Packed House Greets HCHD Board Members

Part One: The Hospital Report

By Will Johnson
Messenger Reporter

This is the first in a multi-part series covering the HCHD Board Meeting held on April 16.

HOUSTON COUNTY – During the Houston County Hospital District Board of Directors Meeting held on April 16, the board and a standing room only audience heard a report from the two men who were directly responsible for re-opening the hospital – Dr. Subir Chhikara and Dr. Kelly Tjelemand.

“July 2017 seems like a long time ago,” Dr. Chhikara began. “This community did not have a hospital. What has happened since then has been amazing. As I have traveled around and in talking to people at rural hospitals and those outside of rural hospitals, I tell them the story of what has happened here and no can believe it.”

He continued, “We’re sitting here in 2019 and we have a critical access hospital. The board members and the decisions they made – I can tell you this is not a story that has been repeated anywhere in this country. I think, the board members who are sitting here deserve a round of applause for what they have done.”

Chhikara added the hospital was not just an ER and explained how a free-standing ER would not work in the Houston County area.

“The way they make money is by charging out-of-network costs and by bilking patients. We don’t want this in Crockett and it is not an option. We have a full functioning hospital. Everyone is talking about tax rates, but we did what we promised. We are just two guys. We opened a hospital and we’re not really taking any tax money. We’re taking a third of the taxes. I don’t know what happened in the past, but we’re not asking for a different deal,” he said.

In reference to a comment in the public forum portion of the meeting regarding free rent, Chhikara explained this was tied to indigent care.

“There is a county obligation to take care of the indigent population. That’s a responsibility for all of us as good human beings. It is also law. We are providing indigent care but we are also funding that by providing the lease payment. That is maybe a better way to put it. We are providing two-thirds of the indigent care by giving money to the care of the indigent. The indigent care dollars are a constant,” he said.

Chhikara also spoke about the clinic located at the hospital. He said in the last quarter 1,800 clinic visits occurred.

Different service lines were now available at the Crockett Medical Center, he said. Cardiology, orthopedics and gastro-intestinal services were now available.

“ER services have been available and in the meantime, since our last visit, we have opened up the surgery center,” he said.

Turning to employees, Chhikara said CMC now had 123 employees, with 73 being full-time.

“That is a lot of revenue staying here in Crockett,” he said.

This was followed by a discussion of insurance carriers. Chhikara said the hospital was in-network with Blue Cross and Blue Shield and explained they were working with Humana, United Healthcare, Aetna and Cigna.

Dr. Tjelemand spoke next and said he and Dr. Chhikara had given everything of themselves to this hospital.

“We have scars that will never heal. I’ll be honest with you – as we started down this road – if it had not been for the leadership of Deborah Blackwell and Dr. Bob Grier – we would not be here. That is the kind of working relationship we had to have to get this done,” he said.

Tjelemand explained he too did not know what had gone on in the past “… but I’m looking forward. I’m not looking back. Sometimes to survive you do things you wish you didn’t have to do – but you know – the hospital is alive and here we are.”

He went on to say it was his belief there were two or three people he felt were working directly against the hospital.

“The majority of the community that has been widely receptive to us, needs to drown that out. For example, we have had people approach our employees looking to dig up dirt. After we opened – the way a license for a hospital is granted – it doesn’t really come from Austin – it comes from a zone office,” he said.

The zone office for CMC is based in Tyler and after being open for a week, Tjelemand indicated “… someone called the Tyler zone office and said our hospital had no physicians, there was no staff and we were doing all these terrible things. What good does that do? It was all a terrible lie. We had physicians in the ER since day one and for an acute care hospital you have to be staffed 24/7.”

As he continued, Tjelemand he recalled during the last visit to an HCHD meeting someone had scoffed at surgical services in Crockett. However, he indicated CMC was well ahead of the original timetable “… and we’re making progress.”

He pointed out that people in the rural healthcare community, not just in Texas, but nationwide were looking at the hospital and asking themselves, how was this happening?

“As Dr. Chhikara said, this isn’t being done anywhere else. Texas A&M came here. They reached out to us and said we want to know what you guys are doing. This is so unique. Nobody else in their right mind would try and do this,” he said.

“The small, tiny amount of money we get from the district is critical to our success. CHI, CHRISTUS said there wasn’t enough money here so it wasn’t for them. We are making this work on almost no money. We need the majority of the community to drown out these naysayers. I’m telling you, we are giving everything we possibly can. We have pushed all the chips onto the table,” he said.

Will Johnson may be contacted via e-mail at [email protected].

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