Healthmark Regional plans to open free medical clinic amid emergency room closure

DeFUNIAK SPRINGS — Healthmark Regional Medical Center is working to open a free clinic that would provide access to patients who had used the hospital's emergency room as their primary source of health care prior to its March 18 closing.

Medical Center CEO Lisa Holley announced the plan at Tuesday's Walton County Commission meeting.

Previous reporting on the ER closure: Healthmark's emergency room has been closed for over 100 days. NWFL is feeling the negative effects

Background: Healthmark Regional Medical Center reportedly fails to pay staff for weeks; ER remains closed

Holley was called to speak following a report from Walton County Emergency Medical Chief Tracey Vause that outlined the significant negative impacts the closing of the emergency room has had, particularly for residents in the DeFuniak Springs area where the hospital is located.

The CEO said Healthmark Regional is "currently working with someone" to make the free clinic a reality. She declined to identify the source of assistance because, she said, a contract has not yet been signed.

'The AHCA did not order the hospital to close the ER'

'In her short appearance before the commission, Holley also provided indicators that there are issues not being shared publicly by the hospital that may account for what was initially announced as a two-week closure of the emergency room being extended well beyond 100 days.

She said privately owned Healthmark Regional, having survived two years of COVID-19 impacts without the funding other hospitals received, has been further burdened by "doing a lot of repairs that we did not choose to do, but had to do unbudgeted."

Holley did not discuss what repairs she was referring to or who or what had forced the hospital to undertake them.

The hospital had announced just ahead of its closing that the emergency room was being refurbished and remodeled, but Florida Association of Health Care Administration records indicate Healthmark Regional's license to operate was set to expire March 6, with a new license scheduled to become effective March 18.

AHCA records found on the agency's website show that the hospital's licensure status at this time remains "in review," with no new license having been issued. That status does allow the hospital to remain open and functioning, according to agency officials.

"The AHCA did not order the hospital to close the ER," agency spokeswoman Kayla McLaughlin said in an email.

McLaughlin said AHCA officials had most recently visited Healthmark on May 18. She did not provide specific information about the visit. The report from the inspection has not yet been made public or say whether documentation of that investigation had yet been made public.

'They've been in trouble for months and months'

On Tuesday, the hospital's parking lot was mostly empty. A hospital staff member insisted the facility was open.

DeFuniak Springs Mayor Bob Campbell said he believes the time has come to "look beyond them (Healthmark) getting their doors open."

"They've been in trouble for months and months, that's been obvious for the public to see," Campbell said. "I don't know if it's 100% closed, but from all appearances there's nothing going on out there. ... With all the growth we're having in this area, we definitely need a full-fledged hospital."

On Friday, Healthmark spokesman Ron Kelley repeated that only the emergency room is closed.

"Except for the emergency room, the hospital is open. The clinic is open and outpatient services are open," he said in an email.

The hospital had earlier this year been issued an AHCA Notice of Intent to Deem Incomplete and Withdraw from Further Review of the Agency. That is the agency's way of saying its application for renewal of its license had been sent back because it didn't contain enough required information to be considered complete.

A medical center receiving a state notice of intent has 21 days to respond to the AHCA's request for more information before the pending application for renewal is withdrawn from consideration. It is unclear whether Healthmark responded to the AHCA within the required time period.

Healthmark was fined $500 by AHCA earlier this year for failing to pay a Life Safety Inspection Fee. The inspection was conducted in July 2021 and repayment was 96 days overdue when notice of the fine was delivered by certified mail.

'The ambulance service has become the health care providers' as Healthmark ER remains closed

The numbers presented to Walton County commissioners by Vause state that since the Healthmark emergency room ceased operations, the number of out-of-county ambulance transports has jumped 35%. In the ambulance service zone that includes DeFuniak Springs, the number of out-of-county transports has jumped to 81%.

Ambulance crews have also seen a significant jump in the number of people refusing transport to a hospital, Vause told commissioners.

"Citizens who would have gone to Healthmark are relying strictly on the ambulance service," Vause told commissioners. "The ambulance service has become the health care providers north of Rock Hill Road" in DeFuniak Springs.

Holley urged county officials at Tuesday's meeting to "please understand nobody wants to help the people of this county more than we do."

She said the hospital has "several other plans" in motion to continue operations. She called upon Vause and Sheriff Michael Adkinson, whose agency oversees Walton County Fire and Rescue, to meet with her rather than making their concerns about the emergency room closure public.

"I would be happy to talk to them about what we've been going through as a private hospital," she told commissioners. "There's a lot the public doesn't know, and if anyone would like to take the time to actually come to us and talk to us I would be happy to be quite honest with you."

Adkinson confirmed Thursday that Vause and Holley had spoken and discussed meeting at an as yet undetermined future date. A Northwest Florida Daily News request to set up an interview with Holley was rejected.

"Ms. Holley was addressing the Walton County Commission," Kelley said in an email. "We will contact the appropriate media outlets when we have something new to share."

This article originally appeared on Northwest Florida Daily News: Healthmark Regional plans free Walton medical clinic amid ER closure