The fallout from Mayor Karl Dean’s letter stating changes were coming to the Metro Hospital Authority continued Thursday when General Hospital’s most outspoken advocate called for the privatization of two city-run facilities.

At-large Councilman Jerry Maynard sent a letter to Hospital Authority CEO Dr. Reginald Coopwood requesting that a Request for Proposal be issued inviting consultants to come up with a plan to privatize the Bordeaux Nursing Home and the Knowles Assisted Living Center.

Maynard’s letter – available at this link – came just hours before the scheduled mid-year budget review for the Hospital Authority, during which time it is expected to come out that General Hospital may need another line of credit from Metro because of a continued operating loss this fiscal year.

Dean sent a letter to the Hospital Authority last week stating Metro would not extend an additional line of credit. Dean’s letter also said he had charged Metro Finance Director Richard Riebeling with proposing alternatives for the way the city provides care to the indigent.

Metro this year is subsidizing the Hospital Authority to the tune of about $47 million, which is $2.5 million less than last year. Bordeaux occupies about $12 million of that total and is one of the last publicly run assisted-living facilities in the country, Maynard said.

General Hospital is expected to finish this fiscal year with a deficit anywhere between $2 million and $10 million.