Board: Keller to remain not-for-profit

Sheffield - Members of the Helen Keller Hospital board unanimously approved a position at their board meeting Monday night reaffirming the organization's position as a locally controlled, not-for-profit health care authority.

"The board of directors does not consider a conversion to for-profit status as part of the strategic goals for Helen Keller Hospital and is not in the best long-term interests of the citizens we serve," reads the statement.

The decision comes as a result of ongoing talks between Keller, Coffee Health Group and Huntsville Hospital as well as an offer

by RegionalCare, a for-profit organization, to purchase Coffee.

Keller Chief Executive Officer Bill Anderson said if Coffee does become a for-profit hospital, Keller is in line to forge ahead with a partnership with Huntsville on its own.

"The partnership could be brought to Keller in a strategic sort of affiliation between Huntsville and us," he said. "As far as future discussions on the scenario, it certainly could happen."

Anderson said talks with Coffee and Huntsville are continuing and that his organization is "committed to (those discussions) ... for the formation of a new not-for-profit, locally controlled health care system in affiliation with Huntsville Hospital."

It is unclear, however, when a formal business plan to put the merger and partnership together will emerge.

Larry Collum, Keller's board president, said he's unwilling to put the organization into an agreement that would jeopardize its financial position.

"There are still some possibilities out there, but finances are the key, as they have been all along," he said, referring to the almost $140 million in debt Coffee brings to the table as part of the deal.

Coffee includes Eliza Coffee Memorial Hospital and ECM East, both in Florence, and Shoals Hospital, in Muscle Shoals.

As of yet, no one has emerged as willing to handle the financial piece of the puzzle.

Huntsville's CEO, David Spillers, said that, with time, Coffee could refinance its debt and allow for the creation of a single health care authority in the Shoals.

"We continue to look at options like that, but I don't know the details," he said, adding that Huntsville is willing to commit as much as $20 million in an interest-free loan.

In the meantime, Keller ended its fiscal year Sept. 30 around $200,000 to the positive.

"Although it's not what we'd projected to have at the end of the year, that's pretty good considering the equipment purchases we had to make and the completion of the surgery center," Anderson said.

Michelle Rupe Eubanks can be reached at 740-5745 or michelle.eubanks@TimesDaily.com.