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On May 20, a four-hour board meeting slated to determine the future of Hazel Hawkins Memorial Hospital was held with no vote taken.
The San Benito Health Care District Board of Directors must decide whether to sell the hospital to Michigan-based Insight Health Systems or have it managed by a joint powers authority (JPA) with San Benito County.
The board is scheduled to continue its discussion and approve a proposal on May 23.
On May 21, BenitoLink received a memo sent to the hospital’s medical staff from Brittney Slibsafer, medical staff services director, on behalf of Dr. Michael Bogey, chief of staff. The memo contained results of a survey that Bogey circulated to physicians at the hospital ahead of the board’s meeting to decide on a buyer or partner.
“I feel it’s extremely important that we, the physician community, is able to express our opinion about the future of the healthcare in this county,” Bogey wrote.
The survey asked doctors to choose between the two options: Insight or the county’s JPA. Results posted on the website Survey Monkey show 42 of the 46 participating physicians voted in favor of the county’s proposal. There are 66 physicians employed at Hazel Hawkins, according to its website.
The survey was held over the weekend after the hospital’s medical staff received presentations by both parties, said a source who asked not to be identified. The source said many physicians were concerned about losing local control.
During the May 20 meeting, the board did not discuss the physicians’ survey. Bogey said in an email accompanying the results that the board had been informed of the survey.
“Immediately following the results, I called each individual board member to share the numbers and discuss the comments that expressed concerns and thoughts on each option,” he said.
New partnership proposed
Supervisors Angela Curro and Kollin Kosmicki; county consultant Cecilia Montalvo and ECG Management Consultants Aleksander Keser and Brian Barnthouse were present for the county’s proposal.
In the first half of the meeting, the board questioned the county extensively and critically about the details of its proposal. The board spent less time querying Insight.
Health care district board member Devon Pack suggested a partnership between Insight and San Benito County, where the county’s JPA could be included in Insight’s proposal. Pack also suggested an option where Insight leases the hospital.
Atif Bawahab, Insight’s chief strategy officer, said Insight would be open to an interim management period and a lease-to-own option.
“I haven’t talked that over with my team but I would say in principle we want to make this deal work,” Bawahab said. “We would be open and very receptive to an interim management agreement and more importantly, what I think you are trying to get at is what protections and safeguards does the local community have with Insight coming into it.”
According to its website, Insight is “a charitable, religious 501c3, based upon universal Islamic teachings that are inclusive, respectful, and inviting of all faiths and non-faith communities.”
Both Insight and San Benito County were asked about recruiting and retaining physicians in the county.
The JPA proposes the creation of a medical group of 25 to 30 medical professionals, within five to six years of the partnership with the hospital. Recruiting doctors to the county is the JPA’s first priority, said consultant Montalvo.
In a January presentation to the health care district, Insight’s Chief Strategy Officer Atif Bawahab said the organization was proposing to create a more integrated network of physicians noting “a lot of the medical staff here is not internalized and employed by the hospital itself.”
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