Bingham Memorial Hospital presents $400,000 county

On Thursday, Bingham Memorial Hospital in Blackfoot presented a check for nearly half a million dollars to Bingham County.

The check was part of a series of payments under a liquid asset transfer agreement. In 2007, BMH became a non-profit organization, rather than a county-operated facility. In an agreement, Bingham County leased the hospital assets to BMH, Incorporated, who was now the group in charge of the hospital.

The county still owns the building, equipment and assets. However, BMH, Inc. manages the assets and controls operations.

The original agreement was for 99 years, with the hospital paying the county $1 per year. But a couple of years ago, that changed.

“They allowed us to go back and renegotiate that lease so there was an escalation clause and it’s based on the expenses of the revenue over the hospital,” said Ladd Carter, chair of the Bingham County commission.

So each year, the county gets a percentage of the hospital’s net revenue, or a minimum payment of $400,000 – whichever is greater. That percentage for this year was $491,747.

“As the hospital does well, the citizens of the county will benefit from that,” Carter said.

The check presented on Thursday was about $50,000 higher than the payment in 2016 because the hospital’s revenue was about $10 million higher.

Jeff Daniels, CEO of Bingham Memorial Hospital, said some reasons for that increase is because of added features and services to BMH. The hospital added two urologists, 20 new providers and three robots that can help make surgeries possible that weren’t before.

“It just shows that we’re continuing to grow and find those things that maybe aren’t available in Eastern Idaho,” Daniels said.

About the agreement, Daniels added that at the end of it at 99 years, if the county decided they didn’t want to continue the agreement, the building and all equipment that has been purchased by the hospital would go back to the county. But Daniels said he hopes that won’t the case when the time comes.

Both the county and the hospital said they are happy with the current agreement they have.

“The hospital is a great asset to our community,” Carter said. “We appreciate our relationship with the hospital and our relationship with the administration and the board and it seems to be a win-win situation for us.”

“It’s a great relationship with the county – they’ve been very supportive and being able to give them a check today and to give it to them on the date that it was due, was just a wonderful opportunity for us,” Daniels said.