The Iberia Medical Center Board of Commissioners adopted changes to its bylaws and ratified changes made to the Medical Staff bylaws to eliminate differences in language and bring both sets of bylaws onto the same page.

The change also creates a process for any issues between the staff and the board with regard to the process for appointments, reappointments and clinical privileges. A joint committee comprised of members of the medical staff and the hospital’s board would convene to discuss the conflict, then present its solution to the respective bodies for approval.

The board also received an update on the hospital’s bond issue. According to IMC Chief Financial Officer Dionne Viator, the process is on track, with responses to the hospital’s request for proposals expected in house during the week of July 15.

The $11-million bond issue is earmarked for infrastructure improvements. Because it is a revenue bond, it will be paid back through the profits from the hospital, not through other parish funding.

Viator said the bond closing should be held on Aug. 28.

One of the first uses for the money will be modifications to the HVAC system for the operating room suite. IMC Chief Executive Officer Parker Templeton previously said that project would qualify for tax-exempt status, which would lower the eventual cost to the hospital.

In his report, Templeton said the hospital had more than 200 applicants during its job fair on June 7. He also noted that Gov. John Bel Edwards signed into law a ban on freestanding emergency rooms that are not licensed as part of the main campus of a hospital or as a hospital’s off-site campus. In addition, no hospitals would be able to create an off-site ER within the primary service area of a rural hospital.