Council member Eric Walker said Cookeville Regional continues to grow, but the payment to the city remains the same.
During a first in-depth work session on the CRMC budget Tuesday, Walker said he did not want to see the hospital go private, but he did believe there was room for the medical center to do more for Cookeville.
Cookeville Regional pays the city $700,000 in a payment in lieu of taxes. CEO Paul Korth said the medical center takes the money it makes and reinvests it into the community.
“What we have to do is we have to try and balance the difference,” Korth said. “What does the community need, what services are we going to offer at this facility, and what does our strategic budget say, our commission say, what does our strategic plan say, when we go out and try to fulfill that.”
Board of Trustees Member Dr. Ernest Buchanan said that reinvestment has worked, changing the habits of the 1980s and before when people with serious health issues went straight to Nashville for care.
“If I had a heart attack right now, I know my care would be just as good here as it is at Vanderbilt,” Buchanan said.
Korth said the medical center board of trustees funds just a handful of the projects needed. Korth said this year, his office received some $25 million in requests, but funded just $12 million.
Korth said the CRMC staff has grown from 700 employees to 2,400 during his tenure with a service of some 300,000 patients last year.
Council member Mark Miller asked that K-9 teams budgeted in the new fiscal year be removed before approval. Miller said they pose too much of a risk to medical center patients.
“I want to see that removed from the budget,” Miller said.
“That’s up to the board,” Korth said, saying the Board of Trustees will consider at a meeting prior to the final budget being submitted to the city.
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