DONIPHAN (AP) - A small hospital in southeast Missouri that has been closed since October will not reopen.
The board of Ripley County Memorial Hospital in Doniphan voted Friday to notify state authorities the hospital will be dissolved. The vote came as the hospital's certificate of need is scheduled to expire June 28.
The Southeast Missourian reported the decision ends a desperate 13-month effort by the hospital board to find a health care provider to replace SoutheastHEALTH of Cape Girardeau, which announced plans to leave Ripley County in April 2018.
Karen White, CEO of Missouri Highlands Health Care, which began operating the Doniphan Family Clinic in December, said after Friday's vote that the company is ready to begin work on opening an Urgent Care facility in the former hospital building.