Empty coffers stall Mansfield hospital project

by Paul Schreiber

SBJ Reporter

pschreiber@sbj.net

A Mansfield medical group is struggling to get its proposed hospital off the ground. Those involved say the need is present in this small Wright County town; funding is not.

|quot|Our big obstacle right now is just finding the money,|quot| said Mansfield Mayor Dale Keith. |quot|We're going to need around $800,000.|quot|

The $800,000 is 10 percent of the roughly $8 million that La Mancha Medical Management Group's 10-member board thinks it will take to get the former Tri-County Hospital, now owned by a nondenominational missionary group, up and running again, said Keith who is alo a board member.

Plans have been formulating since spring 2003. No money has been raised to date.

If the 10 percent is raised, it is hoped that U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development would cover the rest, said Mike Scavotto, president of St. Louis-based Management Performance Associates, the firm doing a feasibility study on the project.

|quot|What you would do is use the HUD guarantee to get an issue or two, float the bonds for you,|quot| Scavotto said. |quot|HUD guarantees, like, 90 percent.|quot|

The continued absence of a critical access hospital in Mansfield makes the nearest 24-hour facility Texas County Memorial Hospital in Houston. Beyond that Springfield and Lebanon's health care systems are each 48 miles away, and West Plains' Ozarks Medical Center is a 61-mile drive.

Board members have discussed grants, foundation dollars, private donations and local business or association contributions, Scavotto said. If these funding sources prove unfruitful, alignment with a Springfield hospital system may be necessary to get the facility operating, he said.

In fact, this option might be the quickest way. |quot|I don't think you can get the financing you need with a small support base. Financing authorities are going to (say), The larger the support base the better,'|quot| Scavotto said.

|quot|There has to be at least one host facility that will provide you with a transfer agreement,|quot| Scavotto said, adding that host facilities also provide other administrative support functions such as credentialing and quality improvement activities that are required for accreditation.

A logical affiliation would be with one of Springfield's biggest systems: CoxHealth, Doctor's Hospital or St. John's Health System. Scavotto said negotiations are ongoing, but he would not say with which system.

Having a critical access hospital in Mansfield would be a boon to the community, said Andrew Nave, executive director of the Wright County Industrial Development Authority. Permanent health care work and other spin-off jobs would result, he said.

Also, there would be intangible benefits like an improved sense of worth people would receive from the hospital. |quot|Something like that can be something that our folks can really rally around,|quot| Nave said.

La Mancha board member Jeff Merritt said the hospital would add nearly 70 jobs.

|quot|It's very difficult for any community to grow and attract jobs without access to medical care,|quot| Scavotto said. |quot|It's almost impossible to get people to come here and relocate factories, stores, bring businesses and jobs to a community when there's not health care.|quot|

The original 52-bed facility was built in 1971 and operated as Tri-County Hospital. In the early 1980s, the city of Mansfield approached St. John's about running the facility. St. John's ran it until it closed in 1991. It was sold in 1994 to Friends In Action International.

On March 31, 2003, the Missouri Health Facilities Review Committee issued a Certificate of Need for $6,925,214 based on Wright County's population and lack of critical access care. From these funds would be established a 25-bed critical access hospital, including 24-hour emergency care, as well as other medical services.