Bonham -- Fannin County Hospital Authority will have its first meeting Thursday, October 25 and seated around the table for this historic occasion will be the hospital authority's first board of directors: Tom Mac Holmes - Trenton, Gene Danner - Boyd Community, Wendy Keaton - Telephone, Butch Henderson - Leonard, Clark Sanderson - Bonham, Rick Sheddy - Ravenna, and Steven Arthur - Boyd Community.
After weeks of complicated negotiations that continued through most of Monday morning and caused two recesses during a regular meeting of Fannin County Commissioners Court, commissioners voted overwhelmingly to approve the pending agreement between Fannin County and Attentus Bonham, LP, D/B/A/ Red River Regional Hospital.
This final agreement would seem to be a win - win for both parties because, technically, this change of ownership into a hospital authority allows Red River Regional Hospital to become eligible for millions of dollars the federal government has earmarked for public hospitals providing health care to rural Texans and, in a last-minute compromise spearheaded by Fannin County Judge Spanky Carter, the agreement calls for Red River Regional Hospital to pay Fannin County $200,000 annually to support the county's indigent health care needs or other related healthcare services.
The motion to approve the contract between Red River Regional Hospital and Fannin County passed 4-1, with commissioners Stan Barker, Dewayne Strickland and Gary Whitlock joining Judge Carter in support of the agreement, while commissioner Joe Strong cast the opposing vote.
Moments before the vote, Commissioner Strong had questioned the lack of an opt-out clause, however that responsibility rests squarely on the shoulders of the newly seated Fannin County Hospital Authority board of directors. As part of the legal language that prevents the county from being liable for any future dealings of the hospital, the county's jurisdiction ends with the decision to form the hospital authority and the seating of a board of directors to guide the new political subdivision.
The hospital authority board of directors will operate Red River Regional Hospital. The hospital, while leasing real property to the hospital authority, will continue to manage the facilities.
The driving force behind this initiative to form a hospital authority came about because of the federal government's decision to infusing Texas health care with $29 billion over the next five years in hopes of improving the experience of care, improving
the health of populations, and reducing the cost of health care without compromising quality.
As a stand-alone, for-profit hospital, Red River Regional Hospital would not have been able to participate. Under Monday's agreement, Red River Regional Hospital CEO has stated he expects the county health care community to now be able to access somewhere between $8 million and $25 million.