CHEBOYGAN --
This week, Michigan Rural Healthcare Preservation, Inc. (MRHP) signed an Asset Purchase Agreement (APA) with Cheboygan Memorial Hospital Board of Trustees (CMH). This agreement is designed to allow the Hospital to offer additional services, including minimally invasive spine surgeries to help ease some of the financial strain the organization has collected over the past several years.
Both organizations are hopeful this transaction will close by the first of the year, pending regulatory approval.
"We are very excited to be working with MRHP," said Carolyn E. Riley, Interim President/CEO of CMH. "Their unique vision of preserving facilities and expanding care will help stabilize Michigan's community hospitals."
Riley points out that the non-profit entity is acquiring the Cheboygan Hospital in total, including the operations, assets, buildings, accounts receivables and liabilities.
"We are committed to maintaining all patient services while expanding care to include surgery programs. Employees have been reassured there will be no personnel changes and no reduction in hours," according to Riley.
"We will maintain the same access to Medicare and Medicaid, as well as keep our recently acquired Critical Care Access Hospital status," she said, explaining that these are some of the things the State Attorney General's office will review when they look at the proposed purchase.
Under the leadership of renowned Michigan neurosurgeon, Dr. E. Malcolm Field, MRHP Medical Director and Ethan I. Lipkind, Esq., chairman of the MRHP board, MRHP is committed to ensuring adequate access to health care in all parts of our state. Lipkind adds, "It's unfortunate that many Michigan hospitals are struggling in these tough economic conditions. MRHP exists to help local community hospitals harness the latest advances in medical care. In turn, these specialty medical services will then support the hospital's primary and emergency medical care needs."
Dr. Gerald Schell, a pioneer in minimally invasive spine surgery, is one of several MRHP network physicians planning to perform surgery in Cheboygan this fall. "Major developments in spine surgery over the past five years have made it much safer to perform these types of surgeries in smaller, rural areas," stated Schell.
By operating in Cheboygan, not only will these physicians be saving patients a long commute, they will also help set the example that hospitals in rural settings can develop a niche specialty service. Through specializing, smaller hospitals can help drive the economy of the region while maintaining immediate health care services that these communities are in danger of losing.
MRHP plans to sustain employment of current staff and existing management at CMH. A local board of trustees will be formed to serve on the community advisory board for MRHP.
Over the next few weeks, CMH administration will be providing more details on the agreement to the community.
