CMC refinances $18 million debt

In a move that will both ease monthly cash needs and add needed upgrades, Coulee Medical Center recently refinanced millions in debt it took on to build the new hospital.

The original debt for a little over $23 million has been whittled down to a nearly $18.9 million loan, with $1 million of that tagged for upgrading equipment, including all new state-of-the-art patient beds.

The move captures a better interest rate less than half of the previous financing package, according to Chief Financial Officer Kelly Hughes, now at 3%, a major incentive to refinance.

The new loan, which extends the original term out another five years to 2041, she said, and it cuts the payments by $51,000 a month. It also fully funds a mortgage reserve fund required by the federal Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Department, which insures the debt issued with a GNMA security. That eliminates another $43,000 payment each month.

The new equipment includes 25 beds the hospital received last week, a new autoclave disinfection unit for the surgery department, and overhead paging system and a facility-wide nurse call system.

Chief Nursing Officer Marlene Elliot, who came to CMC from Providence, which operates hospitals in seven states, said the new beds are the best she's seen, including features that help protect patients from falls and bedsores, help prevent health care worker injuries and allow for better patient care.

Elliot said CMC's old beds, new when the facility opened a decade were at "end of life" for hospital equipment, which typically lasts about five years.