Board member and finance committee chairperson Jeff Cannon — who voted not to lease the new piece of equipment — moved to put Carolinas Health Services — the physicians group that manages Wallace Thomson Hospital and the hospital district’s affiliate clinics — on 60 day notice that the district would sever its relationship with the group and remove district CEO Bill Leonard from his position.
Cannon’s motion was eventually tabled by a vote of 5-2 — with with Jeff Cannon and Rhonda Ingle voting against tabling — after the board spent nearly two hours in executive session Thursday night.
Prior to convening into executive session, however, Cannon presented information to the board about conversations — he claimed were kept from the finance committee prior to its decision on the ultrasound lease — between hospital district surgeon Dr. Fred Barker and administration, i.e. Leonard, in regard to purchasing and/or leasing the new piece of equipment.
Cannon told board members, according to information he received after asking several questions about the issue to district administration, he learned there was another draft agreement between Barker and the district to lease the equipment directly from the surgeon instead of from the equipment company.
He also noted provisions in that agreement that said the terms and conditions of such agreement between the two parties would be kept confidential and the reason the hospital district wasn’t looking at purchasing the ultrasound directly was because it could not spend that capital.
“All I’m doing is stating the facts,” Cannon told board members Thursday.
He said he attempted to convey his concerns when the finance committee convened into executive session at the meeting it approved the lease of the new ultrasound on Jan. 21 but couldn’t. So instead he brought them to open session at Thursday’s full board meeting as the board considered approving the minutes from the last finance committee meeting.
District board member and finance committee member Rhonda Ingle was on Cannon’s side. She said board members expect everything to be disclosed to them and it’s the responsibility of the CEO to disclose all that information.
“We just want all the facts,” she said.
Ingle also was concerned about some of the information Cannon found because of price quotes that were not up to date prior to the finance committee’s meeting. She noted, too, the board has questioned several moves by CHS since it took over management responsibilities of the district that need to be corrected before moving forward with its contract.
Ingle would like to put CHS on 60 days notice to give the group time to iron out the problems she and other board members have seen and then renegotiate.
Barker was not pleased with the connotations of Cannon’s message. The surgeon said it sounded as if Cannon was accusing Leonard was doing something wrong and that he was “in on it.”
Instead, he informed the board there is no agreement for equipment between him and the district at this time. Barker added it was him who was originally planning to take the risk and purchase the hand-carried ultrasound with his own money.
He is the one who got a demonstration piece and said he had previously owned and used a hand-carried ultrasound unit like the one the finance committee approved to lease. He said the district is behind times by not having one. He began using one in his own practice in 1994 prior to coming to Union.
“We have no agreement at this point,” Barker said. “There was no intention on my part to deceive anyone and I’m highly offended by any notion that I might . . . I was taking the risk.”
Leonard explained the draft agreement between the district and Barker was only that — an option in the event the district could not find another way to acquire the ultrasound unit. The district cannot purchase out right any capital equipment because it currently doesn’t have the funding capacity to do so. But the lease option is like renting the equipment, which the district has the authority to do.
The proposed agreement with Barker was part of the research into the equipment and how to secure it, Leonard said — partnering with doctors like that is standard procedure in larger hospitals. The wording in that agreement that the terms of it would be kept confidential between the two parties involved, he added, is standard legal procedure.
Leonard said what was presented to the finance committee for its approval is what is moving forward — the district will lease the new ultrasound unit directly from the company for the terms and conditions set forth in that presentation.
The draft agreement between the district and Barker for the option of leasing it from the surgeon is null — it is not being enforced. Leonard said there is no deception on anyone’s part.
He added administration does much research on items it brings before the committee and board prior to them being placed on an agenda, looking at all possibilities and puts forth the ones it thinks best fit the needs of the hospital district.
This case was no different according to Leonard.
He said the hospital’s direct lease of the equipment — at a discounted price because it worked with Barker who received a special offer for the unit due to one of his professional associations — was the better option and that’s why it was the one presented to the finance committee.
Leonard also said the terms of the lease agreement for the new ultrasound unit still are being fleshed out. The unit currently is sitting, sealed in its box, in the surgeon’s office.
“Nothing has been executed yet,” he said.
Barker noted there were at least two incidents in the last week he could have used the new unit if he had the opportunity.
Cannon wasn’t convinced.
“It wasn’t presented like that at the finance committee meeting,” he said.
Leonard reiterated there was no agreement executed prior to the finance committee’s approval in January. During that meeting, the costs, uses and returns on investment of having a hand-carried ultrasound unit were presented.
“Did we present every option?” he said. “No.”
Instead, after looking at all the alternatives, Leonard said the administration brought the committee the best options.
Leonard assured board members their stewardship of the district was reflected in the agreement the finance committee approved to lease the ultrasound unit — it is possible to make the move within the financial constraints of the district.
Despite Leonard’s comments, Cannon moved forward with his motion.
“We need to take a different direction,” he said.
Board member and district employee Dr. Christopher McWhorter told the board he has a letter signed by 14 physicians in support of the current administration and CHS and expressed his concern over the way the situation was being handled.
“I don’t like the way this is going,” he said. “I really do not.”
Board member Dr. Gerald Fielder attempted to quash the issue in open session by moving to table Cannon’s motion but while his motion was seconded it failed. Fielder added he didn’t think the people supporting Cannon’s move were looking at what kind of state it would place the hospital district in.
Board of trustees chairman Tim Svedlund agreed.
“There definitely needs to be some further discussion,” he said.
“There are other ways to handle this,” added CHS’ Fred Brown.
There actually were two motions to convene into executive session but the first failed.
Brown told the board it needed to understand the consequences of making a move like Cannon suggested.
It was with the promise of additional information he thought the board needed to hear that board member and district employee Dr. Robert Yannetti changed his vote on the second motion to go into executive session to allow the board to close the meeting to discuss contractual and personnel issues in private.
The issue, however, was not resolved Thursday evening — only tabled to a later time.
Cannon’s term on the board expires in March 2010 as do those of Dr. McWhorter, Dr. Yannetti and chairman Svedlund.
The difficulties facing our community and county are paramount and personalities should remain secondary.
I urge everyone to use their influence to find positive solutions to the problems we now face.