POMEROY — A study Meigs County Commissioners hoped would lead them to an effective means of providing 24-hour emergency room services offers no clear solution, Commissioner Mick Davenport said.

The commissioners have received the final version of “Research Exploration: Fixed Location Emergency Services for Meigs County,” a study prepared in October by the Institute for Local Government Administration and Rural Development at Ohio University.

The study was to have initially been completed in September, but Commissioner Mick Davenport said at that time the study would be delayed because the direction of the research had changed. Instead of studying the feasability of combining Federally-Qualified Health Centers, like the Family Health Care facility in Middleport, with a 24-hour emergency room, the study focused on free-standing emergency rooms.

However, the study shows, there are few if any models of such facilities in rural communities like Meigs County.

“No existing models of FQHC’s staffing free-standing emergency departments were found,” the report said, “largely because of the area of malpractice risk.”

Staff members working in FQHC facilities are protected from malpractice claims under federal law, so the centers and their staff are not required to pay malpractice insurance premiums, but all services must be operated by the FQHC.

“Consequently, since 1995, FQHC providers generally have not been able to extend staffing support to emergency departments they do not operate,” the report said.

However, an arrangement unique in the nation is close by, the report said. In Lawrence County, the FQHC there has entered into collaboration with St. Mary’s Hospital in Huntington, W.Va., and Davenport said Thursday the emergency services provided through the arrangement will be provided through the FQHC facilities in Lawrence County.

Davenport said funding is available from the grant that paid for the study and report, that will allow those involved in the health care issue here to travel to models in order to study a possible application here.