Marketplace, the public radio program, reports today from Tennessee, where a company called Braden Health is buying up rural hospitals. This excerpt leads with 22-year-old Kyle Kopec, chief compliance officer for Braden Health.
“They’re not the most complicated things in the world,” Kopec said of these hospital deals. “But if you don’t know exactly how to run them, you’re just going to run them straight into the ground.”
The mayor of Houston County, James Bridges, said he agrees. His county bought the local community hospital in 2013 for $2.4 million in order to prevent permanent closure.
“We had no business being in the hospital business,” Bridges said. “The majority of county governments do not have the expertise and the education and knowledge that it takes to run health care facilities in 2022.”
Those with the most experience — like big corporate hospital chains based nearby in Nashville — have been getting out of the small hospital business too, so communities have seen a revolving door of managers. Some even got in trouble for shady billing practices.
In nearby Decatur County, where Braden Health is also taking over, the previous operator has been indicted on theft charges.
“You’re looking to someone who supposedly knows what to do, who can supposedly solve the issue. And you trust them, then you’re disappointed,” said Lori Brasher, who sits on Decatur County’s economic development board. “And not disappointed once but disappointed multiple times.”
Brasher said she has much more confidence in Braden Health, which she said has concrete plans for reopening. But local residents still have trouble stomaching the sticker price. Decatur County agreed to sell its hospital for $100. The deal for Houston County was just $1.
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