Chicot Memorial Hospital is soon to be in possession of a 16 slice CT scanner and a picture archive and communications system (PACS) after the Chicot County quorum court voted unanimously to authorize the issuing of hospital revenue bonds in the maximum allowed amount to generate $750,000.

Don Wade, chief financial officer at CMH, said the 16 slice scanner is basically required now in the medical profession and the hospital’s current software is not compatible with the newer technology of other hospitals. When patients are sent elsewhere for treatment, he said the scans CMH sends with them are unusable and have to be redone.

The new scanner would also be more efficient, according to Wade, doing in a “matter of minutes” what currently takes anywhere from one half hour to an hour.

The 16 slice CT scanner was requested by a surgeon who was scheduled to begin operating out of CMH sometime this month. Wade said the increased use of the equipment, due to the new surgeon and to better technology, should increase revenue in the radiology department, which is already the highest revenue earnings department in the hospital.

The picture archiving system is used in x-ray, according to Wade. Instead of using film to store images, they would be stored digitally in a computer. This would cut the hospital’s cost of film and slides, Wade said, adding that the savings would basically pay for the system.

The tax exempt bonds being issued created a five year financing at a7 present interest rate, according Ryan Bowman, an attorney with Friday Eldredge and Clarc. Monthly payments are expected to begin in October and continue through September 20 12, he said.

Those payments are expected to be over $130,000 per year. Wade said, adding that he was confident the hospital could cover such a cost. He pointed to the recently developed positive cash flow, saying that the losses shown on the books are due to expenses the hospital must record but does not really have to pay out. Bowman added that the bonds will be secured by hospital revenues only no other funds of the country being pledged to the issue. The equipment would act as collateral he added.

Bowman said the bonds will be sold as product placement, meaning they will be sold to the Bank of Lake Village and Simmons First Bank of South Arkansas only and will not be offered to the public.

The bonds were offered to these banks because their permission is required for the issuance since they were the first revenue bonds.