A week after Patrick County officials announced that plans to reopen the hospital in Stuart would not be going forward, the company that bought the property said that it has not abandoned the project, but that it cannot reopen the facility without securing additional funds.
A three-page media release from the company’s chief operating officer, Joseph Hylak-Reinholtz, outlined ways that Chicago-based Foresight Health said it has attempted to identify solutions, including conversations with Del. Wren Williams, R-Patrick County, and local officials to secure state funding for the project or transition ownership of the property to the county.
“Something Patrick County residents should consider is ‘the service line that Patrick County residents ask for most, emergency room care, and just how costly it is to provide this to the community,’” Hylak-Reinholtz said in the release. “Report after report, consultant after consultant, tells us the same story — that, on average, emergency departments generate insufficient revenue from their billings to cover the costs. In a small, rural hospital with significant overhead costs, it becomes almost impossible to make it profitable.”
Williams confirmed that he has discussed numerous arrangements with Foresight’s leadership about how to move forward with the project, including a potential transfer of ownership of the hospital property to the county.
But Patrick County administrator Beth Simms said Tuesday that Foresight never presented business plans to the county. Most of her communication with the company has been through the chief executive officer, Sameer Suhail, she said.
In the Foresight release, Hylak-Reinholtz said that the company considered donating the hospital to the county and then offered a managerial arrangement in which Foresight would provide health care services.
Different states and municipalities have different ways of approaching county-affiliated hospitals, but the model isn’t typical in Virginia, said Julian Walker, vice president of communications for Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association.
There is at least one hospital in the state that’s affiliated with a locality, Walker said. Chesapeake Regional Medical Center is governed by the Chesapeake Hospital Authority, a board composed of area residents, according to the hospital’s website.
“Delegate Williams ultimately rejected the idea of a management agreement with Foresight because he believes, and perhaps it is true, that the community likely doesn’t want us around anymore,” Hylak-Reinholz said in the release.
Questions about the project have been swirling around the community for months, according to Patrick County officials. Many said they were disappointed but not surprised that the project wouldn’t be going forward.
The county’s hospital, previously called Pioneer Health, closed down in 2017. Foresight Health bought the building in mid-2022 with plans to reopen the hospital by the end of the year. The building, however, needed extensive renovations.
Originally, the plan was to reopen the hospital as a psychiatric and drug treatment hospital. But in an effort to meet the needs of the community, the initial mission changed, this time to open a hospital with psychiatric services, general hospital services and emergency care, Hylak-Reinholtz said in the release.
The opening date was pushed to 2023, but still no progress was made.
County officials said communication with Foresight Health has been limited in recent months, and requests for project updates went unanswered.
In 2022, Williams had introduced legislation that allowed the hospital to maintain its status as a critical access hospital. The bill passed with unanimous support.
Williams said Monday evening that he has not been involved in the company’s conversations with county officials, adding that Foresight is a private company and that he does not have the authority to nix its plans.
“I can’t speak to the opinions of the whole community, but I think there is a fraction of our community who are frustrated,” Williams said during a phone interview.
Hylak-Reinholtz also proposed using county or state funds to provide financial assistance to cover renovation costs, according to the release.
“Most recently, we have been in discussions with Foresight to see what could be done at the state or regional levels to support the project; and we’re still working on the same,” Williams said by email. “I’ve had several people approach me about different resources here in the General Assembly following the press release from Patrick County.”
Williams has introduced eight budget amendments so far during the 2024 General Assembly session, but none has included funds for the Patrick County hospital.
Hylak-Reinholtz said that Simms and others had been part of the ongoing discussions, particularly conversations about the donation of property ownership to the county.
But Simms said Foresight’s leadership never offered to donate the property, and that she has talked with Hylak-Reinholtz only a few times.
Simms said the last correspondence she had with Foresight’s leadership was at the end of December. Simms would not disclose the details of the conversation, but she said Hylak-Reinholtz’s comments were inconsistent with conversations she’s had with Suhail.
“They were not moving forward with the project. If that changed, they didn’t tell me,” Simms said, adding that she stands behind the statement Patrick County officials released last week.
Hylak-Reinholtz was highly critical of the statements made by county officials, though the Monday night release was not sent to Simms or to county supervisor Brandon Simmons.
Simmons was quoted in the original press release from Patrick County, saying that he was disappointed that the project would not be going forward. Later, he was quoted as saying the county had not gotten an update from Foresight for months leading up to the announcement.
Hylak-Reinholtz took aim at Simmons’ comments, saying that Simmons never reached out to him for an update and calling the statement a “surprise attack” from county officials.
“There has been so much misinformation out there about this, and [the response from Foresight] is just adding to the confusion,” Simms said Tuesday after being told about the release.
Simms and Simmons have borne the brunt of the frustration from the community in recent months.
Simms clarified that the hospital property was not purchased from the county. Instead, Foresight Health bought it from the bank that took ownership when Pioneer Health announced bankruptcy.
“Patrick County wasn’t made aware that Foresight intended to purchase the property until after it was already in motion,” Simms said.
Foresight has also failed to pay real estate taxes to the county for 2023 and currently owes $33,101.12 to Patrick County. The company stopped paying utility bills for the property three months ago and owes $7,980.54 worth of property taxes to the town of Stuart.
Hylak-Reinholtz did not address the issue of unpaid taxes in his response to Patrick County.
