Hospital tax flashback: 26 years ago

In the run-up to Tuesday's decision to put a proposed $14.2 million capital facilities tax for West Park Hospital improvements on the primary ballot, there has been much discussion about the relationship between West Park in Cody and the Powell Valley Hospital here. On Tuesday, commissioners and West Park officials discussed the issue of competition at some length. A February letter from the Powell Hospital board of trustees declining to endorse West Park's project also spurred discussion.

I thought that a trip to the Tribune archives might be interesting, looking at what was said when the Powell Hospital was looking to build a new facility.

Story: "Hospital Faces no Opposition by Competitors"

Article Date: Nov. 13, 1983

The Situation: The Powell Hospital was seeking the state's approval to go forward with plans to build a new hospital and an expanded nursing home. The state had been considering plans to make Cody the de facto hospital for the Powell area, with most births -- except emergencies -- being handled at West Park. Powell would largely be an outpatient facility. The hospital had to get the OK from the state certificate of need board in order to seek a bond and grow its operations. Some state officials had favored a set-up where some care -- such as baby delivery -- might have been provided only in Cody instead of Powell.

Tax dollars up for discussion: An $8.5 million bond on a $9 million project

Worth noting: Up for discussion was a general bond issue, which is paid for only by the members of the tax district. In other words, folks from other hospital districts would not pay a dime of the Powell Hospital's bond costs.

Snippet from Scott Hagel's piece:

The hospital's application to the certificate of need board includes letters of support from West Park Hospital in Cody, North Big Horn Hospital in Lovell, Hot Springs Memorial in Thermopolis and Washakie Memorial Hospital in Worland.

Powell Hospital administrator Dee Cozzens acknowledged the letters are "just a formality," but the other hospitals have no reason to oppose the project because it isn't designed to create additional competition for them.

Plans for the new hospital don't call for any new services to be added or existing services to be expanded, he pointed out. "We just need a new facility to put our hospital in," he said.

Other hospital administrators around the basin qualify their support by saying their letters are intended to give Powell's taxpayers the right to choose for themselves whether they need a new hospital and expanded nursing home.

Tom Dunlap, Cody's West Park Hospital administrator, explained his letter by saying, "We normally leave it up to other local taxpayers to determine their medical needs."

He confirmed the letter was just a formality. "We think those issues are local issues and should be decided by local taxpayers."

Asked whether he foresees any competition problems between the West Park and Powell hospitals should Powell build a new facility, he said, "I guess we don't use the word competition in our vocabulary."

...

[However,] If the certificate of need application represented serious competition for the other hospitals in the basin, Cozzens believes, they would oppose it.

I found this one kind of interesting...

John Fraufschi, administrator of Worland's Washakie Memorial Hospital, said, "Cody's been eating Powell's lunch for a long time," and he would like to see the Powell Hospital "get the show on the road over there."

He didn't know how much his letter of support will mean as the Powell Hospital seeks state approval for the project, but "all hospitals like a little support whether it means much in dollars and cents or not."

Result: After some 500 people showed up at a State Certificate of Need Review Board hearing in Powell on Nov. 18, the board reversed the recommendation of its staff, and allowed the Powell Hospital district to ask its voters for the $8.5 million bond for the new hospital and expanded nursing home. At a Dec. 6, 1983 special election, district voters overwhelmingly passed the bond issue -- with more than 87 percent voting in favor.

Editor's Note: The image at top right is an added bonus -- an advertisement the Powell Hospital ran in the Nov. 25, 1983 Tribune, pitching the bond measure to voters after the state board certified the need for the facility.