Medical science has advanced to the point where laser-guided instruments can ease the effects of everything from kidney stones to poor vision.
It’ll take a comparably non-invasive procedure to flow $3.7 million in capital spending through the budget of Merit Health River Region to limit effects to minor pain.
Construction costs on the U.S. 61 North hospital’s soon-to-be-complete annex building on the front lawn grew that much more, according to the Mississippi State Department of Health. More dirt work to put the 63,000 square-foot building on level ground now has the price tag at $16.9 million, the agency noted last week in a news release. In a response, hospital officials said there was some equipment purchases in the mix, too. It’ll have the look of a new facility, as it should, with new exam tables, radiology upgrades, physical therapy equipment and other items.
Despite the recent re-branding of the local hospital and five others purchased by Community Health Systems, their ownership is still the same. Outside firms handle and bill patients separately from the hospital’s charges. Depending on a patient’s situation, those bills might be for X-rays, urinalyses, anesthesiology if surgery is involved and other functions. Those radiology upgrades? It’ll help your doctor view your X-ray clearer, no question. If there’s any hidden cost related to a new machine in there, it’ll be duly noted by the firm that operates it. Read and compare your bills carefully in the coming months and years to see what the prices do.
Whether the hospital introduces the concept of a “building fee” remains to be seen. A subject of news stories for a few years now in larger markets, the fee is tacked onto patients’ bills for visiting doctors in a hospital-owned building. It boils down to a fee for simply being in the building, and stems from longstanding issues in collecting from Medicare patients. The federal program for the elderly won’t reimburse a hospital for a fee charged to its patients unless non-Medicare patients are charged as well. It’s a convenient way to dump overhead costs on patients, and the hope is that River Region won’t invent a new fee or substantially raise current ones to cover the costs of the new building.
A possible savings mechanism also remains to be seen. Property tax assessments for this year are in progress. No application from the hospital for any improvement-related tax breaks has yet crossed the desks of Warren County supervisors. The hospital pays no property taxes to the City of Vicksburg for the main campus because it’s outside city limits.
Watch your bills and pay attention to the news.