Struggling Gilmer Hospital to Close

GILMER (AP/STAFF) � An administrator for East Texas Medical Center in Gilmer says fewer patients and declining federal reimbursement rates are forcing the facility to close. ETMC Gilmer stopped providing inpatient care Oct. 31. Next month it will cease emergency, laboratory, and other services, and by February all operations will end. About 80 employees will be affected. Perry Henderson, a senior vice president for the medical center, says the hospital sustained a loss of more than $2 million in the last fiscal year. The Tyler Morning Telegraph reports the center has struggled to maintain operations in rural areas in recent years. A clinic in Van closed earlier this year and administrators have said services will be cut at the Mount Vernon hospital.