LaHarpe City council members and other residents were encouraged Wednesday to support a sales tax referendum that would help fund a new hospital.
Karen Gilpin and Barb Culbertson, supporters of a new Allen County Hospital, spoke briefly about the need to replace the 60-year-old facility and fielded a number of questions about what a “yes” vote in the Nov. 2 election entails.
Voters are being asked to support a quarter-cent sales tax that would help provide financing for the project. Iola commissioners have agreed to hand over a portion of sales tax revenues they already collect so that the county’s sales tax hike is as low as possible.
The existing hospital is nearing the end of its useful life, Culbertson said, with aging boilers that would cost upward of $8 million to replace; a multi-story floor plan that does not permit efficient or smooth flow of patient care; and a design from the days when hospitals were geared toward in-patient care.
Modern hospitals emphasize shorter stays and out-patient services.
And many of the rooms at ACH are so small that it’s difficult maneuvering wheelchairs and other medical equipment, Gilpin said..
Building anew — construction, land acquisition and financing would total about $30 million — would still cost about 15 percent less than the estimated $34 million necessary to renovate the existing building, Gilpin and Culbertson noted.
The county’s aim is to build a 25-bed hospital, large enough to suit the county’s needs, but small enough to remain a designated “critical access” hospital, which would keep the county in line to receive more Medicare funds.
Hospitals in Neodesha, Fredonia, Girard and Chanute used their critical access designation to qualify for funds for construction, Gilpin noted.
Perhaps the most critical need for a new hospital comes within the medical community, Culbertson added.
RECRUITING NEW physicians is hampered by Allen County’s aging hospital, Culbertson said.
“The doctors will go where the facilities are the best,” she said.
The pair answered a number of questions from the audience.
— Will it cost the county to end its current lease agreement with Hospital Corporation of America, which currently operates ACH for the county?
Yes, although the costs are not yet known, Gilpin replied. Severance costs will take into account equipment HCA has provided for the hospital, less that equipment’s depreciation.
As an aside, HCA has expressed an interest in continuing to manage a new hospital, Gilpin said. The difference with a new hospital is that it would be considered a manager of a non-profit facility. That is, all profits go back into the facility and the county not to HCA.
— Is a new 25-bed hospital too big? Could a smaller, cheaper hospital serve the county just as well?
The size of the new hospital was recommended by the Hospital Facilities Commission, which has studied health care access in Allen County since the first of the year, Gilpin said.
Culbertson noted that a new hospital would be about 20,000 square feet smaller than the existing hospital because it would have a more efficient layout. The new hospital would also be a single-level facility, making patient access much easier.
— Would the design and construction of a new hospital be put up for bid, or has an agreement with a company already been set?
Mary Ann Arnott, who worked with the Hospital Facilities Commission, told the Register this morning that one of the options the county can pursue in terms of designing the new facility would be to enter an agreement with the Hospital Facilities Group of Wichita, which has worked with the county over the past eight months, although that’s not set in stone.
“It would make sense to use this company, which is known for getting hospital projects done on time and under budget,” Arnott said.
Construction would be put up for bid, Gilpin said.
Several tours of ACH have been planned for this month to give the public a clearer view of the need for a new hospital.
Future tours are at 9 a.m. Saturday, 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, 9 a.m. Sept. 17 and at 5:30 p.m. Sept. 27.
Gilpin and Culbertson also urged the audience members to register to vote by Oct. 18.
They presented a petition of support for a new hospital asking for signatures. A handful of audience members did.
