Voters to Weigh in on Hospital’s Future

DAYTON - On November 2, voters in the Columbia County Hospital District will decide whether to approve a $5.5 million bond levy measure that would finance a major renovation and reconfiguration of the Dayton General Hospital building.

If approved, property owners in the district, which includes all of Columbia County plus the Waitsburg School District, would see an estimated increase in their annual property tax rates of $0.50 per thousand dollar valuation. The bond payoff would be 25 years with interest expected to be 4%. Approval of the measure will require a 60% "yes" vote.

Supporters of the levy say that renovation of the hospital is long overdue, and the changes are needed to ensure delivery of top quality healthcare into the future.

Dayton General Hospital was built in 1964. It has seen no major renovation since, though the emergency room area has been upgraded and expanded in the last five years.

In an interview, Columbia County Health System Chief Operations Officer Shane Mc- Guire stressed that the delivery of healthcare in Dayton has changed a lot in the past 50 years. "Many of the things that were done at the hospital in 1964 are not the things that are done now," he said. He pointed out surgeries and delivery of babies as two of the services that have gone away.

CCHS administrators and hospital district board members all say that the proposed changes to the hospital layout will improve employee productivity and help increase revenues for the system. Those changes include: 1. The nurses' station and acute care beds would be moved closer to the emergency room. 2. Food and laundry services would move to a location adjacent to Booker Rest Home. 3. Physical therapy and rehabilitation facilities would be expanded, an aqua-therapy pool would be constructed, and the lab area would be moved and expanded.

The first two changes would allow employees to spend more time with patients and residents, and less time in transit. Moving dietary services to a location adjacent to Booker Rest Home is particularly important, McGuire said, to help improve service there.

More than 90% of the meals prepared in the hospital kitchen are served to Booker residents. But nurses' aides must now transport those meals across the entire building.

Administrators say there is strong demand for lab and physical therapy services, and increasing the capacity of both at the Dayton hospital will increase revenues significantly.

Maintaining a viable Booker Rest Home is vital to the future success of the local healthcare system, said CCHS board chair Ted Paterson. "If you remove Booker, that weakens the entire system," he said.

The costs for all but three or four of Booker's 40-plus residents are paid for by the state's Medicaid program. But Medicaid covers only about 75% of the cost of serving a resident. Thus Booker currently runs at a deficit of nearly $400,000 per year. That amount is covered by taxpayers in the district.

But while closing Booker might reduce direct losses, it would have a significant negative impact on CCHS's other services, according to McGuire.

The rest home has 40 direct employees. In addition, more than 90% of the meals prepared by the hospital's 17 dietary services employees are served to Booker residents. Those 57 jobs represent more than a third of CCHS's employment base and nearly $130,000 in monthly payroll.

McGuire also pointed out that Booker residents are significant consumers of CCHS's other services, including doctors in the clinic, and lab and physical therapy services. If Booker residents had to move out of the area, the rest of the health system would see severely reduced business.

McGuire said that CCHS also currently receives about $300,000 in annual reimbursement from the federal Medicare program for depreciation of capital facilities. But under that depreciation program, those reimbursements will run out in about three years. The loss of those depreciation funds would add significantly to CCHS's annual shortfall.