EMHS update offered

BY STACI WILSON

Following last Wednesday’s meeting with county commissioners, Endless Mountains Health Systems CEO Rex Catlin provided an update about the hospital project.

He said a lot was going on with the project even though most of the current work was “just not very visible.”

Grant fundswill enable EMHS to begin Phase I of the building project soon, Catlin said.

The first phase includes road construction and site work at the future facility’s location on Rt. 706 in Bridgewater Twp.

Catlin said the building project is now about 80 percent funded and EMHS continues to find new grant funding opportunities to help with the project.

Currently, the total construction costs are estimated to be about $45 million, Catlin said. Of that, EMHS received a $25 million USDA loan, in addition to several other substantial grants.

In addition to that funding, the building fund has raised about $1.5 million in its local capital campaign from individual and business donations.

EMHS is designated a critical access hospital – one of only 13 in the entire state. Because of that designation, EMHS is reimbursed for the total costs of care, plus an additional one percent, provided to Medicare and Medicaid patients.

Catlin said, “We couldn’t even consider the project without that designation.”