What transpired last week between the Sweetwater County Commissioners and the members of Memorial Hospital of Sweetwater County’s Board of Trustees is unprecedented, but we think few options were left on the table.
What isn’t disputed is the fact the hospital’s cash reserves are nearing a dangerous level. If the reserves dip below 75 days of cash on hand, the hospital is in default on the revenue bonds sold to improve the hospital’s emergency room a decade ago.
The board members’ responses to the commissioners’ questions regarding rumors of a staff reduction, a plan to reverse its revenue trends and concerns about what the board did and didn’t approve were troubling, as former board chairman Joe Manatos repeatedly told the commissioners “I don’t know” in response to their queries.
That, in itself, is the main problem with the hospital’s board of trustees prior to last week – they simply were not aware of what was going on. Early discussion focused on an email Chairman Reid West received prior to the commissioners’ meeting last week, which was sent to hospital board members and may have featured a list of positions which would be terminated the following day. Another example involves the hospital board’s response to the commissioners’ request for a financial action plan, which was a single-sheet of paper featuring vague and cryptic entries without real explanation as to how the administration would accomplish its goals. The board members themselves seemed confused as to if they approved the hospital’s action plan or if they instructed the hospital’s administration to draft a plan in time to submit to the commissioners’ meeting the following week.
No board, either elected or appointed, should be so hands-off as to not be aware of the goings on at the facilities they’re entrusted with. No CEO or executive director should be allowed to have so much autonomy as to completely run a facility without input from the board that person answers to. Almost all of the boards in Sweetwater County function as they should, with the chief executive answering to the board.
The main exception to this rule was Memorial Hospital of Sweetwater County.
Hopefully, the new, five-member board and the remaining members of the administration can start to improve the hospital’s performance. Hopefully, the board will hire a CEO who will run the hospital with transparency and respect to both board members and the commissioners.
Hopefully, we will start to see the hospital’s cash reserves grow without the need for drastic action.
Reader Comments(0)