Today, the Lakeland City Commission voted 6-1 in favor to amend the current Lease and Transfer Agreement between the City of Lakeland and Lakeland Regional Health Medical Center, effectively affirming the outstanding commitment of the two organizations to providing the best healthcare services to the community. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe appreciate the leadership and foresight of the Lakeland City Commission, Lakeland City Manager Shawn Sherrouse and City Leaders to support the future of Lakeland Regional Health Medical Center, our community\u2019s essential safety-net hospital,\u201d said Danielle Drummond, MS, FACHE, Lakeland Regional Health President and CEO. \u201cThis is a significant moment for our community and for our hospital.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Under this amendment, Lakeland Regional Health Medical Center will provide the City of Lakeland a $215 million lump sum prepayment for all remaining payments under the Lease through its 2040 term. This guarantees the City’s revenue stream from Lakeland Regional Health Medical Center through 2040 at a time of increased challenges and uncertainties due to changes in the market and governmental funding for healthcare. Lakeland Regional Health Medical Center will pursue financing for the $215 million in a low interest rate environment that will ensure long-term cash flow savings compared to the current lease payment obligation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Beyond 2040, Lease payments by Lakeland Regional Health Medical Center will be consistent with payments being made by other not-for-profit hospitals in Florida that lease their facilities from governmental entities. As a result, the Amendment provides Lakeland Regional Health Medical Center bondholders and credit agencies a higher level of certainty regarding the future of the Lease and its financial impact on Lakeland Regional Health Medical Center and solidifies Lakeland Regional Health Medical Center\u2019s commitment to the community beyond 2040. This responds to Moody\u2019s <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Investors Services December 17, 2020, reaffirmation of Lakeland Regional Health\u2019s A2 bond rating with a stable outlook that specifically identified the annual lease obligation and its uncertain future beyond 2040 as an ongoing credit challenge until an alternative solution is determined. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe Commission sought permanent certainty for the Capital Improvement Fund, which provides the high quality of life distinctions Lakeland\u2019s citizens enjoy and expect. At the same time, we created significant benefits for LRH by accepting a lump sum lease payment. The hospital can now secure funding at lower interest rates, and annual bond ratings will cease to cite the lease as a concerning issue. Both parties gain immediate benefits and predictable certainty while the quality of community health rises on a more cost-effective basis,\u201d said Lakeland Mayor Bill Mutz. \u201cWe are grateful to have participated in attaining this mutually beneficial outcome.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSolid leadership from both sides of this partnership has produced a solution that ensures the continued exceptional community healthcare provided by LRHMC, while also providing the City with the financial viability to fund much needed community resources into the future,\u201d said Lakeland City Manager Shawn Sherrouse. \u201cAssisted by the leadership of Danielle Drummond, the LRHMC Board of Directors and the City Commission have structured an agreement that best serves the community\u2019s quality of life and healthcare needs.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lakeland Regional Health Medical Center, which opened its doors in 1916, is a nationally and internationally recognized 864-bed hospital. Its Carol Jenkins Barnett Pavilion for Women and Children opened in 2018, and its Center for Behavioral Health & Wellness is set to open in summer 2022. Its Medical Staff is supported by 660 providers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis has been a challenging issue for City Commissioners, Medical Center leaders and residents alike spanning more than 30 years,\u201d said Weymon Snuggs, Lakeland Regional Health Board of Directors Chair. \u201cWe are so grateful to Mayor Bill Mutz, our City Commissioners and, in particular, City Manager Shawn Sherrouse and his team for tackling this in his first year and working diligently to resolve this in a way that supports the health of our community.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lakeland Regional Health <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Not-for-profit Lakeland Regional Health reaches beyond its hospital walls to promote wellness, education and discovery in new places and new ways, providing a wide range of inpatient and outpatient healthcare services at its Medical Center, Hollis Cancer Center and ambulatory care locations. Lakeland Regional Health earned Most Wired Advanced and Most Wired status five times since 2013 from the American Hospital Association and has earned workplace awards from Forbes, Gallup and Becker\u2019s Hospital Review<\/em>. Its 864-bed comprehensive tertiary referral hospital, Lakeland Regional Health Medical Center, operates the Jack and Tina Harrell Family Institute for Advanced Cardiovascular Medicine; a Level II Trauma Center; the Carol Jenkins Barnett Pavilion for Women and Children, which includes a Level III Neonatal Intensive Care Unit; and the Bannasch Institute for Advanced Rehabilitation Medicine. <\/p>\n\n\n\n City of Lakeland<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The City of Lakeland was incorporated in January 1885 and has grown to become one of the largest inland communities in Florida.\u00a0 With a current population of over 100,000, Lakeland continues to grow, capitalizing on its ideal central Florida location along the I-4 corridor. Lakeland has been designated a Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area by the US Census Bureau for over 35 years.\u00a0The City owns and operates Lakeland Electric, the third-largest publicly owned utility in Florida and it was one of the first to offer power in the Sunshine State over 115 years ago.\u00a0For additional information about the City of Lakeland, please visit\u00a0www.lakelandgov.net.\u00a0 Citizens are also invited to follow the City on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Vimeo, Snapchat, and Nextdoor.\u00a0 Citizens can find the City of Lakeland on these social\u00a0media\u00a0platforms by searching lakelandgov.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Today, the Lakeland City Commission voted 6-1 in favor to amend the current Lease and Transfer Agreement between the City of Lakeland and Lakeland Regional Health Medical Center, effectively affirming… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":313,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"0","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","default_image_id":71799,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[12,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8718","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8718","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8718"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8718\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/313"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}