The Hospital Commission walked step-by-step through 2018 with architectural firm Bates and Associates in an attempt to craft a plan for possibly renovating Eureka Springs Hospital. The idea was to develop remodeling options at different costs to determine whether a deal could be struck with Allegiance, the company that leases management of the facility, to pay for the project.
The first step was to get input from stakeholders to find out what the community wanted in a redesigned hospital. Included would be representatives of the departments at ESH and members of the community who use the services.
That meeting occurred Feb. 1, conducted by Diane Adler, Project Manager for Bates, and architect Tom Johnson. Participants voiced opinions including the need to have “really stellar urgent care” to the convenience for women to get ob-gyn care locally instead of driving to Rogers. Realtor Diane Murphy pointed out she must tell prospective buyers the facility looks “very, very sad” but the services are excellent. She said a refurbished facility would be an important selling point for someone interested in moving to town.
CEO Peter Savoy explained the Critical Access status of ESH means it gets reimbursed by Medicare for certain services, but expanding outside those services – delivering babies and ob-gyn services, for example, or even a gift shop – would be outside that scope and dilute possible revenue. He mentioned these points only to explain the financial situation under which ESH operates and so the architects would consider them as they develop the renovation options.
At the July 16 meeting, Adler and Johnson presented a slide show with four “site and building remodeling concepts.” Options ranged from a two-story building of 58,700 sq. ft. at an estimated cost of $22.9 million to a “micro-hospital” of 41,000 sq. ft. costing $13.5 million.
Sentiment at first was not in favor of the smallest option and opinions varied regarding the others, but commissioners agreed at some point representatives of Allegiance must be involved because the monthly lease amount for operating ESH would increase depending on which option was agreed upon. The group decided Adler and Johnson needed to meet with Allegiance.
Commissioner John House pointed out one possible outcome would be Allegiance would choose none of the above leaving the commission with the only choice of accepting from Bates the work they had done to create the four options and moving forward without Allegiance. He was pointed out Allegiance was not abiding by terms of the lease because there were significant long-standing maintenance issues not being addressed.
As of the final meeting of the year, Adler and Johnson had not yet met with Allegiance.
Late payments
At the June 18 meeting, House noticed the May lease payment from Allegiance was not received until June. “It would make me feel more comfortable going forward if they paid their bills on time,” he said in hope of getting some level of commitment from Allegiance.
By the October meeting, commissioners were especially frustrated because Allegiance was more than four months late on lease payments totaling $67,500. Merry said he had been told the reason was Medicare had been late with its payments to ESH, but House said they deserved a better explanation.
New commissioner Christopher Baranyk said the explanations were excuses. He declared it was time to get on a path toward collecting back rent. He also suggested they might look for another health care company, “someone who cares,” who also had the Critical Access designation to run ESH. House said he would prepare a letter to Allegiance stating the commission was aware of violations of the contract and expected a response within a stated time. If there were no response, a second letter would come from their attorney.
Baranyk contended the commission had taken for granted aspects of the relationship with Allegiance, and it was troubling to him the commission could not even speak to principals of the company.
In November, Andert reported Allegiance had made two payments, so only the August through October payments were delinquent.
Land purchases
Commissioners were presented with an offer to purchase four lots adjacent to the existing ESH property. Chair Michael Merry announced at the March 19 meeting the deal was consummated for a final cost of $141,596.42. He said the property belonged to the city, but could be used only for hospital purposes as long as the city owned it. Commissioners envisioned the property could be developed during renovation of the hospital for possibly an extra entrance to the emergency room, a site for a storage and supply room or simply as a woodland buffer around the hospital property.
In August, more land became available. Daniel and Marsha Runge, owners of Log Cabin Inn, told commissioners they were willing to sell their property to the commission for $250,000. This purchase would have given ESH property all the way to Benton Street, but nothing further happened by the end of the year.
Other items
- In February, Andert announced the opening of a new ESH clinic in Holiday Island.
- At the May 21 meeting, Realtor Ken Riley brought a larger-than-life replica of a check representing his donation of $1500 to ESH because of his appreciation for the exceptional care he received while he was a patient.
- Longtime commissioner MJ Sell passed away in September.