BAMBERG – Bamberg County Council has given final approval to furthering negotiations with a Georgia company on all of the county’s options in paying for hospital renovations.

The council on Monday approved an ordinance to enter a letter of intent with Toccoa, Ga.-based UHS-Pruitt Corp. to continue negotiations for the potential sale, lease or management of the Bamberg County Nursing Center.

Bamberg County Council Chairman Chris Wilson opened the floor for a public hearing on the letter of intent, which he said authorizes Bamberg County Administrator Rose Dobson-Elliott, county attorney Richard Ness and him to continue talks toward a “contractual agreement” regarding the nursing center.

Ronika Robinson, director of rehab services for the Bamberg County Hospital and Nursing Center, questioned how the county decided upon UHS-Pruitt and if taxpayers were not entitled to know how much was being offered for the nursing center’s potential sale.

“We have had a number of companies that have expressed interest in the nursing center under various arrangements. We’ve done due diligence and received ... offers and bids from various companies and have decided to move forward under a letter of intent to continue negotiations with UHS-Pruitt,” Wilson said. “We don’t disclose the terms of negotiations because that’s simply what they are.”

He said concrete terms would be set forth in a contract, which would require three separate readings and a public hearing.

“All the terms would have to be out ... at that time,” said the chairman, noting the taxpayers were not required to know what the other offers were.

“The council and the hospital board have worked together with that and have retained the services of Stroudwater Capital to guide us through that process. But, no, that’s not something that’s put out there,” Wilson said. Both for-profit and nonprofit companies have expressed interest in the potential sale, lease, management or other options for the nursing center, he said.

“Contrary to popular belief,” Wilson said, the nursing center has been operating at a loss for the past four years, and negotiations with UHS-Pruitt represented an opportunity to operate the nursing center at a higher level of care and, in turn, allow the county to focus its efforts on the continued hospital renovations.

The federal Centers for Medicaid and Medicare has mandated that renovations be made at the hospital by June 30, 2009.

“We cannot continue to operate the nursing center and the hospital at the losses that we’ve been operating at,” he added.

Robinson asked if the county can assume it can meet financial obligations in finishing hospital renovations and pay for the bonds the council has already issued for the same purpose.

“That’s the goal. We have ‘til June 30 of 2009 to be compliant with CMS, or ... we don’t receive Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement, which financially would cause our hospital to have to shut down” Wilson said.

Teresa Valentine, interim nursing center administrator, said center employees have concerns they want to be included in the furthered negotiations with UHS-Pruitt. She was instructed to provide Dobson-Elliott with a list of employee concerns.

“As Stroudwater and the county go forward in negotiations with Pruitt, we can address those concerns and find out what their outlook on those things are,” said Wilson, noting that Pruitt has clearly indicated there would be very little or no disruption to the current status of nursing center employees.

In other matters, BCHNC CEO Kurt Meyer reported the hospital had an average census of 14 patients per day, with the patient volume standing at nearly 84 patients in the nursing center in September.

The hospital and nursing center had a combined operating income of $205,000 for September, along with a positive net income of $217,000. Gross revenue is running at $4 million, with total expenses coming in at $2 million, Meyer said.

Specifically, the hospital had a net revenue of nearly $1.8 million and total expenses of nearly $1.6 million. Meyer said “right sizing” was among the measures that have resulted in hospital expense reductions.

The nursing home has also gone from a monthly operating income loss of $50,000 to approximately $10,000. Revenue is up, however, by approximately $40,000 a month, Meyer said. “So, you can see where we’re predicting to benefit from the nursing home situation,” he said, noting the hospital collected $1,000,900 in cash in September and is expecting a $2.1 million cash collection in October.

For next year, Meyer projected the hospital to have $500,000 in positive operations income, along with $250,000 in operating income from the nursing center. He said CMS was on site Oct. 16 and signed off on the reopening of the hospital’s Kearse Wing floors. Patients are expected to move back into the Kearse and Brabham wings by the first week in December before renovations begin on the other side of the hospital.

The hospital is also working with DHEC on creating temporary operating room space while renovations are being done to the existing OR, Meyer said. He said modifications would subsequently have to be done to the labor and delivery area, but the addition of three more beds to the busy emergency room department is expected with continued renovations.

Meyer also reported that the Office of Rural Health is pumping assets and resources into the Lowcountry Health Network, which includes the hospitals in Hampton, Barnwell, Allendale and Bamberg counties.

“That organization hasn’t been utilized to its full capacity over the last couple of years,” he said, noting that Kathy Schwarting will serve as executive director beginning Dec. 1.

T&D Staff Writer Dionne Gleaton can be reached by e-mail at dgleaton@timesanddemocrat.com or by phone at 803-533-5534.

You must be logged in to comment.