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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2005-03-16 Hospital Development Commitee MinutesHospital Development Committee Meeting ~ L E R CLEFiK March 16, 2005 ~ M . , , NI S S. itJ AP _ ~ k 3 2 The meeting convened at 6:35 p.m. in the Town Hall Lower Level Conference Room, f6 Lbw' 1' Street, Reading, Massachusetts. Present were Vice Chairman Nelson Burbank, Members John Daly, Bob LeLacheur and Colleen Seferian, Winchester Hospital Representative Dorothy Kelley-Flynn, Trust Fund Commissioners Bob Cummings and Dana Henigar, Hallmark Health Representative Steve Wilson and Town Manager Peter Hechenbleikner. (Chairman Bruce Cerullo entered the meeting at approximately 7:00 p.m., and Finance Director Beth Klepeis entered the meeting at approximately 7:15 p.m.) On motion by Burbank seconded by Seferian, the Minutes of February 9, 2005 were approved, as amended, by a vote of 4-0-0. The Town Manager went through the material in the packet. Bob Cummings was invited to address the group about thoughts that he and/or the Trust Fund Commissioners have had with regard to building a facility. He noted that the initial purpose of the Hospital Trust is beyond reach. He views the Trust Fund Commissioners' responsibility in administering trust funds as "the ability to look a donor in the eye and tell them that we did with their money what they wanted." Therefore, he felt that we have to find the uses of the trust fund that will be closest to the intent as possible. Bob Cummings indicated that there is approximately $4 million in the trust and that is enough to get someone's attention. The donors envisioned that a local committee would be formed with the use of their donations as seed money to raise funds to build a community hospital and that this would be a community endeavor. However, there has been no new money added to the trust other than the original three donors. There have been changes in the medical profession since the original donations. Instead of calling the family doctor and having a house visit, people now go to the emergency room if there is a need. In emergency rooms, there are long waits. It would be a great thing if we could develop a facility in Reading so that residents do not have to go to an emergency room and have long waits to deal with issues that may not be truly medical emergencies - they need attention during times when they can't see their family doctor. Bob Cummings felt that an urgent care facility might be viable. This would be a facility for walk in activity - not people brought by ambulance. It could be staffed by an internist or similar physician and nurse practitioners. He feels that he knows quite a bit about services from serving on a hospital board. We had such a facility - the Health Stop in Town - but it was not profitable or even break even. Something in addition to an urgent facility may be required such as a surgicenter or other similar uses. Bob Cummings suggested that we go to the community hospitals in our area as well as perhaps some of the Boston based hospitals. We could tell them "the Town of Reading has $4 million, and we'd like a facility built in the Town. The Town may be able to provide the land. You can Hospital Development Committee Meeting - March 16, 2005 - Page 2 own and operate the facility. You can put other things with it as long as an urgent care facility is maintained. What can you do for us?" As to why a hospital would be willing to do it, it is for market share. Winchester Hospital, Melrose-Wakefield, Lahey and even Mass. General should be approached. If there is no interest, then he would never suggest that the Town move forward - this is not something that the Town wants to do on its own. Wilmington tried to do something like this with a clinic that has become a satellite facility for Winchester Hospital. Bob Cummings felt that an urgent care facility with a surgicenter (surgicenters can be profitable and/or offices could be viable). If it's located in Town, it ensures to the Town a supply of physicians. Medical offices associated with such a facility would also bring in doctors. One option is to hire a consultant to do this for us. A consultant would get demographics which all the hospitals already have. He would not suggest a consultant at this point. The idea would try to get an indication of interest from one or more hospitals. The Town can then move forward with a broader process. Regarding the current use of the hospital trusts, the Wills indicate that until a hospital can be built, the interest can be used to pay hospital bills for needy citizens. We haven't had any of those in years. There are not very many residents who do not have insurance, are not covered by Medicare or Medicaid, or not eligible for free care. When the Town went about getting the cy pres agreement approved, they went through a process with the many folks in the community. There was a lot of stories about how many people and what kind of people would need the services for transportation and for home health care following hospitalization. Following the approval of cy pres, there were literally no takers for the services. Bob Cummings went through the history of subcontracting with Larry Camerlin to provide transportation service and working with VNA's. There is little demand for those kind of services. He reminded all those present that the purpose was to build a hospital, and the trustees' obligation was to use the trust for purposes as close to that as possible. Bruce Cerullo noted that he thought the priorities were to build a hospital or to defray medical costs for needy citizens of Reading. The Committee had been thinking of zeroing in on the programmatic solution rather than a bricks and mortar solution. Bob Cummings noted that the trust did not say to defray medical costs - it was to defray hospital costs. Much of the medical costs are for doctors and prescription drugs which are clearly not covered by the trust. He also noted that there might be a difference between "income" from the trust versus capital appreciation. Nelson Burbank noted that Dorothy Kelley-Flynn indicated that Winchester Hospital is not interested in building an urgent care facility. They have one in Wilmington. Hallmark Health has indicated that they would not be interested either. The needs as expressed are: (1) hospital, (2) for the needy and (3) for Reading citizens. Hospital Development Committee Meeting - March 16, 2005 - Page 3 Bob Cummings felt that a facility in Reading would draw from Reading, North Reading, Wilmington, Wakefield, Andover, North Andover and other communities. Use could not be limited to one community but its location in Reading would certainly give practical preference to Reading residents. He felt that we should go to the CEO of the hospitals and outline what the options were, and ask for a formal response as to whether or not they would be interested in working with Reading. Nelson Burbank asked why hospitals would want to have satellites if they are losing money. Bob Cummings noted that they might lose on individual satellites but if they draw patients into the hospital as sort of a feeder system, that could be profitable to the hospital. Bob Cummings noted that Reading is relatively affluent and most have insurance. Therefore, there would be little free care. This is in contrast to a facility being considered in Malden where there would be a lot of free care. The only way to find out whether or not it's viable is to ask potential players. He reminded the Committee that they want to talk directly to the CEO with specifics. Bruce Cerullo noted that Beth Israel or Brigham and Women's might be interested. Bob LeLacheur asked if there were any solutions that would not include a hospital as a partner Bob Cummings emphatically indicated that there were not. Nelson Burbank asked if the decision is to keep the status quo, or are there needy in Reading who aren't being assisted. He noted that Bill Hughes, before he passed away, indicated that there were a group of veterans who may benefit from therapy using the pool at the Burbank Arena. Bob Cummings indicated that they had heard that same kind of thing when the cy pres agreement was being considered but found that there was very little demand. Bob Cummings noted that any hospital related facility would be good for physicians, and this is not a bad thing. Residents who get stuck in emergency rooms waiting for service would be greatly advantaged by having a facility in Reading. He also noted that we might look to potential hospital partners where residents are currently going. Nelson Burbank noted that if he remembered correctly, 48% of Reading residents go to Winchester, 15% to Lahey and 14% to Hallmark for emergency room visits. Bob Cummings noted that a local urgent care facility would not compete with emergency rooms - this is not a location for emergencies - it's a location to go to when you need treatment that is currently only available in emergency rooms. He also noted that the Town of Reading has four census tracks - three of which are categorized as upper income and one as middle income. The surrounding communities are all middle income. Nelson Burbank thanked the Commissioners of Trust Funds for their work over the years - they've grown the money considerably. He asked if the decision is made to continue the status quo, are there concerns about the future management of the trust funds. Bob Cummings indicated that there weren't but he would not be adverse to considering a professional money manager like the Fidelity Fund for charitable causes. The Commissioners should explore such an option. There is no great need to spend the money because it is there. Hospital Development Committee Meeting - March 16, 2005 - Page 4 Bob LeLacheur asked Bob Cummings if he had any words of wisdom regarding another cy pres agreement. Bob Cummings noted that if there is good community support, it could be an easy process. He felt that you can't do anything, including building an urgent care facility, without an additional cy pres agreement. He also noted that if a cy pres agreement is uncontested, then it can go pretty fast if the Attorney General is in agreement. Bruce Cerullo noted that: We need to get a more firm response from facilities like community and Boston hospitals. 2. The Committee cannot be lulled into decisions by anecdotal evidence. Dorothy Kelley-Flynn noted that she can get additional information from the data on the need for different services but to get more detailed information, you would need to actually do surveys. Bruce Cerullo thought that we should get as much hard data from the hospitals as we can. At the next meeting, the Committee is going to go over what kind of information we can provide to potential hospital partners, and what information we will need from them. The next meeting will be on March 30, 2005 at 6:30 p.m. On motion Committee vo e to ad' ur t eir meetia of March 16, 2005 at 7:45 .m. b a vote R sp Full tted,