Senate adopts $5 million bridge‑loan program for struggling rural hospitals

The North Dakota Senate passed SB2403, which creates a temporary bridge-loan program to provide gap financing to nonprofit medical facilities in communities with populations under 2,500 that are experiencing severe financial distress.

Senator Scheible, the sponsor, said the amendment on the floor reduced the program’s initial allocation from $10 million to $5 million and described the loan terms as up to $5,000,000 per facility with an 11‑year repayment period and interest-only payments during the first year. The program is designed to be administered through the Bank of North Dakota by amending the existing medical facility infrastructure loan program; unused funds would return to the general fund. The bill’s statutory language as presented on the floor sets an expiration for the enabling language tied to the loan period (program language expires June 2027).

During questioning, Senator Powers asked whether auditors had found fraud in the hospital’s records; Scheible responded the committee’s review over two years and multiple administrator turnovers pointed to mismanagement rather than fraud and described governance and billing-system problems that had been corrected.

Senators recorded a final tally of 46 ayes, 0 nays, 1 absent and the bill was declared passed.