New hospital will have local oversight
New hospital will have local oversight
JP leery of ‘ coffee and donuts’ board following CRH disaster
news@theeveningtimes.com
With land under option and preliminary development and lease agreements set for a new Baptist Memorial Hospital for Crittenden County (BMH Crittenden), and a March 1 vote to redirect the one percent hospital sales tax, Quorum Court Justice Lisa O’Neal asked Baptist executives about hospital oversight.
O’Neal was ready to lobby for heavy oversight in light of recent bad experiences with the county hospital.
Crittenden Regional Hospital shocked the community, going defunct after a cash flow collapse in August of 2014. Next, Ameris Health campaigned to start a new hospital in the old building, but ultimately backed away over revenue control after the one percent tax passed. O’Neal said she felt left in the dark too long with previous dealings around the hospital and wanted to know exactly what was on the menu now that Baptist has forged development plans with the county.
“Will decisions be coming from across the river in Memphis or made locally?” asked O’Neal. “I want more than a ‘coffee and donuts’ oversight. Will there be a member of this body on the board?”
“All of our hospitals do have local boards,” said Chief Legal Officer Gregory Duckett. “For instance at DeSoto (County, Mississippi) the mayors of Southhaven and Hernando are on the board.”
“Before, we’ve had problems with no communications and we have a vested interest,” said O’Neal. “We want to be in the loop. Will the quorum court have a representative?”
“Most states, it would be a conflict of interest to have a member of the governing body to sit on the board,” said BMH Special Legal Counsel Dick Cowart.
“All our community hospitals have a direct board overseeing,” said Duckett.
“We also have a community advisory board and on those we do in fact have elected officials serving.”
“Is it a real board or a ‘coffee and donuts’ board,” asked O’Neal. “We’ve been left in the dark before.
We’ve been knocked off that horse before.”
“It is not a board with fiduciary responsibilities of the day-to-day operations,” said Duckett.
“It is not a ‘coffee and donuts’ board,” said Cowart directly. “It’s an information and feedback board.”
By John Rech
