Viroqua, Wis.-based Vernon Health plans to borrow $25 million in fiscal 2027 to fund a new EHR, according to S&P Global Ratings.
The 25-bed critical access hospital, formally Vernon Memorial Hospital, will issue the debt as fixed-rate direct purchase bonds. Implementation is set to begin in 2027, and $6 million of the borrowing will reimburse capital spending and go back into the hospital’s unrestricted reserves, S&P said Oct. 15.
Vernon now runs Epic through La Crosse, Wis.-based Emplify Health by Gundersen under Epic’s Community Connect program. Affiliation talks between the two organizations appear to have begun after Emplify told Vernon it planned to end its Epic access, the Vernon County Reporter reported Sept. 5. The talks ended in July, and Emplify will stop providing Epic access after Aug. 1, 2027, per the news outlet.
Vernon has said it secured a new Epic provider, according to a Sept. 26 Vernon County Reporter story.
The EHR borrowing would more than triple Vernon’s $10.6 million in long-term debt. S&P expects debt service coverage to stay above three times after the issuance.
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