Franklin County commissioners will decide next month whether to provide financial incentives for a proposed dialysis clinic in Port St. Joe.
Gulf County’s staff has been in discussions with Fresenius, the largest provider of Kidney service in the Country about reopening the Port St. Joe Clinic.
The clinic there, which was operated by DaVita, has been closed since March 31st, creating “a great vacuum of care and need for Kidney Care / Dialysis Care” in Gulf and Franklin Counties.
Currently dialysis patients have to travel to Panama City or Tallahassee for dialysis, and that can be very time consuming, exhausting and expensive for people who need the treatment numerous times a week.
The company would like Franklin and Gulf Counties to provide 100 thousand dollars a year as an incentive to open the clinic.
Gulf County would pay 75 thousand of that and Franklin County would pay up to 25 thousand dollars a year depending on the percentage of patients using the clinic that come from Franklin County.
The company would like a 5 year commitment.
The Franklin County Commission strongly supports the dialysis clinic, but have not yet agreed to providing financial assistance until they can get a number of important questions answered, including how many Franklin County kidney patients would benefit from the center.
Weems Hospital said there are 8 patients currently using public transportation to go to Panama City or Tallahassee for dialysis, but they don't know how many use private vehicles.
They also would need to know where the money would come from.
Weems Memorial Hospital said it does not have the money in its budget, and the county may not legally be allowed to use local health care tax revenue for a clinic in another county.
The commission agreed to have its county attorney investigate the legality of using local health care tax dollars for the clinic and are also looking at other sources of funding.
They agreed to revisit the issue when they meet in January.
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