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.
Someone told me that they think the Healthcare District Board is asleep at the switch. How do we wake them up? I’ve been thinking about that a lot lately.
For the past three years, I and many other residents have been attending the monthly board meetings. Each time the agenda allows, we make our three-minute talk in an attempt to explain that selling is not what the citizens of the county want.
Something occurred to me over the last few days. It has been my experience that when I have made a decision to do something and there are people who don’t want me to do it, they speak up. The ones that tell me “don’t do it” don’t carry as much weight in my decision making as the ones that present alternatives. We have gone down this road long enough to make it apparent to anyone who looks at the situation to understand that, even if we think selling is the best solution, Insight Health is not a very appropriate buyer.
I believe that we should change our approach. Yes, we should still point out the folly in selling to Insight . But concentrate most of our efforts proposing alternatives. My little survey, even though there have been under 100 responses, has shown that about 83% of the respondents oppose selling the hospital. Over 99% would propose to create a JPA or simply run it better. Nearly 100% don’t consider Insight to be an appropriate buyer.
Since this survey started, the County BOS has withdrawn their proposal to form the Joint Powers Authority. That leaves us with the choice of selling to a company that virtually nobody in the survey wants to sell it to or figure out how we can run it better!
Ovation Healthcare is working with over 375 clients in 47 states. They have extensive experience turning around hospitals that are having financial difficulty. Ovation’s CEO, Dr. Dwayne Gunter, has expressed interest in working with our healthcare system. Our board has expressed the idea that the solution that we need is an influx of cash. Ovation hasn’t expressed a desire to provide cash. Ovation, however, has a good deal of experience making hospitals operate more efficiently.
Sometimes throwing money at a problem just makes it worse or postpones the inevitable. Ovation can provide economies of scale in purchasing services, equipment and supplies. They have experience and can use their influence in negotiating with payers. Those two things alone might eliminate the need for massive capital investment. Ovation also wouldn’t take over ownership of our 117 year old hospital—leaving us with no alternative if things don’t work out.
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