Dosher Memorial Hospital is one step closer to getting out of the long-term nursing care business.

At its meeting Monday evening the hospital board of trustees voted to approve all terms and conditions for the sale of the state license for Dosher Nursing Center to Liberty Healthcare & Rehabilitation Services group for nearly $1.3 million. The vote, announced in a news release Tuesday, follows a February board decision in principle to sell the license to Liberty after the hospital received three bids.

Monday’s vote established the final terms for the sale, which is now “signed and sealed,” according to Dosher spokesman James Goss. Goss said Tuesday the hospital expects the license transfer to be approved by state regulators within 90 to 150 days.

The formal agreement between the hospital and Liberty takes effect June 1. It calls for Liberty to assume operations of Dosher’s skilled nursing facility at that time and to adhere to Dosher’s conditions for the sale: to accept all current residents regardless of payment method, to build a replacement facility in Smithville Township or within five miles of its borders and to allow current employees to apply for positions at the center once the transfer happens.

Goss said that, while Liberty currently staffs the nursing center and is Dosher’s partner in clinical nursing care, Dosher is still the center’s operator.

“In June, Liberty will take over the whole shooting match,” he said. “The name will continue to be Dosher until we get state approval [of the license transfer].”

Once state approval is obtained, Liberty will announce plans for the replacement facility, according to the release. Goss said hospital officials expect that completion of such a facility will take about two years, but added that Liberty’s expertise in long-term health care might shorten that timetable.

Dosher president and CEO Tom Siemers and nursing center leadership spoke with center residents and their families Tuesday to answer their questions and address any concerns about the transition, Goss said. Siemers outlined exactly which entity – Dosher or Liberty – would be responsible for what services and center maintenance between June 1 and completion of the replacement facility.

Sale of the nursing center license has been on Dosher’s agenda since December, when trustees voted to follow a board study committee recommendation do so.

Dosher has seen an operating loss of about $1 million per year on the 64-bed nursing center. Factors contributing to the loss are low government reimbursement for critical access hospitals like Dosher that have nursing centers, and the center’s lack of space for rehabilitation services.