By Lori Ehde
Adrian City Council members voted 4-1 to accept a recommendation by local hospital board members to close Arnold Memorial Hospital by May 1.
At the same time, plans are underway to strengthen existing health care services and offer new ones in the Adrian community.
A combination of declining patient admissions and reduced Medicare reimbursement have put the hospital nearly $300,000 in the red.
Local city and health care officials feared this financial drain would threaten the clinic and nursing home.
In February, Sioux Valley Hospitals and Health System, which leases the facility, met with Adrian Hospital Board members and proposed the hospital be closed.
Since Sioux Valley signed a 20-year lease to operate the hospital, inpatient days have dropped from 4,000 to fewer than 1,000 per year. Of those, acute care hospital admissions have dropped to an average of one-half patient per day.
By comparison, Luverne Community Hospital currently operates with more than 3,000 patient days per year.
In addition, the federal Balanced Budget Act of 1997 has prompted Medicare reimbursements to Arnold Memorial Hospital to decrease by $560,000 in the past five years.
The hospital board accepted Sioux Valley's proposal in February and recommended hospital closure to the Adrian City Council.
Council members met Monday and accepted that proposal. They also voted to work with Sioux Valley on implementing new services in the hospital space.
Proposed services to be offered by the new "Community Health Care Center" may include wellness services such as weight loss, aerobics and health screenings. Acute care hospital services will cease, but the center would continue offering therapy, lab work and mobile services such as mammograms and radiology.
The council is allowing Sioux Valley 90 days to develop recommendations for these services, and 180 days to implement them.