibility for their failed actions to OSDH.

Thomas says it was a lot of work, but the community will be thankful in the end.

“Once a hospital is closed it's a big, big lift to get them back open,” Thomas said.