Hospital might be sold

The money-troubled hospital in Toccoa, Georgia could be sold.  The board for the Stephens County Hospital Authority this week approved the idea of a possible sale or a partnership with another healthcare system.  WNEG quotes Hospital Administrator Lynne Anderson as saying, “Then, once they’ve put that word out there, we will see who is interested and give consideration to it and see where we are with our turnaround and then make a decision to see if that’s the route we want to take.” Anderson said a partnership could mean selling Stephens County Hospital outright, but she says there are also many different options for affiliations. If Stephens County Hospital is sold outright, it could affect the bond monies recently received from the county. And the concern is if the hospital is sold for less than the bond, Stephens County taxpayers could be shouldered with the burden. Franklin County found itself on the hook to repay some $30-million dollars in bond monies when Ty Cobb Healthcare defaulted on the repayments and then sold the hospital to St. Mary’s Healthcare for $12-million. The Stephens County Hospital’s financial troubles began after it lost more than $4 million dollars last fiscal year  Since then the hospital has reported a negative bottom line each month.