Union County Supervisor Tommy Sinclair — who was present for the board’s special meeting — brought the issue to the attention of Union County Council at its last meeting Tuesday, Jan. 12. Council members voted unanimously to form a committee composed of county council members, hospital district board members and the general public to resolve the matter.
Sinclair reported at that time the issue needs to be resolved before March 31 when the terms of four of the hospital district’s seven board members’ terms expire.
The issue stems from the law’s requirement that three physicians need to be on the hospital district’s board but — at the same time — forbids its employees from serving as board members. Most local physicians, including sitting board members Dr. Christopher R. McWhorter and Dr. Robert A. Yannetti, are employees of the district and therefore could not be reappointed to the board.
McWhorter’s and Yannetti’s terms end in March along with those of Dr. Gerald D. Fielder — who is not a district employee — and current board chairman Tim Svedlund.
No decisions were made at Wednesday’s meeting. Svedlund noted the special session was an opportunity for trustees to begin discussion on the issue.
The Union Hospital District Board of Trustees also met in regular session Thursday, Jan. 7.
Carolinas HealthCare System Vice President of Regional Facilities Fred T. Brown and Executive Vice President of Regional Facilities Larry Hinsdale and Carolinas Physician Network President Frank Letherby presented the board a management action plan for the Carolinas Health Associates Clinics.
A management action plan is a business tool used by CHS to define and benchmark processes to improve stability and improve teamwork in facilities. Included in the plan for the Union Hospital District is the implementation of a Physicians Council and a plan to grow services to fit the community’s needs.
The district sees its primary care growing.
The district has added several new doctors to its ranks. They include: Internal Medicine physician Dr. Felix Kuuseg, Family Medicine physician Dr. Andrea Savage-Jeter, pediatricians Drs. Ranjan Bista and James G. Mumford, surgeons Drs. Fred Barker and Harold Hope, OB/Gyn Dr. Brian Lutz, ENT physicians Drs. Andrea Williams and Luna Bailey and opthamologist Dr. Billy Haguewood.
All of them have available schedules.
The board and district administration also see its outpatient and imaging services growing in the future.
District CEO Bill Leonard also gave trustees his report at the last meeting, including a note that admissions were up in December over November and October. The midnight census on Jan. 6 was 53 — the highest the district has had in two years.
Leonard also announced Registered Nurse Practitioner Anne Derrick started seeing patients Jan. 4 and is splitting her time between the CHA for Family Healthcare and CHA-Family Practice Associates clinics.
Derrick is partially filling the position left open by Dr. M. John Flood who left family practice to pursue emergency medicine. Leonard reported Derrick — who is a mid-level practitioner — sees patients in the clinics and works with the physicians to see ill or non-critical patients.
The district has a signed contract with family practice physician Dr. Sukhjeet Kamboj who is slated to begin practice in Union County in August.
Leonard also presented the board with an outline of growth strategies for 2010 at the last meeting. There are several areas he would like the district to grow in over the next year. They are:
• Physicians practices.
• Surgery.
• OB/Gyn.
• Outpatient Diagnostic Services — imaging in particular.
• Quality of Wallace Thomson Hospital to get in the top 10 percent in the nation.
• And work with the Union County Chamber of Commerce to emphasize the economic importance of health care and the jobs it creates in Union.
The district finance committee will hold its monthly meeting tonight at 6:30 p.m. in the administrative conference room of Wallace Thomson Hospital.
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