| REPORT: |
Mr. Juan Zapata, Chairman, Hospital Governance Task Force (HGTF), noted HGTF Vice-Chairwoman Susan Leah Dechovitz was also present. He expressed appreciation to the County Commission for creating the HGTF and providing the Task Force members the opportunity to serve the community. He explained that Jackson Memorial Hospital (JMH) was experiencing the same issues faced by public hospitals across the United States of America. Mr. Zapata pointed out that the HGTF recommendation would provide JMH with the benefits of a private component and a public component. He noted that JMH could thrive with the proper governance structure. He clarified that HGTF believed governance of JMH needed to be flexible, transparent, and accountable to the public.
Chairman Diaz asked the Office of Sustainability Director to work with each commissioner to schedule Town Hall meetings within their respective districts to present the final recommendations of the Hospital Governance Task Force for public input and feedback before August 14, 2011. He also requested that any County Commissioner working on proposed legislation regarding JMH or the Public Health Trust to wait until after the public hearing to present their proposals.
Commissioner Heyman asked the Office of Sustainability Director to provide the Committee members with a report by August 14, 2011, on the consequences of the HGTF recommendation, including the transferring of the half-penny surtax; the financial stability, accessibility, and affordability for quality healthcare; the impact to the sovereign immunity status; the existing contracts with the University of Miami and Florida International University; the obligations the County has to its employees. She asked that this report also evaluate potential unintended consequences.
Commissioner Souto noted JMH was always facing problems; however, it had always survived through government funding. He pointed out that JMH was not designed to make money; it was designed to solve health problems. He suggested that the residents of the County did not understand the value of JMH. Commissioner Souto noted that JMH’s leaders needed the County’s residents to embrace JMH in order for them to move it forward. He pointed out that the County Commission needed to protect and care for JMH, as well as to look after the County’s residents, so that they would support JMH.
Mr. Zapata recommended that each Commissioner read the Keiser report done in 1999, which evaluated 25 hospitals that underwent the same transformation recommended by the HGTF. He pointed out that a change in governance was a political process, and all parties needed to be involved in it. |
