Hospital trustees have narrowed their search for a new chief executive officer to two. Further interviews, this time to include area physicians, will help decide the top candidate. ALMOST THE FIRST two hours of the meeting were held in executive session with area physicians to get their input on the prospective CEO candidates. Attending were Drs. Frank Porter, Glen Singer, Wes Stone, Dan Myers and Brian Wolfe. LARRY PETERSON, interim CEO and chief financial officer, gave trustees “general assumptions” of the 2013 budget, giving trustees the next two weeks to study up for their Dec. 11 meeting. A NAME for the new hospital is still to be decided, with a deadline of mid-January.
Four trustees, a management team from hospital staff, and a human resource group from Hospital Corporation of America, the hospital’s management group, interviewed six candidates for the position vacated in early November.
“We have a good consensus among all the groups these are very well-qualified candidates,” said Harry Lee, ACH board chairman, at the trustees Tuesday night meeting.
It is hoped that by their Dec. 11 meeting a final decision can be made and then their offer accepted.
From there, trustees discussed the prospective medical office building to be built to the north of the new hospital.
Trustees accepted the fact the hospital will have to help subsidize the rent of those using the building to help attract tenants. Otherwise, cash flow would not be enough to meet loan payments.
“A building may cost as much to build here as in Wichita, but we can’t charge the same kind of rent to cover those costs,” said Patti Boyd, hospital trustee.
The office complex lacks an “anchor tenant,” Lee said. The possibility of a Veterans Administration presence is still “three years out,” and not something on which trustees can depend at this moment.
“Nothing is definite as to whom would rent space,” said Sean McReynolds, hospital trustee, “which makes it very difficult to decide how big a building to build. It’s a big question mark.”
The issue will be one of the first the new CEO will be expected to help tackle.
One favorable figure is the annual reimbursement of $475,000 from the federal government’s Medicaid program.
“It’s a reward for having a marginal payer mix,” Peterson said, referring to the area’s high number of patients who are either poor or who lack health insurance.
“It’s good news out of bad news,” he said.
Peterson discussed some of the expectations of the move to the new hospital next fall and their costs. Just to move mammography equipment and reinstall, for example, is expected to cost between $10,000 and $15,000. Peterson set a total bill for the transition at $200,000, but “it’s a guess at best.”
Trustees still lack a member with the departure of Tom Miller. Those interested should declare their interests to either a trustee or to Allen County commissioners.
CEO search for hospital down to 2
