Dateline: May 22, 2008

Hospital board sets new deadline for MCNH sale

By Roger Estlack, Clarendon Enterprise

The Donley County Hospital Board is giving the potential buyer of the Medical Center Nursing Home until June 3 to sign a new contract with new terms.

The board approved the new deadline during a called session last Thursday and reaffirmed it Tuesday night at their regular meeting.

The sale should have closed April 1 with Community Care Management Services of Denton under the name of Clarendon Realty, LTD, buying MCNH for $1.25 million. But legal questions arose over the proposed refund of $190,000 to the buyer for use as operating money.

This week the board agreed to a sale price $1,108,500 and agreed to pay the buyer $108,500 for management services from December 1, 2007, to July 1, 2008.

Board Chairman Alan Fletcher said Thursday he believed the district needed to resume full control of MCNH until the contract was approved. He appointed new board member and former district administrator Vicky Robertson to be the board’s liaison with MCNH’s new administrator, Billy Ray Johnston.

Robertson will work with Johnston as this district begins planning for its new budget. The hospital district’s fiscal year ends June 30, and the board wants the sale of the nursing home finalized by July 1.

Also on Tuesday night, the board approved a proposal from Blue Cross Blue Shield to provide health insurance for the employees of the Associated Ambulance Authority.