Quincy City Council mulls investing in hospital

QUINCY — The Quincy City Council is considering buying $1 million in hospital debt as a way to help the cash-strapped Quincy Valley Medical Center.

At a regular meeting Tuesday evening, the city council unanimously voted to join the Grant County investment pool. As part of discussions to join the pool, the city has also been talking about taking a stake in some of the hospital’s outstanding debt.

“This doesn’t increase the hospital’s debt and it shows our support,” said Mayor Jim Hemberry.

The medical center — which is the centerpiece of Grant County Hospital District No. 2 — has been struggling financially for a number of years with high care costs and low insurance reimbursements.

The debt purchase would have benefits for the city of Quincy. The hospital district’s registered warrants — a type of state-issued IOU — pay 3.5 percent interest.

According to Grant County Treasurer Darryl Pheasant, who manages the county’s $300 million investment pool, the county and Quincy are still working out arrangements for the debt purchase.

The Grant County Commission has set the hospital’s warrant limit at $5 million, Pheasant said. The agreement with Quincy would limit the city to a 20 percent stake, so when the hospital reduces its debt by redeeming registered warrants, the city’s stake will fall.

“When it goes down to $4 million, Quincy will only have $800,000. They’ll get back $200,000 to use for something else,” Pheasant said.

Glenda Bishop, CEO of the Quincy Valley Medical Center, told the Quincy City Council on Tuesday that the hospital has a plan to get out of its current situation, and is currently in discussions with potential partners to keep primary and specialized health care in Quincy.

“We’re talking with three larger health care systems to partner for future sustainability to ensure an emergency room is sustainable here,” Bishop said.

“Investing in the warrants is an investment in the hospital through our transition,” Bishop said.

Bishop told the council she hoped the hospital will have found a health system to work with and have completed its transition in 9-12 months.

“There’s lot of legal work to do,” she said.

Bishop also told the council that the hospital has not talked about building a new facility yet, though the current Quincy hospital is 60 years old and the building has “issues.”

“We own it free and clear, there’s no debt on the building. There is a need for a facility replacement at some point,” she said.

The hospital district is proposing an additional levy of 25 cents-per-$1,000 of assessed value, which will be on the November 7 general election ballot, according to the Grant County Auditor’s office. If approved by voters, the additional one-year levy is expected to raise an additional $875,000 for the Quincy Valley Medical Center.

Currently, residents of Hospital District No. 2 are assessed 40 cents-per-$1,000 of assessed value, which was set to raise $1.4 million for the hospital district in 2017.

Charles H. Featherstone can be reached via email at countygvt@columbiabasinherald.com.