Uncertainty about the future of Tallahassee Memorial Hospital brought a large crowd to Tuesday's meeting of the Network of Entrepreneurs and Business Advocates at the Capital City Country Club.
They were there to hear from the hospital's CEO, Mark O'Bryant.
The controversy started last month when it appeared when the city, which owns the hospital's land, building and other assets, discussed selling the facility after TMH requested a governance change as it expands its reach outside of Tallahassee.
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That request, since retracted, raised concern at a recent city commission meeting that TMH would no longer be owned by the city.
At the NEBA meeting, O'Bryant said one idea is for Florida State University to partner with Tallahassee Memorial to create a teaching and research hospital on top of TMH’s traditional role as a community healing center.
"It keeps ownership local with FSU in a controlling position but with TMH as a community partner, so it keeps it community-based," O'Bryant said. "And then it has a local board operating it, similar to what we have now. That would be the ideal situation."
City Commissioner Curtis Richardson, who was also at NEBA's monthly meeting, wanted to make sure the hospital stays under local ownership.
"And it takes three – a majority vote – of the city commission to do that, and we had never had that conversation," Richardson said of the five-member panel.
O'Bryant thinks the matter can be worked out, but it may take several months to come up with a partnership solution that keeps the interests of the community foremost.
