You would think the county government and the hospital would understand that the coronavirus pandemic was a good reason to delay the sale/partnering process of our hospital. Our organization, Save Our Hospital Inc., has asked them to delay these proceedings for six months, but they have not responded to our request. Interestingly, representatives of the hospital and its Partnership Advisory Group have suggested that now is a very good time to push forward.
New Hanover Regional Medical Center is supposedly owned by the people of New Hanover County. You would think that any effort to sell or partner or restructure our hospital would be open and transparent. After all, this is the most important public decision our community has ever faced. Yet, most of the process has been veiled in some form of secrecy.
The initial decision to have the New Hanover County commissioners vote for a “resolution of intent to sell” was completed on a “need-to-know basis” by a very few people. A number of the members of the hospital’s board of trustees did not know about plans to sell the hospital until they read about it in the newspaper. How’s that for inclusion and transparency?
Since that time, the process has been on a calculated fast track. With a few minor exceptions, there has been no variation from the county’s initial time schedule. Incredibly, that includes their decision to continue working at a time of major national crisis.
The PAG has competed its assignments to date. A request for proposals has been crafted and sent out, and six proposals have come in. The PAG’s next role will be to evaluate the proposals, possibly cut them down to two or three “finalists”, then work further to develop a final recommendation to the county commissioners.
There are six proposals on the table. But there should be seven. The seventh would be to maintain local control without selling the hospital. County and hospital representatives discussed this in cursory manner – maybe a few hours – during the PAG proceedings. I hope they will give it more serious consideration in their final deliberations.
Save Our Hospital Inc. is firmly against selling our hospital to an outside interest. Once it is gone, it is gone forever. We can’t get it back.
We are also against any partnership that would cede majority control to an outside entity. We are not saying that some sort of partnership arrangement might not be feasible. But, of course, in evaluating these sorts of transactions, “the devil is in the details.”
Regarding the six proposals, we – and by “we” I mean the general public, the hospital’s owners – have not had an adequate time to review and analyze them. Plus, we will not be privy to the detailed, not-edited or redacted versions of the proposals.
Speaking for Save Our Hospital Inc., our initial reaction is that we have various issues with all of the submissions. Four of them we would tend to dismiss outright because they are sales. Of the two that offer a partnership; one would become a sale down the road.
Therefore, we need a little time to absorb the information these six suitors have submitted.
We will be making a recommendation to the PAG for that seventh option: an operating model we think would work for NHRMC that maintains local ownership and control. Hopefully, we will make that presentation soon.
In the final analysis, our goal is to see a regional health care system that offers the best possible care at the lowest possible price.
Gene Merritt is president of Save Our Hospital Inc.
