Meeting at 3 p.m. today about possible Memorial hospital sale
The possible sale of Memorial Health System, which has been the subject of discussions for years, will be back on the table today. City Council members and hospital officials plan to talk about what sort of public process should unfold regarding a possible sale and possible changes to the system's governance.
The City Council is scheduled to meet with Memorial’s Board of Trustees. Memorial Health System is comprised of three hospitals on two campuses plus other facilities. The meeting is open to the public.
Check back with gazette.com for coverage of the meeting.
Today’s meeting was sparked by the council-appointed Sustainable Funding Committee, a citizen panel that spent months last year examining the city’s financial structure and developing revenue-generating and cost-cutting ideas.
Among the committee’s recommendations: The city should explore changes to the governance and ownership of Memorial to at least reduce risk to the city’s general fund. The committee said the city has a legal, even moral, obligation to fund possible shortfalls in Memorial’s revenues.
Memorial, which the city has owned since 1943, doesn’t receive taxpayer money. The city enterprise pays for operations through revenue and cash reserves.
Memorial lost nearly $32 million in 2008 on revenue of nearly $552 million. This summer, hospital officials said Memorial was $14 million in the black.
Despite Memorial’s financial gains, council members asked hospital officials in October to provide ideas for moving forward with the committee’s recommendations.
“Wednesday’s meeting is an opportunity to touch base on this topic,” Memorial spokeswoman Cari Davis said Monday.
The committee estimated the sale of Memorial could fetch between $250 million and $400 million.
“But there are many complicated health, community and other issues that need further study and community discussion,” the committee stated in its report.
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Call the writer at 476-1623
Meeting on Memorial
When: 3 p.m. Wednesday
Where: Printer’s Park Medical Plaza, 175 S. Union Blvd.
