EDITORIAL: Big payment to Methodist could boost new Gary hospital

Times of Northwest Indiana

When Methodist Hospital receives an $80 million check from the state this week, the hospital must not be in a hurry to spend that money.

That huge amount -- clearing up a backlog of payments for serving uninsured and low-income patients between 2005 and 2007 -- is enough to pay for half the cost of a new hospital. That's precisely the issue.

Methodist continues to operate its Northlake Campus in Gary in part because of a federal consent decree that forbids the Methodist board from shutting down its operations there.

The board almost certainly could get out of that decree if a new hospital were to be built in Gary. And this year, the stars seem to be aligned to make that new hospital happen.

The Indiana University School of Medicine, which operates a branch at the Indiana University Northwest campus in Gary, wants to expand to a full four-year medical school instead of teaching students the first two years and then sending them downstate to continue their education.

Expanding the medical school would require a teaching hospital, likely one to be built near the IUN campus. That new hospital also could serve as Northwest Indiana's first Level 1 trauma center so patients who suffer severe injuries could be served closer to home.

Indiana Family and Social Services Secretary Mitch Roob warns that Methodist isn't likely to get this opportunity again.

"We plan on providing the largest and likely last payment of that size to Gary Methodist," Roob said. "This is a time of enormous opportunity and enormous risk."

A substantial portion of that $80 million should be used to help build the new hospital. By kicking in tens of millions to dollars toward that new hospital, Methodist should be able to buy its way out of the federal consent decree.

The new hospital could be run by someone besides Methodist, although Methodist could invest in that new partnership.

The details of an arrangement like this need to be worked out this summer for consideration by the General Assembly next year.

Gary Mayor Rudy Clay and other community leaders in Lake County should push hard to make this new hospital a reality.

Funding for the construction and operation of the hospital must be planned carefully.

Meanwhile, Methodist must invest that $80 million wisely, not spend it in a hurry. A big payment like that -- and a big opportunity like the new hospital -- isn't likely to happen again.