This community opinion was contributed by George Fendler. The opinions expressed do not necessarily represent BenitoLink or other affiliated contributors. Lea este artículo en español aquí.
This is not the time to give up. Our county healthcare infrastructure is still at risk.
Insight has withdrawn their offer to buy it. In an interview with Benitolink, President Bill Johnson has said “…We look forward to finding ways to discuss other meaningful opportunities with Insight as part of this ongoing effort.” Reading between the lines one can only surmise that they are still trying to work with Insight!
This could well be a tactic by Insight to make a new offer that is substantially lower than the first one. That is not acceptable! As they continue to “discuss opportunities with Insight”, what opportunities are they going to discuss? Do they expect that Insight will give them some recommendations on ways to magically improve the profitability of our hospital? Why does our board believe that anything that Insight could recommend would be useful? If they were really good at improving the profitability of hospitals they would have used some that expertise to save all the hospitals that they are currently trying to
rescue. Someone please tell me of even one financial success that Insight has had in those endeavors.
The fact that Insight has withdrawn their current offer and our board is continuing to consult with them is worrisome. We can’t let our guard down.
What we need to be doing is begin working to convince our current directors that they need to concentrate on the fundamentals of running the hospital. If we can’t do that we need to replace the directors that don’t understand that is what the community wants and needs.
Next, we need to convince the current officers of our hospital of the same thing. Maybe the current CEO could be reassigned to some other position for which she is better qualified and a more experienced CEO be brought in to concentrate on bringing the San Benito Healthcare District into the current century.
Please attend the August 28th regular meeting and express your desire to have our healthcare system run better. The meeting is scheduled for 5:00 p.m. in the Great Room of the Administration building (behind the hospital main building). 911 Sunset Drive.
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