CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Nueces County Hospital District CEO Johnny Hipp said Friday that his group is close to finalizing a deal with CHRISTUS Spohn Health System that would save its Emergency Medicine Residency Program.
Hipp made the announcement after the hospital district met Friday afternoon. He said negotiations are in the final stage and all parties are close to a solution.
"So what the board has asked, directed me to do, move and finalize those negotiations so that we can arrive at a solution as we’ve decided in the past," he said. "And the solution would likely involve the hospital district using some of its funds to supplement the program or pay for it.
CHRISTUS Spohn announced the closure of it's residency program in October, which sparked protest in its physicians, who spoke in both Corpus Christi City Council and Nueces County Commissioners Court meetings to the program's effectiveness in the community.
Discussions between the hospital district and CHRISTUS Spohn officials have been ongoing over the last several weeks.
In a previous report, Pct. 4 Commissioner Brent Chesney said timeliness plays a crucial role in the program's future because medical students currently are interviewing with hospital programs to be “matched." But with CHRISTUS Spohn staff saying they've been asked to pause recruitment, the program is at risk of not having residents to fill the program in June 2024 if interviews didn't resume within days.
Hipp said that while solutions are expected to come soon, there are still a few concerns that need to be ironed out before a solution is finalized.
"We’re still working out on how long and those type of things. The point of this is that we’re close to a solution. There’s still negotiations, there's still some things that are not done till the end," he said.
Hipp said in the meeting that an exact explanation could not be given due to confidentiality agreements. He said that more will be revealed when a definite plan has been decided on.
"Because we’re under a non-disclosure agreement with SPOHN during the negotiations, can’t go into the details of all that but those will come out when the board actually approves what we’re working on," he said.
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