The current Board of Trustees of the Public Health Trust consists of the following members:Chairperson John H. Copeland III (pictured), Vice Chairperson Angel Medina, Jr., Secretary Georgena D. Ford, R.N., Treasurer Marcos Jose Lapciuc. Trustees: Stanley H. Arkin, Jorge L. Arrizurieta, Gladys Ayala, Esq., Rosy Cancela, Ernesto A. de la Fè, Joaquin del Cueto, Abraham A. Galbut, Saif Y. Ishoof, Esq., Dorrin D. Rolle, County Commissioner, Judy Rosenbaum, Ed.D., Sen. Javier D. Souto, County Commissioner, Martin Zilber, Esq.
Did I care if the County Commission replaced or put an oversight board over these men and women yesterday? Nope, I didn't care one iota. A new bad board to replace an old bad board is a neutral move. I wrote about Jackson in June 2008 raising some yellow flags. The Commission rejected the idea put forth by the Vile Natacha and the Mayor to appoint a new Board probably in a vote of confidence to Rolle and Souto. The Herald said. The Commissioners rejected it mostly because they saw it as a power grab by the Mayor, who would have made the appointments.
8 comments:
Dorrin Rolle? Dorrin Rolle on the Board of Trustee's? They'd have to remove the word "Trustee" for that to make any sense at all. Our county commission mirrors a majority of the Republican members of the US Senate - it's all about politics and who can get what from this or that - nothing to do with righteous leadership, honesty and trust.
The public Health Trust are the folks responsible for the financial condition of the JMH system as it sits today. The economic downturn is not a new mystery to be solved. Once it became obvious that there were going to be problems, they had the duty to act and preempt the impact to the extent possible.
I watched the Commission meeting yesterday in its entirety with great interest. The way the PHT bylaws read now, all board members must come from Miami-Dade County unless a waiver is approved.
It seems to be that just as there is a supposed "national search" for high level talent in the county administration (as well there should be), the same should apply to the members of the PHT. It is a very specialized skill set to manage a large healthcare network like JMH, with knowledge required in the medical field and medical financial administration.
The PHT needs a medical/financial "top gun" troubleshooter to come in and assist the new CEO. During such time, the board members who do not add value should be systematically replaced by nationally (or internationally) recognized experts in managing ALL aspect of organizations similar to JMH.
Run it like a for profit corporation. Even though Jackson revenues will never cover costs due to the indigent nature of many of their patients, the mindset will be necessary to solve the current crisis, and keep things on track once we reach the other side.
County oversight can only make things worse as the appropriate expertise doesn't reside there.
While these people are probably very civic-minded and want to help, they just don't have the skill sets we need now. We have to get some CPA's, business and financial mangement types there, people who can look at the weekly and monthly data, ask the tough questions, and provide alternative solutions. Those PHT meetings should not be love feasts. We have to seek these kind of people out, as they are not looking for political appointments or community service projects, nor do they need ego-stroking. And they should be Dade County people as it is our money, and we have the talent. But for $700,000 a year, we should look around the country for the best talent we can find for CEO.
"Run it like a for profit corporation?" I thought it was intended to be a public hospital devoted to charity care. How do you do free charity care like a for-profit corporation?
This reflects some seriously confused thinking.
Board members? What were they doing while Jackson was heading for bankrupcy?
Before Oquinn left, he told the county commission that they were heading for a cliff. The forecast was 2011. So we are one year early. The PHT board has been aware of the problem, but I think they believed they had another year to work on it.
The current hospital admin found that the books had been cooked and wasn't reflecting the true shape of the financials. I give them credit for coming clean now instead of waiting until it was too late. Remember, the new CEO has been there less than a year. You can't blame her for the systemic mess.
The PHT board rotates through members pretty frequently. - it would be interesting to know how many of them have been on long enough to have known what was coming and which rocks to look under.
Don't want to pay for "Obamacare?" Who pays for the "charity care" that JMH provides and the for profit hospitals avoid? Huge subsidies from your property taxes and from sales tax. Spreading the risk over the entire population (not even considered in the current weakened bill in Congress) would relieve pressure on the locally-funded systems and might even shift some of the indigent care to the for-profits since they'd be reimbursed.
Exploding deficits in a charity care hospital in the middle of the Great Recession shouldn't be a shock and isn't a sign of mismanagement. I'm sure there's plenty of that - as there is in the other hospital systems.
We hear there are too many managers and too many overpaid managers and directors.
Who lets in the foreigners with no money for $200,000 operations?
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