By Mary Alice Murphy

At a special meeting this morning, Gila Regional Medical Center Board of Trustees members approved a letter of need to send to the New Mexico Finance Authority to start the process of issuing a revenue bond to go toward a new PET (positron emission tomography) scanner to aid the diagnosis of diseases.

At present the hospital has a contract with a business that brings in a PET scanner every two weeks.

This acquisition will facilitate much quicker service for patients needing the test.

The revenue bond for $1.25 million goes toward the purchase of the combination CT (computed tomography)/PET scanner. Some of the funding is slated for renovation of the chemotherapy room.

Chief Financial Officer Richard Stokes said the revenue bond will not pay for the entire purchase. "We will also take out a direct loan. Next year, the way the legislation and agreement were worded allows us to go under the existing cigarette stamp tax to get excess revenue to cover our debt. It will service our loan on a monthly or quarterly basis. The New Mexico Finance Authority will track and take care of paying everything. The NMFA needs this resolution of certification of need in its hands today to approve at the agency's meeting today."

Trustees Ed Wilmot said he understood that the county needed to offer a bridge of some sort for this purchase.

Stokes said at first the wording to get the loan made it sound like the letter needed to come from Grant County. "But the NMFA legal counsel said it only needed to come from the GRMC Board of Trustees."

Chief Executive Officer Taffy Arias said the hospital is fortunate for this structuring of the bond and loan. "We have to commend Rep. Rebecca Dow and Sen. Gabriel Ramos for a lot of hard work. We must also include (Southwest New Mexico Council of Governments Executive Director) Priscilla (Lucero) for her help in the wording, as well as the lobbying from (Trustee) Tony (Trujillo). It was a multi-person effort."

Trustee Jeannie Miller asked for clarification that she understood the process. "The NMFA issues the bond for the PET scanner, then there is financing for IT. The scanner goes into the Cancer Center?"

Stokes said there will be a lot of discussion on where to place the scanner.

Arias said it will not necessarily be in the Cancer Center, because it is used to diagnose lots of different diseases, including cancer. It will be managed by radiology, not by the Cancer Center.

Stokes said the combination CT/PET scanner is a boon for the hospital, as it gives redundancy for when the CT scanner goes down.

Wilmot asked if the equipment would generate revenue to pay the loan back "if we had to. Why are we assured about the repayment? What if the cigarette stamp tax doesn't come through?"

Trujillo said the money is already set aside for the specific purposes of Gila Regional's purchase.

"Two hospitals in the state qualify for the cigarette stamp tax funding because of their cancer centers – Gila Regional and Nor-Lea General Hospital," Trujillo said. "It was our turn to get the funding."

He noted House Bill 6 would begin to tax e-cigarettes.

Stokes said the tax will change the cigarette stamp tax revenues, and it may lower the amount of taxes received, although it will broaden the base of items taxed, which could result in an increase in funding.

Trujillo said the funding is set aside only for a Class B (rural) hospital with a Cancer Center.

Stokes explained that in order the get the money, a revenue bond has to be issued by NMFA and a loan taken out. "The percentage that we must repay can be paid with the cigarette stamp tax proceeds. The plan is to pull the money out from the cigarette stamp tax fund. When we did the original funding for our Cancer Center, this model was used."

Trujillo said : "It is 'free' money designated for Gila Regional. Without the interventions of Dow and Ramos, as well as Sen. John Arthur Smith, who got the bill assigned to his committee and he expedited the process, we might not have gotten the bill through the legislative session."

Board Chairman Mike Morones noted, to chuckles from the trustees, that he remembered a lady named Susie (Trujillo) helping with "her cattle prod."

"We are also going to Santa Fe for financing authorization on our IT piece," Arias said.

Trujillo said the funding from the cigarette stamp tax is Gila Regional's third draw on the fund. "The first was for the Cancer Center; the second for the linear accelerator; and now the PET scanner."

Trustee Joel Schram said on a higher level the benefit for the hospital will include patients getting the needed scan sooner and getting treatment more quickly as a result.

Arias said the oncologist is already getting people seen sooner. "It's exciting."

The letter of need was approved unanimously.

Stokes also noted that the purchase would mean the present contract for PET scan services could be ended, saving the hospital money.

In a second item on the agenda, a contract for on-call pediatric services for a short period of time was addressed.

Arias explained that usually Dr. Gregory Koury and Dr. Ronald Dalton take care of pediatric on-call services. "We do have a true locums tenens coming in, but in the meantime, we have one day of about 8 hours when neither Koury nor Dalton will be available. Dr. Laura Davenport-Reed has agreed to provide coverage. She offered to do it for free, but we can't do that. To be fair to everyone, we have to have a contract."

The contract was approved unanimously.

The regular monthly meeting of the GRMC Board of Trustees is scheduled for noon, Friday, March 29. 2019.

Trustees went into executive session to address a single item, according to Arias. No action was expected after the session.