Holston Medical Group Funding Announcement

Monday, January 12, 11 AM

Weber City Town Hall

          We are here today to announce the completion of a highly innovative funding arrangement that is enabling Holston Medical Group to complete a first rate, comprehensive medical facility located in Duffield.

        Through the provision of $1.9 million in federal tax credits, private sector funding in the amount of $5 million is being made available to Holston Medical Group's One Partner Properties to complete the new medical facility currently under construction along U.S. 23 in the community.

          The new facility will bring significant improvements to the quality of medical care now available in Scott County and in the region.  A fully equipped rehabilitation facility and a full service, cutting edge Outpatient Diagnostic Center will be features of the new facility, which will also provide greater access to OB/GYN, Gastroenterology, Orthopedic and Cardiology services on site.  The facility will include six family practice physicians and will create nearly 40 excellent jobs in the areas of administration and medical support - office managers and nurses, as well as lab, radiology and occupational therapy personnel.

          Access to these medical services for local residents will be made significantly more convenient at the new facility, assuring that patients are able to seek and obtain the care they need without having to travel out of their immediate area.  Convenient access to health care services is often the key to improved patient outcomes.

          Early last year I met with Dr. Jerry Miller, President of Holston Medical Group, to learn more about the project he proposed for Duffield and to offer my assistance in bringing it to reality.

          As a result of that meeting, we advised Dr. Miller and Craig Kilgore, Executive Director of HMG, of the potential for the New Market Tax Credit Program to assist in completing the project.  Craig and Jerry expressed a high degree of interest in the Program and set about pursuing the funding.  It is their success in obtaining that funding that brings us here today.

          I want to spend just a few minutes talking about the New Market Tax Credit Program - the innovative funding mechanism that attracted the $5 million in private sector investment to this project, as the program has the potential to be of great benefit to communities in my Congressional District.

           The New Market Tax Credit Program was first enacted by Congress in 2000 with the goal of encouraging private sector investment in community development projects that create jobs, add to the local tax base, eliminate blight and bring medical and educational services to areas in need.  The goal of the New Market Tax Credit Program is to encourage the private sector to invest in such projects by providing substantial tax credits to investors.

            The availability of the tax credits encouraged several private lenders to invest in the project through Virginia Community Capital, located in Christiansburg, Virginia, and I want to recognize Dawn DeHart of Virginia Community Capital and express my appreciation to her for joining us today.

          The New Market Tax Credit Program holds special promise for our region in 2009.  In December  I announced that the U.S. Department of the Treasury had allocated $15 million in New Market tax credits for use by People, Incorporated, in Abingdon and an additional $15 million in tax credits for use by Virginia Community Capital.  Beginning this year, the total of $30 million in tax credits available from these two local entities may be used to attract as much as $100 million in private sector funding for use in community development initiatives in many of our localities that have the greatest  need.

          It is my hope that this announcement will spur an interest among both for-profit and not-for-profit companies engaged in community development projects in utilizing the program.                 

          Information on the New Market Tax Credit  Program may be obtained from Dawn DeHart with Virginia Community Capital, who is with us today,  or from Deborah Wagner at People, Incorporated, at 276 623-9000.

          Before I turn the podium over to Jerry Miller for his comments, I want to say a word or two of introduction.  Holston Medical Group is a preeminent provider of medical care for the residents of this region, with more than 100 physicians and specialists and a total of 800 employees at 15 campuses in East Tennessee and Southwest Virginia.  Under the leadership of Dr. Miller, HMG has become a regional leader in the most effective and efficient methods of delivering high quality medical care and a national innovator in the use of electronic medical records. 

          I want to thank Jerry for his commitment to our region and for the many hours that he and his staff invested in becoming the first entity in our region to make use of the New Market Tax Credit Program.  We hope that there will be many other such New Market Tax Credit-enabled community development projects to follow the example of Holston Medical Group.

          Let me now turn the podium over to Dr. Miller.