CoxHealth visits Skaggs as partner search continues

CoxHealth executives yesterday visited Skaggs Regional Medical Center as the Branson health system works toward choosing a financial partner.

Officials from the other potential partner, Brentwood, Tenn.-based LifePoint Hospitals, will meet with Skaggs officials June 15.

“These visits are for our potential partners to learn all they can about our facility as this phase of our search for a strategic partner continues,” said Michelle Leroux, Skaggs media relations specialist, in a news release.

In April, CoxHealth and LifePoint were named as finalists to partner with Skaggs from a pool of six candidates.

The hospitals are now undergoing a roughly 90-day review period, and the Skaggs Board of Directors then intends to sign a letter of intent with a single candidate and recommend that hospital to the Skaggs Board of Trustees. A final vote is expected to take place in early fall, the release said.

Skaggs, a 165-bed community-owned hospital, launched its search for a strategic partner after incurring operating losses each of its last five fiscal years. The hospital ended fiscal 2011 with an operating loss of $1.9 million, according to Springfield Business Journal archives.

"We believe it's important that we not only choose the right partner but one who can provide strategic resources and capital for (Skaggs)," Skaggs President and CEO William Mahoney said in a video posted online yesterday. "The chosen partner needs not only to preserve jobs but also to ensure high-quality health care for those we serve."