This community opinion was contributed by Robert Bernosky. The opinions expressed do not necessarily represent BenitoLink or other affiliated contributors. BenitoLink invites all community members to share their ideas and opinions. By registering as a BenitoLink user in the top right corner of our home page and agreeing to follow our Terms of Use, you can write counter opinions or share your insights on current issues. Lea este articulo en español aquí.

  • We have had our wakeup call; HHH has problems but also significant opportunity.
  • People have been frustrated in their efforts to find out what is going on for 1.5 years.
  • Dismantling the current power structure is what is in our best interest.
  • The JPA Partnership is a vehicle that gets HHH on the right path.

The announcement of the petition for bankruptcy was our wake-up call that something was amiss with Hazel Hawkins Hospital. That led to conversations with involved medical professionals about the poor management of HHH, but also the opportunity HHH presented, especially because of its proximity to the Bay Area and its entrepreneurial spirit. It also began the journey of trying to uncover exactly what was going on that led to the financial distress, and we learned much about the entity and the personalities involved. In a word: disastrous.

A necessary endeavor as concerned residents was the discovery “journey” that dominated our conversations for the past 18 months. However, there were also conversations happening about what was truly needed for success. Not just keeping the doors open “as is”, but to re-make and re-brand HHH to be an economic powerhouse in the community, driven by entrepreneurship that provided the basic and enhanced health care this community needs.

The merging of the discovery journey and the entrepreneurial opportunity initially came about in the JPA Partnership. Not being a policy maker, my goal for the JPA Partnership is to dismantle the current regime that is killing HHH and to provide some oversight by the County with their $5-10 million planned investment (if even needed). As you know, the current HHH board does not have the ability and/or have the willingness to properly oversee the administration and to hold the assets in the public trust. However, they did come to the County of San Benito and asked for a $10 million loan.

With that in mind, my newly refocused efforts are to get the right kind of professionals involved in the governance and administration as quickly as possible. The same command that a skilled surgeon has in the operating room is what we believe is necessary in the boardroom. People that know how to run a company the size of or bigger than HHH, have done it before, and can bring wisdom and relevant knowledge with communication skills to the table when making hard decisions.

The obvious solution is to elect a new board. However, we have to keep in mind that not everyone enjoys running for office or has the time to do so, but they have the desire to serve. More importantly, they may have the perfect skill set to fulfill the qualifications we need but may lose to a more charismatic individual that has none of the skills the hospital needs. This is why the JPA Partnership makes sense.

Under the JPA Partnership, the District and the Board of Supervisors together would appoint members with the right qualifications to a HHH operating board that would only oversee the hospital. Initially they would be tasked with evaluating HHH administration and implementing the business plan created by the world-renowned expert hospital firm ECG Management Consultants. The goal is to see growth in the hospital, in quality, service offerings, revenues, and market share. As it is today, our CEO reports on discussions of potential legislation, and does a poor job of that.

Image courtesy of Robert Bernosky.
Image courtesy of Robert Bernosky.

A recent event is the awareness of the possibility that the administration may not legally be allowed to continue employment if HHH should be sold to a private entity. This has to do with California Government Code 1090, conflict of interest. Officials cannot enter into agreements that they ultimately benefit from. To the extent hospital officials are negotiating and are being an influence in the conversations with Insight and ultimately would be getting a paycheck from Insight, creates a conflict of interest. Current thoughts on this include that since the CEO and others cannot move forward post-transaction, why not get new blood in immediately and begin the turnaround. Not doing so means the hospital will continue to languish for greater than a year as things get sorted out with the voter referendum and licensing hurdles Insight would have to go through in California.

Insight might be a good choice, but there will be delays, regulatory and electoral hurdles, and culturally they are most likely not a good fit. Hazel Hawkins Hospital needs a re-do, and we can do that locally, especially with the help of the San Benito Health Care District-County of San Benito partnership.