Officials: Hospital tax needed to make progress

Board members and administrators for the Mississippi County Hospital System are working on putting together a plan for the implementation and spending of its new half-cent sales tax, should it be approved by voter during the Oct. 14 special election.

CEO Ralph Beaty told the CN that work is being done on a plan for improvements to the system with the extra revenue which the tax would bring -- approximately $2.5 million per year. The tax, if passed, will sunset after five years, netting the hospitals around $12 million in extra cash.

Beaty said the system plans to recruit new physicians for both the Blytheville and Osceola communities, something which has had to come to a halt recently because of lack of funds. He added that some longstanding physicians in the area may soon be headed for retirement, so the need is more urgent now to fill in the already existing health care gaps.

A possible wage increase for employees could also be in the plans for the tax revenues.

"When we put our budget together for this past year, we just didn't see any way to give a wage increase, so our wages have been frozen," Beaty said. "If we get this extra revenue, we would go back and adjust salaries for our employees to stay competitive with hospitals in the surrounding area."

Capital equipment improvements are also a need, which the system cannot afford, he said. A plan will be put into place for major equipment purchases and replacements over the five-year period. The system could purchase new equipment for digital mammography, the operating room and remote heart monitoring systems for patient rooms, to name a few. Beaty added that in its current financial condition, the system has to "get creative" when it needs to upgrade or replace equipment, looking for grants or other means of funding.

Structural issues have long been a problem at both facilities, which are aging and constantly requiring major repairs.

"Our facilities need a lot of work, and $100,000 here and there adds up after a while," said Beaty. "There's no guarantee at this point that we'd have the income to overcome that spending loss. There's been no new construction at either facility since around 1970 or 1976, and 40 years is about the longest lifespan for a lot of construction elements. We're working on a plan for specific building renovations."

As for how the funds would be distributed, Beaty said after they are collected by the county, they will be put into the hospital's general fund and spent as needed. At this point, there is no plan in place to dedicate specific budget line items for the money.

"We don't specifically have a spending priority system in place, but we'll be held accountable for it, in our normal reporting of finances. We may change our board meetings to once a month instead of every other month. The money will be spent on what is needed most, whether that be capable employees or new equipment," he said.

Hospital Board President John Logan said a county-wide steering committee of mostly non-hospital-affiliated people is being assembled to help get the tax passed, and names will be announced when the list is complete.

"We're just now getting organized. We have a group out of Little Rock which has helped organize other hospitals that needed to pass a tax, and they've helped especially in the Delta," said Logan. "Hospitals are volume driven, and we just don't have the volume here, so we've got to do other things to keep our medical facilities alive. We're wearing out. The buildings are wearing out. We've got real problems with heating and air that are so old, bricks are falling off, we just have issues we've got to address and we don't have the money to take care of it. We're chugging along, but these expenses are very high."

Will the hospital close if the tax is not passed?

No, said Beaty -- but neither will it be able to progress. And the current level of services being offered may no longer be feasible. Because of health care law changes, the system has lost more than $800,000 a year in reimbursements from Medicare and Medicaid alone.

"I don't think we'd close," he said. "We would continue to limp along until something catastrophic, possibly to one of the buildings, happens. But we do need to have a sense of urgency about this. It's extremely difficult to continue offering the same level of services we are. That money we've lost is not going to be given back."

sharris@blythevillecourier.com