Members of the Hospital Facility Commission will tell Allen County commissioners Friday morning what course they’d prefer for Allen County Hospital.
HFC members met Tuesday morning to review Monday night’s report from Health Facilities Group, which detailed how the hospital could be remodeled and expanded or built new on another site.
“We’ve decided that in order to do due diligence regarding a decision on the hospital issue, we want ample time to read the entire report of Health Facilities Group,” Mary Ann Arnott, chairman of the citizens group, told commissioners in a brief late-morning audience.
HFC members will meet at 8 a.m. Friday, seek accord on what they think should be done, and then give their recommendation to county commissioners at 8:30. The meeting will be open to the public.
Monday’s presentation by HFG is posted on the county Web site, allencounty.org, and is available in written form at the county clerk’s office.
CHUCK WELLS, the county’s financial adviser, told commissioners a high priority was for them to settle on a sales tax issue for voters to decide at the Nov. 2 general election.
Prior to ballot preparation, commissioners must decide the size of the issue. They approached Iola last week about it dedicating a portion of a half-cent sales tax the city imposes to the hospital, about $400,000. That would leave the county to raise about $350,000, which a quarter-cent tax could be expected to do.
County commissioners plan to meet with Iola commissioners Tuesday afternoon.
Wells has said the county needs about $750,000 in some form of tax money to retire a $5 million loan to meet cash flow obligations after it assumes full control of the hospital. The county would use $3 million a year, coming fairly evenly from a Medicare stipend and hospital profits, to meet debt service for construction costs.
Monday night, Steve Lewallen of Health Facilities Group said construction of a new hospital would cost about $25 million, while remodeling and expansion would costs about $29 million. Time element also is a factor, with building anew expected to take 35 months from start to finish, remodeling and expansion requiring four additional months.
“It also would be helpful to find some seed money before the election for an environmental study of a site, to prepare an architectural delineation of the hospital and meet option costs for a site,” Wells said.
He predicted an environmental study would cost $10,000 to $15,000, a detailed rendering of how the hospital would look another $10,000 to $15,000 and an unspecified amount for a site option. No specific site has been announced, but conversations Tuesday indicated at least one near the intersection of U.S. 54 and U.S. 169 at the east edge of Iola was being considered.
Commissioner Dick Works asked when commissioners should begin consideration of a board to oversee operation of the hospital once the county assumes control. Soon, Wells said, and repeated an earlier admonition that “the quality of the board is the single most important factor in a successful hospital.”
Counselor Alan Weber said a board could be appointed before commissioners exercise their option to buy out Hospital Corporation of America (HCA), which has managed Allen County Hospital as a for-profit facility the past five years. He also said Kansas law provided for boards of five, seven or nine members, with rotating terms usually of four years.
Commissioners Gary McIntosh and Works said they had already given some thought to whom might be appointed to a board, but McIntosh added he “wouldn’t want to pull names out of the air. There are many who would make good board members, just look at all the community leaders at the meeting Monday night.”
Board members would hire chief executive and financial officers for the hospital if a management company weren’t involved, and would be expected to be policy makers, without micro-manage the hospital.
McIntosh said he’d want prospective members to indicate an interest in serving.
IOLAN DON Becker told commissioners that after hearing Monday evening’s presentation, he was convinced “we really need a new hospital, not a revamped one.” But he wondered what would become of the existing structure.
Usable equipment would be transferred to the new hospital, Works said, and the remainder, as well as the building, likely would be offered for sale.
But, both commissioners said, it is far too early to forecast what might become of the 58-year-old hospital if it were replaced.
