Attorney General Tim Fox says he needs more time to analyze how $65 million from the sale of Missoula’s Community Medical Center should be used.
Fox approved the sale itself January 12. Still pending is Community’s proposal for where money from the sale should go.
"Because the proposal was submitted rather late in the process, we felt we did not have sufficient time to review that," said John Barnes, spokesman for the attorney general.
Barnes says the review should be complete by March 13.
Because Community was a non-profit sold to a for-profit partnership, money from the sale by law has to be used for similar charitable purposes. Community’s plan would put most of it into a new health care foundation, but also donate $10 million to the University of Montana Foundation.
According to Barnes, "that’s the part that we’ve been giving the most attention to."
Barnes says the attorney general has received a lot of public comments advising against approving the gift to the University.
Community hospital was sold to Billings Clinic and RegionalCare Hospital Partners of Tennessee.
See comprehensive info on the Community Hospital sale from the Attorney General's office.