09/09/09

At the Minidoka Memorial Hospital, some behind the scene changes could be taking place. In 2006, the Idaho Supreme Court ruled that public entities can't borrow money without successful bond or levy elections.

So the Minidoka County Commissioners came up with an idea to create a not-for-profit community owned corporation to lease the hospital from the county.

Administrator Carl Hanson says, "The main advantages are we'd be able to access more capital markets and respond more quickly to market conditions. The main disadvantage is the loss of protections under provisions of the Idaho tort claims act."

But hospitals have high fixed costs, officials say the ability to finance major projects without delay of levy elections would pay off, and nothing much would change, only the legal status.

Minidoka County would still own the hospital, even though it was leased to a community owned, not for profit organization.

Hospital officials are holding public meetings to give people more in-depth information about the plans.

The meetings will be held on September 15th at 7 pm, and on the 22nd at noon at the hospital.