Public raises questions at PCMH board of trustees meeting

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The Perry County Memorial Hospital Board of Trustees took public comment for about 30 minutes from multiple individuals when it met Monday, Feb. 7, prior to going into executive session for “discussion.”

Beth Phillips read a letter (included as a letter to the editor on page 7A this week) at the start of the meeting, raising several questions, including if PCMH is in financial trouble, what factors are used in determining who to form a partnership with, why are citizens just now hearing about this and who will have control of any revenue Perry County receives from any potential transaction.

“I hope each of you will think carefully before you sell our local hospital to an out of town corporation that wants a business success, whatever the cost to the community,” she concluded in her letter. “I look forward to your response.”

Joe Hutchinson understands the hospital’s future is a complex issue.

“My concern for the hospital has always been about employee retention, recruitment of doctors and longevity…that’s my chief concern,” Hutchinson said. “…We have had no input to the community. It’s more than just about money. So, what do we do? … We need input from community, to the community about why is this a good deal before we jump.”

Frank Robinson presented 10 pages of documentation detailing Perry County Health Systems as a tax-tempt organization and its financial concerns, and stated that PCHS sustained losses in 2019, 2020 and 2021. The amount ranged from a loss of $1.62 million in 2019, $5 million in 2020 and $2 million in 2021.

“Is the anticipated income anywhere near the correct range? Can you tell me that, or is there no answer?” Robinson said.

“I think it’s anticipated as a loss,” Naeger said.

“Am I in the correct range?” Robinson asked.

Wibbenmeyer said “yes.”

“…Is Perryille hospital in financial stress?” Robinson asked.

“Yeah, you could say that,” Wibbenmeyer said. “Are we in a bad position? No.”

“Is the financial stress causing the decision to partner with Mercy?” Robinson asked.

“It is a factor,” Wibbenmeyer responded.

“Should taxpayers be aware of the financial pressure and therefore allowed to hear presentations from the three hospitals that the RFI (request for information) was sent out to? I’m saying if the county hospital is in financial stress, you sent the RFI to three hospitals. Why not let those hospitals to come make a presentation to our county,” Robinson asked. “The county owns our hospital. Why not let them have some hearing and input on your decision, or is this secret only? If it’s not secret only, can we allow the citizens of the county to hear the plan from the respondents to the RFI and then get input from the county citizens. That’s my request.”

The only board of trustee board member to comment publicly after the speakers was Pat Naeger.

“I think this is one of the most important institutions in our community,” Naeger said. “There are three things that you have to do really, really well. That’s education, public safety and it’s health care. Those are the three pillars of a great community. If you do those things great, you’re going to be in pretty good shape. Sadly, for me, as a member of the board of trustees I have some differences. Not necessarily about who, but how. I think the process has been thorough in many ways for our executive team, for the private board. I think there has been a lot of time spent, but I think in the public realm, as someone who represents the shareholders of Perry County, who actually own this property, the voters. We need to have more transparency. The shareholders need to know what the heck is going on. I feel like we have fallen mightily short of that. We need to have public hearings in the (Perry) Park Center. We need to share what we can share. Now, there’s some privileged information that is out there, but there’s a lot of information that is not privileged. The other part of it is the people the have an opinion. I’ve learned throughout this process from our own staff. If somebody comes in to Perry County Memorial Hospital and they need an additional service that’s not offered here, I think 80 percent of those people choose to go south to Cape Girardeau, whether it’s St. Francis or Southeast. There’s no doubt in my mind personally I think the culture of southeast Missouri is the culture of southeast Missouri and it’s not St. Louis but again, the people in my opinion have to see some light on this issue. I hope that it slows down. I hope that we engage the public further. I don’t want to be in a position as a board member to be given one choice today and then we crack the tube of toothpaste open and let me tell ya we can’t put it back in very easy. This is too important probably in most of our lifetimes. This is a really, really big deal and we owe it to all of you and the rest of this community, to the staff, to everyone here, to do this right, to do it damn near perfect and I’m committed to that.”

Naeger closed his comments by thanking those in attendance for being there at Monday’s meeting.

Wibbenmeyer then read a letter at the request of Ken Bateman, CEO of SoutheastHEALTH.

“SoutheastHEALTH has worked with many of the largest self-insured employers in Perry County for several years to help stabilize and lower their cost of health care. To date, we have over 85 groups and over 35,000 covered lives, five of which are in Perry County and represent approximately 8,000 covered lives. Since the program’s inception in 2015 we have never lost a client which speaks volumes about the actual savings and genuine relationships. I want to point out that employees have access to all St. Louis hospitals and would continue to have access to St. Louis hospitals if we are selected as your partner. Each employer designs their health plan based on quality costs and services location. We do not require operations to send their patients to SoutheastHEALTH. Our experience is that most patients would prefer to stay local for routine care. My understanding is that more than 75 percent of Perry County residents receive their care either at your hospital or in Cape Girardeau County, selecting SoutheastHEALTH would continue that convenience of care for your residents…It would be an honor if SoutheastHEALTH were chosen to partner with Perry County Memorial Hospital.”

PCMH Board of Trustees Chairman Steve Rozier appreciated the comments and sought action to move the meeting to an executive session.

“Thank you all for coming,” Rozier said. “Thank you for your input…I need a motion to go into closed session.”

The board of trustees voted 4-1 to move the meeting to closed session for “discussion.” Those supporting this motion were Rozier, vice chairman Gregory Unger, secretary Beth Guth, treasurer Darrell Niswonger. Naeger opposed the motion to go into closed session.

For more on this story, see the Feb. 10 print edition of the Republic Monitor