The Louisiana-based company Amedisys is prepared to buy Pocahontas Memorial Hospitalﾒs home health branch, PMH administrator Don Mulenthaler told board members last Tuesday.

Amedisys has completed its due diligence, Mulenthaler said, and will bid $400,000 for the company.

ﾓThe goal is to complete the transaction by June 30,ﾔ Mulenthaler said. ﾓIt gives us the power to move forward.ﾔ

PMH home health, because it belongs to the county and has assets greater than $1500, must be sold at auction on the courthouse steps. Mulenthaler said the minimum bid will be $400,000.

The PMH board unanimously passed the motion to proceed with the sale and authorized Mulenthaler to further negotiate with Amedisys.

PMH home health has lost nearly $48,000 this fiscal year, according to the hospitalﾒs financial reports.

According to its website, Amedisys ﾓis a leading provider of home health care and hospice services, with agencies located across the United States and Puerto Rico.ﾔ

The board is still wrestling with the issue of moving its clinic from Ninth Street in Marlinton to the medical plaza adjacent to the hospitalﾒs property.

Muhlenthaler said he had been negotiating with Dr. John Sharpﾒs representative about renting Pocahontas Medical Clinic with an eight-year price-protected lease that will begin with monthly rent at $1,000. That figure holds up for the first three years, Muhlenthaler said, when the rent raises to $1,200 a month for years four and five. In years six and seven, rent will be $1,400 per month, and will raise to $1,500 per month in year eight.

The hospital administrator said the important date for board members to keep in mind is June 1. The lease on the downtown building is up June 30, he said.

Board members, even though they liked the idea of having the clinic closer to PMH and out of the floodplain, still were reluctant to sign on the dotted line.

ﾓIﾒm still having a hard time with it,ﾔ said board member Cathy Mosesso, who also said she would like to see better traffic and income at the clinic before making such a move. ﾓI would love to say the numbers will come, but right now I canﾒt do that. We have to get more people to use this clinic.ﾔ

Mosesso also said she wanted to see the clinic staff be behind the move; at the last board meeting the hospitalﾒs chief of staff, Mical Jarrett, said the staff did not want to make the move.

The lack of utility bills gave board members further pause. Board member and county commission representative David Fleming said he needed to see the cost of electricity and see what repairs may need to be done at the clinic before he could vote in favor of moving.

The search for a new hospital administrator has turned up ﾓlots of wonderful people,ﾔ Mosesso said, with nine candidates, either having been interviewed or slated for interviews.

Mosesso said the committee will narrow its search to four candidates and ask for the full boardﾒs participation at its April meeting.


As for the hospitalﾒs finances, the picture hasnﾒt changed much in a month, with chief financial officer Marvina Irvine reporting a $1.1 million loss for the fiscal year. The largest expense is still the non-cash Outside Public Employee Benefits (OPEB), at $60,000 a month, Irvine said. Cash receipts have increased more than $134,000, she said, and aging receivables have decreased $122,000.

ﾓThis month looked better than some, even though we are still in a negative position,ﾔ Irvine said.