Hospitals benefit from state's HELP

Ellwood City will use its money to upgrade its intensive coronary care unit.
MEADVILLE, Pa. -- A new cancer treatment center, state of the art CT scanners, and expanded surgical units are just a few of the critical upgrades being made to Pennsylvania hospitals as a result of state Treasurer Robert P. Casey Jr.'s new Hospital Enhancement Loan Program.
Three community hospitals -- Meadville Medical Center in Crawford County, Ellwood City Hospital in Lawrence County, and Indiana Regional Medical Center in Indiana County -- are the recipients of nearly $20 million in low-cost financing that will be used to enhance the quality of health in Pennsylvania, Casey said last week.
"By helping small hospitals access the capital they need to upgrade and expand their facilities, we're encouraging a community-centered approach to health care that benefits both patients and their families," Casey said. "This is especially important in a place like Meadville, where the next closest hospital is at least 25 miles away."
The Meadville Medical Center, which received nearly $10.3 million in HELP financing, is using the money to build a new, state-of-the-art medical and radiation oncology facility. Set to open in July 2007, this new cancer center will provide all outpatient treatments in a single location using cutting-edge technology, full-time local doctors, and design concepts that reduce patient stress, ensure privacy and enhance healing.
"The new cancer center will allow us to treat more patients from Meadville and the surrounding community," commented Anthony DeFail, president and CEO of Meadville Medical Center.
Casey's low-cost bond program also will enable Meadville to begin major facility renovations, including the construction of an outpatient surgical facility and the development of a new orthopedic unit to treat a growing number of sports injuries.
The program
HELP was developed by Casey in partnership with the Pennsylvania Economic Development Financing Authority, the Department of Community and Economic Development, NatCity Investments, and Pittsburgh-based National City Bank of Pennsylvania.
The program enables hospitals and banks, for the first time, to group hospital improvement projects together in a simultaneous bond issuance. HELP streamlines the borrowing process and spreads transaction costs over all of the participating hospitals, saving both time and money. Treasury's deposit of $20 million in bank CDs enables these benefits to accrue to the hospitals, Casey added.
Herbert S. Skuba, president of the Ellwood City Industrial Corporation, said HELP's nearly $6 million loan came "at absolutely the best time for Ellwood City Hospital."
The money will be used to upgrade the hospital's 33-year-old intensive coronary care unit, consolidate it with two medical/surgical units, and increase by one-third the number of beds on the floor, Skuba said. The upgrades include state-of-the-art coronary care monitors, a new laboratory, an expanded emergency room and larger storage areas.
Ellwood City also will invest in new technology which allows radiologists to electronically view MRI and CT images in greater detail and then transmit them to other departments within the hospital.
It also will replace its outdated one-slice CT scanner with a new multislice CT scanner to enhance the diagnoses of disease and improve patient treatment. In some cases, these scanners may reduce the need for invasive procedures, such as surgeries, lowering health-care costs, Skuba added.
Indiana Regional Medical Center is using its HELP funding of $3.75 million to invest in more accurate, state-of-the-art radiological technology and a new multislice CT scanner.
More information about HELP, including program goals and an application for the next bond offering, is available at www.patreasury.org.