By HFT Staff

St. Mark’s Medical Center, La Grange, Texas, is ceasing all operations and closing its doors, effective 7 a.m., October 12, 2023, announced the hospital’s Governing Board. The hospital closure results from St. Mark’s ongoing inability to meet its financial obligations. 

In February 2023, St. Mark’s transitioned to Rural Emergency Hospital (REH) designation that preserved emergency department services and most outpatient care while additional funding was diligently pursued to offset the $13 million mortgage debt, years of revenue shortfalls and rapidly escalating expenses. 

Although Texas Health and Human Services Commission recently granted payments of $187,500 per quarter for six quarters to support Texas rural emergency hospitals and the La Grange Economic Development Corporation pledged $500,000 toward capital improvements, those funds are not sufficient to overcome the mortgage debt payments of approximately $160,000 per month and other ongoing expenses of the hospital.