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The Issue of “Local control”

Posted on: July 18, 2007

By Barbara Orr

In the decisions facing Portneuf medical center the issue of local control is being distorted. First of all the for profit hospital Capella Healthcare is asking for a lease; a lease which will require a local board of directors who will have the same limited influence as the current board of directors, who by the way share the same responsibility as the management for this mess.

The Capella group will need the approval from local voters for a 40 year lease, which at the completion of the 5th year would have a new hospital that the County still owns, as well as the old hospital which the County can then sell or renovate – depending on what is in Bannock County’s best interest. The current administration is asking for a 501c3 primarily to avoid any contact with the voters, and has no plans to set up anything which would require a vote. Evidently “local control’ is restricted to the two dozen or so people who are the board that apparently answers to no one.

The current “local control” and local management has created the mess we have. We have a hole in the ground where a hospital should be, and no means to finance it without cutting employees by at least a third, and services (who really needs a cancer center anyway) which is not in the future plans of those who are trying to get “local control”.

We need a real hospital in Pocatello, a singular building, a good relationship with ISU and surrounding hospitals, and a focus on patient care and real medical problem solving for real people. So people don’t have to go to 4 different places and make four different expensive appointments weeks apart to get a problem taken care of, (if it gets taken care of) like they do now.

Local control as we have it has never benefited the people of Pocatello, having 2 hospitals has been a huge waste of resources, and does anyone really know where to go for what services anymore, anyway? It’s a good thing we have life flight, we need it to get to Salt Lake.

Local control is only a valid point when it works. When it is successful and when it is productive. Consider the potential economic impact of this hospital failing, in this community. I suggest we give up local control to a competent management company, who will cause more efficiency in all things, based on their company track record. Consider fairness to the employees. Did you know that the Portneuf Medical center’s 401K retirement plan does not match any $ for employees, unlike almost all other retirement plans. Capella matches the first 2% at 100% and then the next 4% by 25%. This is another aspect of what local control has done for the local hospital employees. Your retirement funds might not matter if your salary is in 6 figures, but for most hospital employees these things make a difference.

Local control in this area has presented us with economic waste, medical profiteering, and many individual personal disasters. Let’s try Capella, they appear to be an ethical company, wouldn’t that be a novel situation for some in our community.

They are not surrounded by controversy nor shrouded in secrecy. At least they have responded immediately with factual information to all inquires, those at Portneuf into “local control”, have not responded until they were threatened with the Freedom of Information Act. That’s the kind of “local control” some people here want, enough control to not be held accountable.

It’s time to hold these people accountable for their incompetence. This is the most important decision this community will face for the next 25 years. We can either have a state of the art hospital run by a competent company, or continue with the mess we have at taxpayer expense. Every family in this community has a horror story connected with this hospital of one kind or another. How many of us will suffer needlessly if the Bannock County Officials make a very wrong decision to keep incompetence by calling it “local control”.

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