The Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly enacted an amended ordinance approving the purchase of the Surgery Center of Kenai and appropriating funds from the Central Peninsula Hospital Plant Replacement and Expansion Fund to support the purchase. The total purchase price was increased in an approved amendment to include debt payoff. The price increased from $9.12 million to $9.77 million.
CPH informed the Borough in May that they felt it was in the best interest of the hospital and borough residents for the hospital to purchase and operate the Surgery Center. The CPGH, Inc. board, at its May 26, 2022 meeting requested approval from the borough assembly to cover the purchase price and all required closing costs.
According to the Executive Committee of the Surgery Center of Kenai, Central Peninsula Hospital assured the Surgery Center that the facility will remain in the City of Kenai and continue to support the local community. They add that the sale significantly increases the availability of local and non-local specialties and procedures in the surgery center to the local community.
Assembly Vice President Brent Hibbert spoke in support of the ordinance:
“A good friend of mine, I remember giving him rides at 4 o’clock in the morning Monday, Wednesday, and Friday to the airport so he could go to Anchorage. Thinking about that and then a little closer to home, my wife is able to have her treatments here the next month and not have to go to Anchorage. I think this is a good thing for our community. I was worried about our borough residents, but I think in the long run, I believe that our borough residents will benefit from this surgery center and this little hospital.”
The Executive Committee for the Surgery Center of Kenai adds that Central Peninsula Hospital approached them in December in recognition of state and national trends for outpatient surgery in hospitals shifting to ‘free standing’ surgery centers. They say that this is due not only from the desire for treatment in these facilities, but the desires of third-party insurance and government programs recognizing that free standing surgery centers deliver the promise of high quality, efficient and cost-effective care.
The Borough entered into an operating agreement with Central Peninsula Hospital for operation of CPH as well as other medical facilities to provide other healthcare programs and services, on a nonprofit basis to ensure the continued availability to the service area residents.
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