BRIM OUTBIDS CHRISTUS...

Wadley Auction: Judge OKs Brim bid
Brim’s offer is $22 million
By: Ashley Gardner - Texarkana Gazette -
Published: 02/21/2009

• A bankruptcy judge approved a $22 million bid from Brim Healthcare of Texas LLC to purchase Wadley Health System.
• The amount of the winning bid includes cash as well as employee benefits and other contractual obligations, a Wadley official said.
• The sale of Wadley will not be final until papers are signed by the court’s required date of March 6.
• “It’s about as close as it’s going to get without a final closing,” said Dave Woodland, Brim Board of Directors vice-president and former company CEO. “We feel great. We look forward to working with local folks and developing a strong hospital there.”
• “We’re also happy we were able to preserve 750 jobs in the community. I think alternatives might have been less than that, so we’re real pleased with that. Basically under our agreement the employees will be pretty much kept whole. The employees are really the winners,” said Woodland, who declined to speak about any possible lay-offs until he talks to the employees first.
• CHRISTUS Health, which heads up CHRISTUS St. Michael, was the other bidder in the auction to acquire Wadley.
• The winning bid includes Wadley’s piece of land north of Interstate 30 but not the Wadley Regional Medical Center hospital building. Brim Healthcare of Texas signed a three- to five-year lease on the hospital building with rights to lease it year by year thereafter.
• The building is owned by Four States Regional Health Center Inc., a subsidiary of Wadley Health System, said Shelby Brown, Wadley marketing director.
• Brim Healthcare leased the building because they wanted to keep their options open as far as future location of the hospital is concerned, Woodland said.
• “Wadley is an older building and we wanted to reserve the right to build some place else, but it doesn’t mean we’re going to. We could always come back and acquire the building if we want to,” Woodland said. “What we’re interested in right now is getting this venture off the ground ... and developing the hospital to its fullest potential at its existing site. We don’t want to get distracted by anything else right now. Our focus is getting this hospital back on its feet and in good health.”
• Brim Healthcare of Texas LLC was formed by Brim, a hospital management company out of Brentwood, Tenn., and Collom & Carney Clinic of Texarkana. Brim will maintain controlling interest in the venture and local physicians will have the opportunity to invest in the hospital.
• Collom & Carney most likely will retain some level of ownership in the hospital, Collom & Carney CEO Tom Simmons said. Brim Healthcare is financing the transaction.
• “It will not be heavily burdened by debt,” Woodland said. If CHRISTUS Health had been the winning bidder, Texarkana’s hospitals would’ve been under the control on one organization, a move some believe wouldn’t have been the best thing for health care in this area.
• “My opinion is the majority of the community, the physicians and the payers of health care are best suited by two independent hospitals competing in the marketplace,” Simmons said. “It’s not any secret, for many years (Wadley’s) financial weakness has made it difficult for them to provide products and services to actively compete in this market. I think Brim will bring those resources to Texarkana to allow it to reverse recent history and to prosper as a hospital. I believe Texarkana is best suited by two hospitals that are both financially healthy. We need two hospitals in a town the size of Texarkana and ultimately patients, physicians and insurance companies will benefit from that being the case.”
• Chris Karam, president/CEO of St. Michael, said he foresees changes in Texarkana’s medical landscape based on Wadley’s upcoming change to a for-profit hospital from its current not-for-profit status.
• “We anticipate there would be an increase in the medical services that historically haven’t been profitable in hospitals. It will challenge us on how to meet potential growing needs in those areas like OB and the emergency department ... ,” Karam said.
• Woodland said there isn’t much difference between not-for-profit and for-profit hospitals. “We’ll pay taxes. That’s the biggest difference. We will pay more taxes than a not-for-profit,” Woodland said.
• Karam said CHRISTUS officials are fine with the way things turned out. “We went into it very well prepared and informed and we felt it was the right thing to be bidding for it. At the same time, it was a prayerful process and we feel comfortable with the outcome based upon that prayerful process,” he said. “We look forward to working with the new owners of Wadley Health System in meeting the health care needs of the Texarkana region and we also thank Wadley for the many years we’ve had the opportunity to work together to truly serve the health care needs of this region for all the patients regardless of their ability to pay. Wadley has been a great partner for CHRISTUS St. Michael and for the entire Texarkana community.”
• Wadley employees are excited to have this period of turmoil behind them.
• “The employees are relieved that it’s final and they’re excited about the new journey,” Brown said. Woodland is hopeful patients will see a improvements in Wadley.
• “Our intent is to make it a very employee friendly, customer friendly, physician friendly place to go for health care. That’s our goal,” Woodland said. “It has a great reputation for being a good place for patients to go and receive good care and we want to build on that, not just for patients but for employees and physicians as well.”