DCH to End Management of Fayette Hospital, Which Will Remain Open

The lease that has kept DCH Health System running Fayette Medical Center cannot be renewed when it expires next year, the two boards involved announced Friday.

The Fayette County Hospital Board and the board of the DCH Health Care Authority said the current agreement, which runs out Sept. 30, 2027, can't continue in its present form.

DCH has been connected to the hospital since 1984, and the current 20-year lease took effect in October 2007. Both sides said the hospital stays open and operations continue as usual through the end of the lease, and DCH said no staffing or personnel changes are planned.

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Katrina Keefer, president and CEO of the DCH Health Care Authority, pointed to the economics of rural health care.

"The financial realities of delivering health care, particularly in rural settings, have changed tremendously over the past two decades," Keefer said. "Those realities make the continuation of the existing relationship with Fayette County Hospital Board impossible to maintain."

Rural hospitals across Alabama face the same pressures, according to the announcement: rising costs, reimbursement that hasn't kept up and the math of serving smaller populations.

"But make no mistake, DCH is dedicated to working with Fayette leaders to identify a sustainable health care delivery model that will continue to provide high quality care in Fayette County," Keefer said.

The two organizations plan to hire a third party they both agree on to assess the financial, legal and operational implications of the lease ending, and to weigh options for keeping the hospital, its clinics and its nursing home running.

"We are actively working on a new agreement to move the hospital forward for the future," said Heath Reed, chairman of the Fayette County Hospital Board. "We are committed to work alongside each other so that this community has a strong path forward for healthcare prior to October 1, 2027."

Keefer said the hospital's staff is what makes it work.

"Fayette Medical Center is a great hospital because of our caregivers," she said. "Our focus will remain on the patients this hospital serves, and we are committed to spending this next year planning for the next chapter."

Fayette Medical Center is one of three hospitals in the DCH system, along with DCH Regional Medical Center in Tuscaloosa and Northport Medical Center.

For more exclusive coverage of health news in West Alabama, stay connected to the Tuscaloosa Thread.