By ANDY GARDNER

MASSENA -- There won’t be any word on which larger networks Massena Memorial Hospital is eyeing for affiliation until their non-profit application and asset transfer talks progress, MMH’s CEO said Monday.

“The conversion of the corporate structure and the affiliation process are parallel paths,” said at the Monday Board of Managers meeting. “Its’ not possible to affiliate … until we have a clearer understanding of what’s going to happen on the conversion.

MMH is in the process of transitioning from a town-owned hospital to a private non-profit entity. There are several things that have to coincide before that can happen, Wolleben said. First, they have a non-profit application the Internal Revenue Service needs to approve. They also need to hash out a deal with the town to figure out how it will be compensated for the loss of the asset. They also need to pick a larger health network to affiliate with if they wish to continue receiving aid payments from the state, Wolleben has previously stated.

“As we noted last month, we hope sometime in September or October to hear back” on the IRS application, Wolleben said.

On the asset transfer side, Wolleben said hospital, town and Department of Health representatives met on Aug. 11, but he did not go into details about the meeting.

“We need to get a little more clarity on conversion and how that’s going to go to we can move forward on the conversion,” he said, adding that the letter on intent process and affiliation is “pretty much at a standstill.”

“Hopefully in September we can have a little more information about the letter of intent process and the affiliate conversation,” Wolleben said.

In addition to all that, Wolleben said they have to review 31 individual licenses and permits that are currently under Town of Massena doing business as Massena Memorial Hospital and transfer them to the new corporation.

He said they cover a wide variety of things at MMH, one of which is the Federal Aviation Administration license to operate their helipad.

“That has to be changed over from the current corporate name to another,” he said.

They have another group looking at all contracts, including with employees and other businesses, as well as leases and purchasing agreements. Their job will be to find out if they can just be switched to the new corporation, or if they will need to renegotiate.

“That’s going to be another huge task,” Wolleben said.