White County Circuit Judge Craig Hannah is expected to decide after December 18 whether Unity Health should be exempt from county property tax after a full day of testimony earlier this week.
Hannah told Unity Health and White County’s attorneys on Wednesday that they had until December 18 to provide him with “factual findings and conclusions,” and he would use those documents to support his ruling on the Gail case Hospital system to meet Snyder in her official capacity as tax advisor to the county.
Unity Health attorney David Wilson of Friday, Eldredge and Clark LLP of Little Rock said he expected Hannah to make his decision likely a week after December 18.
Wilson told The Daily Citizen Thursday morning that he was “convicted” of the case. “I think it’s pretty clear that we should get this tax exemption. I don’t feel like the law has been followed up to this point. Hopefully if we show the evidence we can still prevail. “
Unity Health filed lawsuits against Snyder in 2017, 2018, and 2019 in the White County Circuit Court for approval of his tax exemption requests, which were first rejected by Snyder and then on appeal to the White on appeal from County Judge Michael Lincoln, who wrote on one of his cases County Court dismissed rulings that “White County Medical Center did not have the burden of proving nonprofit status”.
According to Unity Health’s 2019 petition, 13 properties (parcels) were submitted to the county assessor in May to apply for charitable tax exemptions for that year and all were denied. According to a 2018 tax return, Unity Health County billed $ 98,649.20 in personal property and real estate taxes that year.
During Wednesday’s hearing, Jason Owens of the Jason Owens law firm in Conway, who represented White County on this case, argued that White County Medical Center offers elective processes that make Unity Health money, calling them “flat rate” including cosmetic surgery. Owens also said that Unity Health’s collection practices do not reflect a nonprofit organization.
He said while Unity Health has a financial assistance program, patients are billed and turned over to collections after three out of four missed payments. He also said attempts are being made to garnish the wages of a patient who does not pay.
Stuart Hill, chief financial officer of Unity Health-White County Medical Center, countered while testifying that we won’t stay in business if the hospital doesn’t make a surplus. He said Unity Health wants enough to cover the expenses, have supplies, and look after the future.
The vice president and treasurer / CFO, who has held the position for 22 years and started working there in 1988, mentioned the purchase of the Jackson County hospital in Newport in 2015 and said, “If you don’t grow, it will die. “
WCMC has 600,000 patient meetings a year, it was found. In 2018, revenue was $ 293.4 million, expenses were $ 269.8 million, and net income was $ 23.5 million. Hill said WCMC had substantial reserves, but they would only last less than a year if the hospital had to “blow them up”.
Hill testified that WCMC had no individual shareholders, no investors, but a voluntary board of directors. “Our shareholders are the community we serve,” he said.
When asked by Wilson what would happen if WCMC closed, Hill said everything would return to the county. He said WCMC had 2,400 employees, and 1,900 to 2,000 of them were full-time employees.
Hill also addressed the hospital’s community service. He mentioned that if someone had a bill that would take a lifetime to pay out, that account would basically be written off as a charity. He also mentioned the hospital’s annual public outreach, A Day of Caring, and that WCMC offers childbirth classes, a diabetes class, sometimes cares for churches, and offers free school and athlete screenings.
When it comes to elective surgery, Hill testified that it is the doctor’s call when it is necessary. For example, a person who wants to have a stomach process in order to lose 20 pounds for “glamor” reasons would not receive financial aid but would receive charitable care for someone who really needs it.
Andrea Pankey, an administrator at WCMC’s clinic operations, testified on Zoom that she has been employed at the hospital since 2012 and said that if a patient cannot pay, this does not delay service. She said that patients who don’t respond to the billing after two statements are usually contacted and sent to collections after four statements.
Beebe’s Sheila Fry testified that both parents were cared for by WCMC for charity. Her mother’s bills, she said, were $ 17,000 and her father’s bills were $ 83,000 for the hospital only. She called the care and treatment “amazing”.
Teresa Owens of Russellville testified that her parents were also cared for by WCMC for charity. Owens said her bills were “outrageous”.
Chris Ralston testified that he had two issues with his payments at a Unity Health clinic. He said there was a mix-up with the deductible and that he overpayed twice and it took him four months to get the credit back to him. He also said that he was treated rude by an office manager who told him that if he didn’t pay he couldn’t see the doctor. He noticed that there was a sign in the clinic office lobby saying that you had to pay or that you couldn’t see a doctor, but he said the sign was later removed.
Jason Owens not only discussed the elective operations in his closing statement, but also discussed the bonuses that WCMC has given.
Wilson had previously asked Hill about the bonuses Hill referred to as “gratifiers,” like a birthday or Christmas present. He said in the past six years Unity Health has made awards to employees four times. He said, as for the cost, these bonuses are counted as a “salary” on the books.
He found that doctors do not receive any bonuses. He said he believes that when employees receive rewards, it makes them happy employees and that happiness moves into their patient care. Pankey said if a nurse quits it can cost $ 5,000 to $ 10,000 to replace her.
Owens asked Hill to compare WCMC to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis when it comes to charity, but Hill said WCMC doesn’t have the same message, adding that St. Jude doesn’t charge any fees for that Patient care rises, a huge role plays a donor base that draws on the heart. He said the Arkansas Children’s Hospital is still charging fees.
Wilson talked about the three-factor test in his graduation. One of them is that no one can be denied care because of their solvency.
Steven Webb, CEO and President of Unity Health, told The Daily Citizen last December that state law allows companies to be tax-free if they pass a three-way test: “When they are open to the public; when they use their company’s proceeds to expand their mission and when they don’t deny the bankruptcy. “According to Webb, Unity Health meets all three standards.
“Unity Health has been tax free since the day it opened. We registered as a White County Medical Center in 1995 and have been tax-free since then, “said Webb. He said the hospital was tax exempt under “IRS rules,” “We are a 501 (c) (3) non-profit,” and state law.
Lincoln, to the best of his knowledge, has denied Unity Health’s property tax exemption application five times, most recently in November, weeks before the Hannah hearing, which was expected to take two days but will be completed after one.
The applications were initially denied by Snyder, who has worked in the White County Assessor’s Office since 1989 and as an assessor since 2017. She was asked by Wilson on Wednesday if she had carefully read through the packages that were submitted with the tax exemption applications. She said she looked through the packages.
Snyder also said she wasn’t mad at WCMC when she turned down requests from Unity Health, noting that her husband was being treated there.