CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The Nueces County Hospital District has been working with the CHRISTUS Spohn Health System for weeks to create a draft agreement to keep the Emergency Medicine Residency Program -- a program that provides 50 full-time emergency room doctors to our area.
The first version of an agreement had CHRISTUS Spohn continuing the system for 5 years – an agreement doctors involved in the program objected to because the residency program is a 3-year program.
Officials are now on the second iteration of it, and that was presented Wednesday to the Nueces County Commissioner's Court by hospital district administrator Jonny Hipp.
"We've extended the coverage of the Emergency Medicine Program, in terms of our funding, for up to 6 years, and we're funding it in increments of up to a year at a time," he said.
Hipp said, in the first year, CHRISTUS Spohn would receive $1 million from the hospital district to help offset costs.
The district will contribute $2 million in the second year, and $4 million would be paid out in years 3-6.
The money comes from the hospital district's reserves — money set aside for indigent care in the community.
"This agreement buys time,” Hipp said. “It's not perfect. It's not the final solution, but given the immediacy of, of what needed to be done, that we try to get to, at least, an interim solution quickly. We've been able to do that."
The total cost of the agreement would be $21,250,000 for the full 6 years. Hipp said the goal is for the district to not need to spend all of it.
A provision also allows the hospital district to reduce the amount they provide if CHRISTUS Spohn receives additional funding from somewhere else.
Hipp and Pct. 4 commissioner Brent Chesney said they hope a long-term deal can be reached.
"It's a framework in which we can continue to work towards making a more permanent deal,” Chesney said. “So, I think we're heading in the right direction."
He said the agreement can help keep dozens of doctors in the Corpus Christi area.
He also said the goal is to find the residency program's long-term home as soon as possible.
"It's all about stability,” he said. “We need to make sure that these residents know that are applying here that this is a phenomenal program, and we are in it for the long haul and that the community, the community supports this so strongly."
The Nueces County Hospital District's Board of Managers will need to give final approval for the agreement between the hospital district and Spohn on Friday.
Hipp said that's when there will be discussion about how the program can be financed in the long-term.