COLUMBUS, Ohio (Nov. 20, 2006) – Major renovations and an addition to Marshall Browning Hospital in Illinois promise to improve community appeal and help attract new physicians. The critical access hospital in Du Quoin will refinance existing debt, replace all 25 of its semi-private beds with private rooms, redesign its surgical floor to improve efficiency and prepare the hospital for electronic record technology.
The projects were financed with $10.25 million in tax-exempt bonds provided by hospital lender Lancaster Pollard. The firm helped Marshall Browning’s leadership understand the cost of various long-term financing options, then successfully articulated the hospital’s credit profile to secure a letter of credit from an investment-grade bank by highlighting the hospital’s critical access Medicare reimbursement and strong management. The funding structure resulted in an all-in cost of capital of 4.65 percent fixed for 25 years.
“We needed to update our facility, and getting critical access hospital designation certainly benefited us in accomplishing that,” Chief Executive Officer William Huff said. The 22,000-square-foot expansion will move rehabilitation to the patient unit, expand laboratory space to employ state-of-the-art diagnostic equipment, and renovate the second floor of a building built in 1972. The project complements a new ER, imaging center and outpatient clinic added in 2001.
“We were able to help Marshall Browning understand the possible outcomes of all public- and private-sector financing options, and help the bank understand the hospital’s unique credit profile,” Lancaster Pollard Vice President Steve Kennedy said. “This ensured that the hospital accessed a very low cost of capital with favorable terms, allowing Marshall Browning to comfortably afford these tremendous capital improvements.” ###
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