HAYDEN J EMRAH
WZBD.com
The Adams County Council convened for their monthly meeting and among the discussions were the efforts between Adams County and Adams Memorial Health to readjust a reimbursement rate for the hospital.
According to the council, Adams County entered an agreement with Adams Memorial Health to help pay a $2.2 million bond. When the agreement was established 30 years ago, it was a .2% income tax on county residents to help pay this total, which amounted to about 23% of the overall payments, of which the hospital would pay the rest. However, as time went on, given the set tax rate but increase in amounts collected, the county had ended up accounting for almost 100% of the payments on the bonds, which, while still in line with the contractual agreement, was not the intent of why the agreement was set up.
To remedy this, Councilmember Cory Sprunger, Commissioner Steve Bailey, along with other county officials and hospital staff, revised how the reimbursement would work. Now, the hospital plans to pay its loans off by 2028, saving the county approximately $10 million overall from the initial agreement.
Commissioner Steve Bailey, who was present at the council meeting, also presented to the council the hospital’s letter regarding their five year improvement plan, so that it could be officially added to the meeting minutes. The letter establishes a nine-point plan in which Adams Memorial Health plans to improve its services and organization to help better serve Adams County. Those points included things such as community outreach, expanding various programs and services offered, working with local organizations such as schools to expand medical access, remaining as an independent network, among other efforts to overall improve the access and quality of service the health network provides.
Regarding the letter, Commissioner Steve Bailey spoke on the matter, saying, “I think we’re fortunate to have a locally owned county hospital here, I think they do good work, I think it’s supported well. […] if it wouldn’t have been for our predecessors having the vision to create a new hospital and keep that hospital out there going, we wouldn’t be here today.”