By VICKI URBANIK

As of 12:01 a.m. today, Porter County’s hospital is under new ownership.

County and hospital officials signed more than 100 closing documents for about two hours Monday afternoon, officially transferring ownership of the hospital system to Community Health Systems of Tennessee. CHS paid the county $80 million, but with the hospital’s net working capital, the county is projected to end up with about $120 million from the sale.

The sale took effect at midnight. The transition, including the transfer of patient data to CHS database, went smoothly, said Deb Butterfield, Porter’s vice-president of marketing and media relations.

There appeared to be no noticeable effect due to the change in ownership. Phone calls made to the various hospital facilities, including the Chesterton Medical Campus, were answered the same way as before. Butterfield said the same hospital staff, including the top administrators, were at work today. “We’re all here,” she said.

Among those at Monday’s closing was Porter County Commissioner Robert Harper, who was upbeat about the hospital’s future and the pledge by CHS to build a new, 225-bed hospital with all private rooms within four years. He said it’s time for Porter County to have a modern hospital facility.

“I think it was a very important day in Porter County. These people are coming in with big plans, and I think they’ll follow through,” he said.

The location of the new hospital will be up to CHS. Harper said that in order to maintain patient count, the hospital needs to be centrally located. He cited a study done by the hospital board a few years ago that concluded that the hospital system needs to maintain the Portage patient market.

The new hospital board has not yet been determined, Butterfield said. Physicians will make up at least 50 percent of the new board; if they choose the syndication option, in which physicians can invest in the hospital system, they will account for 60 percent of the hospital board.

Harper said it will probably take some time for the County Commissioners and County Council to reach an agreement over what to do with the proceeds. He said he believes that there is a consensus that the county government’s $500,000 subsidy for the ambulance service should now be funded through the sale proceeds, in turn freeing up that much in the county’s general fund. But beyond that, he said the two bodies will need to reach an agreement.

The original proposal called for the proceeds to be overseen by a private foundation and to be used toward community health care programs, but a majority of the County Council members objected, prompting a final sale agreement that placed the proceeds in accounts to be determined by the council and commissioners.

It could take a few years before the final proceeds are known. In addition to finalizing hospital liabilities and bond repayments, one unknown is the amount of a payment from the state, known as the disproportionate share payment, related to hospital Medicaid claims. The amount of that payment that could end up with the county could be as high as $20 million, Harper said.

Posted 5/1/2007