Mercy health care system announces Perryville public forum

A public forum set Monday will allow officials with a potential partner for a Perry County, Missouri, hospital to lay out their health care vision.

A release from Mercy said the forum will be at Knights of Columbus in Perryville, Missouri. The forum will begin at 6 p.m., with doors opening at 5 p.m.

"Mercy is honored to be considered to serve Perry County Memorial Hospital and the entire community. We welcome an opportunity to continue the exceptional care the Perryville community has had for years and look forward to PCMH and the county carrying out the appropriate process to determine whether Mercy is the right choice for their citizens," the release states. "As part of that process, Mercy will host a public forum to share our vision for the future of health care in Perry County and answer any questions the public may have. We invite you to join us on Monday ... to learn more about Mercy and share with us your questions and thoughts."

The forum comes two weeks after another forum regarding the hospital, which gave the leader of the hospital's other potential partner — Ken Bateman, chief executive officer of SoutheastHEALTH — a platform to explain that organization's plan. Mercy officials had been invited to attend that forum but did not.

Not scheduled to speak was anyone from Perry County Memorial, though the hospital's chief executive officer, Scott Wibbenmeyer, attended. Also attending was Joe Lupica, president of Newpoint Healthcare Advisors. The hospital has retained Newpoint to help work through the process of negotiating a partnership deal. Lupica took questions — many of them pointed — for about a half hour.

At the forum and at an earlier news conference held by business leaders in the county, those speaking questioned the "transparency" of the hospital's process and lobbied to maintain relationships with SoutheastHEALTH. Community members have expressed concerns Perry County Memorial could become little more than a clinic, with more profitable health care procedures transferring to Mercy's facilities elsewhere, and that costs could increase locally.

Mercy's release sought to address those concerns.

"Mercy has a long history of and deep commitment to operating critical access hospitals across multiple states. We currently lease or own 16 critical access hospitals, one of them for more than 30 years and, most recently, Mercy Hospital Lincoln in Troy, Missouri, which joined Mercy in 2015. We also provide critical services such as Mercy Virtual, which connects patients with care both in their local health care facilities and even in their homes," it states. "Serving patients close to where they live and work, while enhancing and expanding a community's access to key health care services, remains one of Mercy's core tenets. This aligns with the original vision of the Sisters of Mercy, who became known as the Walking Sisters for serving people in their own homes and communities. The values instilled in our organization by the Sisters live on in the way we treat our patients, our co-workers and all our communities with dignity, excellence, justice and service."