Starke County officials are discussing selling IU Health Starke Hospital to IU Health LaPorte Hospital. A committee made up of county officials has been named and now members from the IU Health Starke Hospital Board have been named to be on the committee that will bring a sale recommendation to the county.
Hospital Board members Sandy Hansen, Ben Bennett and Dr. Walter Fritz have been appointed to the committee. They will join Starke County Commission President Dan Bridegroom and Starke County Council members Marvin McLaughlin, Mitch Semans, and Tony Radkiewicz.
IU Health LaPorte Hospital is looking to purchase the Starke County facility for a purchase price of $1.00 and the $7.4 million lease with the county would be waived. In the meantime, county officials will need to decide if they will spend $2 million in upgrades to bring the hospital up to 21st Century hospital standards before the sale. More than that needs to be spent, but that’s what officials are looking to spend right now.
If the sale is complete, the $5 million Save the Hospital Fund will stay with the county in the hopes that the fund will be used for its original intent: Improving the health status of residents in Starke County.
The committee will now come together to come up with a sale recommendation for the county. Hospital officials hope to close on the sale in April 2012.
