County favors public PMC

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Pocatello - The Bannock County Commission and Portneuf Medical Center's governing board are now working collaberatively to ensure that the county-owned hospital remains a public entity, officials announced Wednesday.

Following weeks of contentious debate - including a standoff over the release of sensitive hospital documents - officials with the hospital, the commission and the commission's consulting firm, Stroudwater Capital, were all touting a new spirit of cooperation Wednesday.

''We've got a concept, and we've agreed on that concept,'' said Kelly Hirning, PMC board chairman. ''We're all on the same page at this point. Now we just have to work out the details. The key thing is that all three parties are working together on a regional, cooperative-type model.''

Though Hirning indicated that a sale of the hospital to a for-profit firm seemed to be off the table, he would not offer specifics Wednesday. County Commissioner Larry Ghan and Stroudwater Capital President Joe Lupica also declined to give details.

''I would call (the new concept for the hospital) an evolution of what the board first proposed,'' Hirning said.

The hospital board recommended last winter that the commissioners change PMC's status to a 501(c)(3) nonprofit hospital after an Idaho Supreme Court decision altered the way community improvement projects can be funded.

The board argued that switching to a nonprofit designation would be the best way for the hospital to continue uninterrupted construction of a $200 million expansion project.

The commission since appointed a citizens panel and hired a consulting firm to help it decide whether to follow the board's proposal or to go another route, including selling the hospital to a for-profit firm.

''At the last meeting of our citizens panel, several panel members and my fellow commissioners stressed the importance of striving for a public hospital solution, even though we'll have to navigate through the (Idaho Supreme Court's Frazier decision),'' Ghan said. ''The discussion made it clear to me that public accountability is the heart and soul of local control. We believe this arrangement will be well received by the citizens panel, (PMC's governing board) and our community.''

For the past few weeks the PMC board had been arguing for Stroudwater Capital to sign a confidentiality agreement before the hospital would release certain, sensitive documents. As of Wednesday, an agreement on that matter appeared to be imminent.

''We still have some legal details and financial analysis to work out, but we are cautiously optimisitic we will have an option to present to the (PMC board), Citizens Panel and public in a few weeks,'' the county commissioners and Hirning said in a joint press release. ''(The option) will address both the county's and Portneuf Medical Center's objectives and concerns and will be the best possible outcome for the hospital and the community.''

By Chris Merrill

cmerrill@journalnet.com

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