HomeMy WebLinkAbout2005-04-27 Hospital Development Commitee MinutesHospital Development Committee Meeting ,
April 27, 2005
The meeting convened at 7:30 p.m. in the Town Hall Conference Room, 16 Lowell Street,
Reading, Massachusetts. Present were Chairman Bruce Cerullo, Vice Chairman Nelson
Burbank, Members Bob LeLacheur, John Daly, George Hines and Colleen Seferian. , Also
present were Bob Rulison, Dorothy Kelley-Flynn and Town Manager Peter Hechenbleikner.
On motion by Burbank seconded by Daly, the Minutes of March 30. 2005 were annroved.
as submitted, by a vote of 6-0-0.
Chairman Bruce Cerullo noted that he thinks we may be spinning our wheels. We've heard
information from Bob Cummings and from Sally Hoyt. We've determined that a hospital is not
likely to be built. We are looking at a bricks and mortar solution that will have "X" things that
we want to do, and we are looking at programmatic options to accomplish other things.
Colleen Seferian talked about the possibility of contacting hospitals to see if there is interest in
partnering with the Town. They may say nothing is needed, or they may be willing to do other
things. She felt that we need to do a health assessment first so. that the Committee will know
what its needs area
Bruce Cerullo noted that building a hospital is off the table but there may be other bricks and
mortar ideas.
The Town Manager noted that a health assessment would be helpful in determining community
needs that might be met with bricks and mortar or with programmatic solutions.
George Hines felt that the decision of not building a hospital is sound. He talked about the
Community Parish Nursing request for funds as something that could be met through the
Hospital Trust Funds with some modification. He also felt that we needed to decide what kind of
process we need to make a decision.
Bruce Cerullo felt that a health assessment would be a good tool for helping to make a decision.
With regard to contacting hospitals about a bricks and mortar solution, he felt that they would be
very engaged and very non specific in any request that we make at this time. With regard to
programs, we clearly need a health assessment.
Vice Chairman Nelson Burbank felt that we should make a decision on the bricks and mortar
possibilities first.
George Hines felt that if we contact hospitals and get some responses, the Committee can make
decisions as to whether what is offered is of value to Reading.
Hospital Development Committee Meeting - April 27, 2005 - Page 2
Bob Rulison noted that the hospitals may say what is needed? They could do a doctor's office or
they could do a walk-in center like in Malden. The Committee asked the question "Do we need
diagnostic services or surgical services in the Town of Reading?" Even if that's what is
proposed by the hospitals, we need a way to objectively review any proposals that come in.
Bob LeLacheur asked whether from a cost perspective, we will rule out doing the bricks and
mortar or programmatic program ourselves or is this partnering.
Bruce Cerullo quoted the Town Manager as saying "we should not be in the health care
business."
Bob LeLachuer noted that for some bricks and mortars solutions, we may not need a partner.
Bruce Cerullo asked whether we should do a focused needs assessment, and also ask the
hospitals what they might be interested in proposing.
The Town Manager noted that we are trying to get a grant to do a health assessment. Dorothy
Kelley-Flynn noted that a health needs assessment would be in the $25,000-$35,000 range.
Nelson Burbank noted that we don't seem to be getting complaints about lack of facilities. We
do seem to be getting questions about things like the cost of drugs. If we do a programmatic
process, we should do outreach in the community. The question was raised about whether
whatever we do is required to meet only the needs of the needy. George Hines noted that needy
could be defined as needing help. The Town Manager indicated that it was pretty clear that
financial needs was talked about in the wills.
Bob LeLacheur noted that even if we use a programmatic solution, there might be brick and
mortar as part of the solution.
Nelson Burbank suggested sending a questionnaire to four or five hospitals to see if they're
interested in doing something on a partnership basis with us. If the answer is no, then that puts
that matter to rest.
Bruce Cerullo asked the group whether they felt we should send a letter to the various hospitals
seeking their interest in partnering with the Town. The consensus was that we should. With
regard to a health assessment, he felt that we should probably limit the scope.
Colleen Seferian talked about having a representative of the Healthy Communities Program help
us to focus on that issue.
For the next meeting, we will try to get somebody in from the Healthy Communities Program or
the State Department of Public Health and also a consultant who does needs assessments. They
can talk to the Committee about what a health assessment is and how they would approach it.
Hospital Development Committee Meeting= April 27, 2005 - Page 3
Additionally, the Committee agreed that Bruce Cerullo would write a letter to the CEO's of the
different hospitals indicating that there was the opportunity for partnership and asking them for
their input. There was discussion about whether this should be limited to hospitals or whether
we should also discuss with doctors. Since the hospital funds were to build a hospital (whatever
we might be considering would be a hospital substitute), it should be limited to hospitals. We
should consider input from doctors later but initially focus on the hospitals.
George Hines felt that we should give the hospitals a date certain to respond.
The Committee also asked Dorothy Kelley-Flynn and Bob Rulison for additional information on
the definition of free care. The reason is that Reading should not be paying for something that
could have been free.
The goals for thenext meeting will be: -
♦ Have a letter sent out to the CEO's
♦ Have two experts on health assessments
♦ Work on the definition of needy
The Committee agreed to meet on May 18th or May 25th depending on the availability of
speakers. The meeting will be at 7:30 p.m.
On motion by Burbank seconded by Daly, the Hospital Development Committee voted to
adiourn their meeting of April 27, 2005 at 8:30 p.m. by a vote of 6-0-0.
Respectfully submitted,
Secretary