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Overpayment of taxes costs HMH $1.5 million in construction funds April 21, 2008 - No reporter cited

Jim Pinson
Editor

NASHVILLE – Howard Memorial Hospital must scale back construction plans to compensate for less than expected construction funds availability due to the overpayment of taxes by a Howard County company.

Ray Blakely, HMH building committee chairman, informed the board of directors about several changes that will be made to the construction plans for the new hospital facility.

Blakely stated that it is estimated that HMH will have $17 million available for construction. However, he reiterated that “patient care drives HMH.”

The new facility will consist of 20 patient rooms instead of the 25 that had been originally designed. The recessed section that would have housed six rooms will be converted to one room, but will be constructed for future expansion if needed by the hospital.

The daily census of the hospital is 10, which can be accommodated by the 20 patient rooms.

Another difference will be a standard roof of 15-4 instead of the multi-level roof.

Part of the original plan included a portion of the exterior to be bricked, but to save money, the new HMH will have an efface exterior similar to that of the new CCCUA facility. Efface surfacing will also save money because it will require fewer infrastructures to support.

There will also be less glass surrounding the courtyard at the front of the building, but the biggest expense that was dealt with was the heating and cooling system. The building committee elected to convert the cooling system to a hospital grade DX system.

Blakely did report that bids for the dirt work came in less than expected at just over $1.4 million.

In addition, Charles Miller, finance committee chairman, reported that Qual Choice had presented an alternative health plan for the employees of HMH.

Currently, the hospital is self-insured, but Qual Choice would reimburse the hospital for the treatment of employees at HMH.

Hospital Brian Bickel stated that “HMH is changing the way we think” to improve the patient care. Bickel’s comment followed a survey of the board which revealed that everyone, including the hospital department managers, believe the hospital is doing a good job, but if they tired they could do better.

Chris Kuhlmann, chief financial officer, touted the success of the tax rebate promotion concerning past due bills. HMH collected a total of $74,125 in the past two months.

Kuhlmann said the hospital will run a similar tax stimulus promotion from May through June.

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