Officials puts final touches on transition plans

With Carson-Tahoe Hospital's transition from a city-owned hospital to a private nonprofit corporation nearly complete, officials will be working out some of the details at tonight's trustee meeting.

"Everything's going great," said Carson-Tahoe marketing executive Richard Linkul. "We've received letters of approval from the Internal Revenue Service and an 'A' bond rating from Standard & Poor's."

The hospital was required to show a five-year track record as a private nonprofit facility before bonds can be issued, and Monday the state finance board approved the conversion.

The process won't be complete until the existing debt, about $26 million the hospital owes Carson City, has been repaid. Acquisition of Silver Oak and Eagle Valley Children's Home property will also be paid through the bonds, for about $10.5 million.

The property has been earmarked for a new regional medical center, to be completed in late 2004 or early 2005.

Bonds will also cover the costs of purchasing a magnetic resonance imaging and computerized tomogrpahy scanner for about $4 million, in addition to reimbursement of conversion, planning and development expenses, expected to total about $2 million. Money for the property, scanner and other expenses will be returned to board-designated funds.

Hospital administrators are working with B.C. Ziegler Capital Markets Group to redeem the bonds, a process that should take a few days, according to officials. That money must be in place before the conversion, which is scheduled for March 1.

In other business:

-- Trustees are expected to approve a 10-year lease for about 4,000 square feet in Dayton Medical Center, a project involving Carson-Tahoe Hospital, Dayton Medical Association, High Desert Therapists, Tahoe Fracture Orthopaedic Clinic, Tahoe-Carson Radiology and Great Basin Imaging.

Carson-Tahoe will rent the space for community events, such as flu shots, wellness and cardiology fairs and health screenings. Two to three physicians are also expected to occupy the offices.

-- The last meeting of Carson-Tahoe's public board of trustees is scheduled for 5 p.m. Feb. 28 at the Community Center's Sierra Room, 851 E. William St.

What: Meetings of the Finance Committee and Board of Trustees

When: 5 p.m. today

Where: Carson-Tahoe Hospital Summit Room, 775 Fleischmann Way