Ralph Beaty, the CEO of the Mississippi County Hospital System, already has a list of projects to fund with the money generated from the 0.5 percent countywide sales tax that voters approved in October.
Collection of the tax begins on April 1. It is expected to raise $2 million to $2.5 million annually to be used for the Great River Medical Center in Blytheville and South Mississippi County Regional Medical Center in Osceola. The tax sunsets after five years.
“We have two fairly old facilities, … and they are in constant need of upkeep and maintenance,” Beaty said.
The hospital in Osceola was built in the 1950s and hasn’t had any major renovation work done on it since it was built, he said. Blytheville’s hospital hasn’t been renovated since the 1990s.
In the summer, Great River Medical Center is expected to get a new roof and a new roof will be put on the Osceola hospital as well, Beaty said.
The tax money also will be used to recruit doctors and help pay for medical equipment, he said.
Beaty said the hospital system is recruiting a midwife and soon an OB-GYN will be needed. And more doctors will be in demand to replace the physicians who have been in practice more than 30 years and will retire soon.
The extra money comes after both hospitals and the system’s other entities posted a $2.5 million profit in 2014, which was “a fairly good year compared to previous years,” he said.
Heading into last year, Beaty said, he didn’t know what the Affordable Care Act would mean for the system. Beginning Jan. 1, 2014, the centerpiece of the legislation known as Obamacare required individuals to have health insurance and offered assistance for those who couldn’t afford it on their own.
But it turned out better than expected, Beaty said.
About 9,000 previously uninsured people in Mississippi County now have health insurance because of Obamacare, which has meant more revenue for the hospital and less bad debt, he said.
Obamacare “had a fairly dramatic effect on the hospitals’ operations on both campuses,” Beaty said. “It turned out just the opposite of what everyone said.”
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