NEWS

Marshfield Clinic seeks to borrow $1 billion

Jonathan Anderson
USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin

MARSHFIELD - Marshfield Clinic plans to borrow more than $1 billion to pay for its purchase of Ministry Saint Joseph’s Hospital in Marshfield and to upgrade medical facilities throughout central and northern Wisconsin.

The Marshfield Clinic, in Marshfield, Wisconsin, July 8, 2016.

The health care provider is seeking the money through the Wisconsin Health and Educational Facilities Authority, an obscure state agency that helps nonprofit organizations finance construction projects, according to a public hearing notice issued last week.

The funding would come from tax-exempt municipal bonds, not tax dollars or other public money, according to the agency's website.

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Marshfield Clinic intends to spend about $800 million to buy and renovate Saint Joseph's in Marshfield, and to improve and expand medical facilities in Marshfield, Wausau, Stevens Point, Eau Claire and Menomonie, among other places. Specific changes may include replacing buildings, adding and updating patient rooms, enhancing signage and installing new ventilation and temperature-control systems.

The remainder of the money would go toward refinancing existing debt, according to the public notice.

All told, Marshfield Clinic is seeking upwards of $1.1 billion.

Marshfield Clinic spokesman Jeffrey Starck said Tuesday that federal securities regulations prevented him from answering particular questions about the proposed bonding. But, Starck said, the financing efforts demonstrate Marshfield Clinic's "century-strong commitment investing in the communities and enriching lives of the patients we serve."

A Wisconsin Health and Educational Facilities Authority official was not immediately available for comment Tuesday.

Ministry Saint Joseph's Hospital in Marshfield is shown, Wednesday, October 21, 2015. Marshfield Clinic is in the process of purchasing the hospital in fall 2016.

Marshfield Clinic announced in March that it would buy Ministry Health Care-owned Saint Joseph’s Hospital, the only hospital in Marshfield, after initially proposing to build a new hospital in the city. Ministry had opposed Marshfield Clinic's new hospital and argued the city could not support two hospitals.

A Marshfield Clinic official said in March that plans for the new facility have been put on hold, but that a new hospital is still needed in Marshfield.

Marshfield Clinic is also planning to build a new hospital and cancer center in Eau Claire.

The proposed municipal bonding comes after credit rating agency Standard and Poor's changed its outlook on Marshfield Clinic from stable to negative earlier this year, according to a media report. The report quoted a credit analyst who cited Marshfield Clinic's "additional capital spending and possible debt over the next couple of years."

Marshfield Clinic is a nonprofit medical clinic and one of the largest private health care organizations in Wisconsin with more than 700 physicians. It has about 50 clinics throughout central and northern Wisconsin, and also has a hospital in Rice Lake and partial ownership of a hospital in Park Falls.

Ministry owns 15 hospitals and nearly 45 medical clinics across Wisconsin, including Saint Clare's Hospital in Weston and Saint Michael's Hospital in Stevens Point; it is part of Ascension, the largest Catholic and nonprofit health care system in the country.

The Wisconsin Health and Educational Facilities Authority will hold a public hearing about the proposed bonding for Marshfield Clinic on Sept. 13 at 8 a.m. in its offices near Milwaukee, at 18000 West Sarah Lane, Suite 300, Brookfield. Written comments also can be submitted to the agency at or prior to the hearing.

Jonathan Anderson: 715-898-7010 or jonathan.anderson@gannettwisconsin.com; on Twitter @jonathanderson.

Marshfield Clinic's Marshfield Center, 1000 N. Oak Ave., Marshfield