Board approves Franklin County participation in Northwest Florida Rural Hospital Collaborative MOU

Weems Memorial Hospital CEO David Walker and partners asked the Board June 3 to authorize Franklin County’s participation in a Northwest Florida Rural Hospital Collaborative MOU to support an Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) Rural Health Transformation grant application.

Julie Dennis of Ovid Solutions, the grant consultant supporting the collaborative, said the program is a services‑focused grant emphasizing regional partnerships. The collaborative includes seven hospitals across Northwest Florida; Calhoun‑Liberty Hospital is proposed as the lead applicant. The MOU commits participants to coordinate service sites and share clinical partnerships — for example, oncologists from larger centers (Moffitt) would provide remote consultation and telemedicine‑enabled care in rural hospitals, reducing travel burdens for patients.

Board members approved the collaborative MOU contingent on County Attorney review and asked program leads to clarify how telehealth services would be sustained after grant funding is exhausted. Commissioners asked about operational costs, billing, and whether the hospitals would be able to sustain added services; consultants said telehealth visits would be billable and that grant funds would primarily underwrite service startup, training and subscription costs.

What happens next: Calhoun‑Liberty will file the AHCA grant application; if funded, participating hospitals and the collaborative will implement telehealth and service‑expansion projects described in the MOU. The Board requested follow‑up details about sustainment plans and any county fiscal responsibilities before executing final contracts.