BJC Authority Seeks ‘Partner’ To Build A New Hospital
Having been rebuffed in its attempts to get Jackson County to build a new hospital, BJC Medical Center is looking for a new partner.
In all likelihood, that would be another hospital, either non-profit like itself or a for-profit hospital.
“We’re excited about the possibilities,” said authority chairman Charles Blair. “We’ve got to move forward. We can’t wait any longer. Our job is to provide health care for citizens of Banks and Jackson counties and that’s what we’re committed to do.”
The BJC Medical Center Authority, the nine-member governing board, has contracted with DECOSIMO, a Tennessee-based accounting and consulting firm, to find “options” for what has previously been described as a $37 million project.
“The ultimate intent of the authority board is to seek a mechanism to obtain financial support,” said a news release issued Tuesday.
According to the news release, DECOSIMO has contacted “a sample number of potential entities,” which led the authority to let the consultants develop a request for proposals to be submitted to those groups.
The board maintains the following conditions:
•continuance of acute inpatient care
•construction of a new hospital within a mutually agreeable time period not to exceed 48 months
•agreeable financial terms
•commitments to maintain and invest capital into the current hospital and nursing home facilities
•continued provision and support of charity care in the community.
The deadline for written proposals will be May 29. The authority expects to require six to eight months to make a decision.
The authority had hoped to get Banks and Jackson counties to issue bonds to build a new hospital on a site donated by David Chatham on his holdings between old U.S. 441 and the bypass at the north end of Hospital Road. While Banks County officials expressed interest, Jackson County’s commissioners were split on the issue, dooming that support.
Blair says the Chatham offer is intact, and the authority would like to see a new hospital built on that site.
“We think that’s an attractive deal for anyone who comes in and wants to build a hospital,” he said, adding that use of the site is “not a prerequisite.”
He noted that the authority realizes that “whoever comes in and puts up the money will want the control. What form that control takes shape, we don’t know.”
Blair said the authority’s consultant is “pretty confident” that some entity will come forward.
Blair did not rule out the possibility that any future partner might utilize the Maysville Road site being developed by Dr. James Bouchard (see separate story). Bouchard has previously offered land to the authority, but the authority accepted the Chatham offer instead. On Monday night, Bouchard brought his plans for more than 100,000 square feet of medical facilities to the Commerce Planning Commission for rezoning.
Bouchard told the planning commission that he would donate a site to a nonprofit hospital if one expresses interest.
