CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The Nueces County Hospital District voted Wednesday afternoon to not approve a tentative agreement reached with CHRISTUS Spohn Hospital System exactly one week ago.
Nueces County commissioners raised concerns about the agreement during its regularly scheduled Wednesday meeting to save the hospital's Emergency Medicine Residency Program.
"We really felt at the time the hospital district had come up with something that we all had asked for, then we all got to the point where we all felt like. . . . I got to a point where I felt like we were trying to put a square peg into a round hole because Spohn didn't want the program," said Pct. 4 commissioner Brent Chesney.
He said Wednesday that during a Monday committee meeting with doctors and commissioners, it was agreed that the tentative agreement -- which was reached between hospital district CEO Jonny Hipp and CHRISTUS Spohn officials Nov. 8 -- is inadequate because it currently only keeps the program alive for 5 more years.
During Wednesday morning's meeting, commissioners court agreed to ask Hipp to table the agreement and not make any final decisions.
"The concerns were: The residency programs would not, they would not be out there long enough,” Hipp said. “And so at this point we had agreed on, at least tentatively agreed, to do something over five years, but it seems to be that that's not going to be long enough. And so we're going to kind of go back to the drawing board with Spohn."
Local leaders are now looking to explore options when it comes to how to save the program, including bringing in Corpus Christi Medical Center owner HCA gauge its interest in running the program for longer than 5 years.
"Maybe we ought to look at a different solution," Chesney said Wednesday. "Maybe a longer term commitment by Spohn, or maybe transferring it over to HCA. So the court today passed a motion to ask the hospital district to table their item."
He said because of the seemingly different direction the CHRISTUS Spohn business model is leaning, that HCA may be a better fit.
Nueces County Medical Society member Dr. Karl Serrao spoke during the commissioner's meeting's public comment section Wednesday morning to share a statement outlining the society's concerns pertaining to the program, saying the society hopes a long-term partner can be found, whether or not the program continues at CHRISTUS Spohn.
"If a long-term agreement can not be reached with CHRISTUS Health, that there be collaboration with other healthcare entities willing to provide a long-term solution, including transferring the program to other hospital systems," he said.
There is no indication when a new agreement may be drafted, but so far both the hospital district and commissioners court seem committed to find a more permanent solution to saving the program.
Weekend anchor Brian Burns contributed to this developing story. 3NEWS will provide updates as they become available.
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