Quoting Barbara Lickness <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > Missed me completely. Tell the list more. Please > Please Please. Exactly what is going on? > Nice to hear from you, Barb. "Exactly" would take a little more time than I have this AM. However, briefly:
The county board hired a national consultant (McKinsey & Co.) to evaluate things like future financial health. (Their powerpoint file and HCMC CEO's summary are available if anyone wants those details). They predicted, if you add the numbers, as much as a $100 million shortfall per year by 2006 and that was before the budget cuts at the capitol last session in GAMC, etc. They said the county board has 3 basic options to close this revenue gap. 1) to increase tax revenues (not really an option), 2) to confine our mission (not something we want to do), or 3) to "improve performance", including aggressive productivity improvements and capturing all possible growth options. This can be accomplished by modifications in streamlining patient flow, purchasing and supply chain management, payor contracting, revenue cycle management, indirect labor productivity, and service line growth in productive areas. Sorry about the biz gobbledygook. I'm quoting in the above. quoting again here: As part of continuing strategy to keep Hennepin County Medical Center (HCMC) viable through actions surrounding proposed state budget cuts, the Hennepin County Board of Commissioners established a 14-member Governance Task Force and approved an operations performance improvement plan for the hospital. The 14-member Governance Task Force includes: � Irv Weiser, chair and CEO of RBC Dain Rauscher; task force chair � Mark Bernhardson, Bloomington city manager � Susan Boren, office manager, Spencer Stuart � Albert Gallmon, president, Minneapolis Branch NAACP � Dr. Don Jacobs, CEO, Hennepin Faculty Associates � Bruce Lambrecht, Investment Management, Inc. � Peggy Leppik, former state representative � Greg Pulles, vice chair, TCF Financial � Sharon Sayles Belton, senior fellow, Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs � Roger Siegal, AFSCME Council 14 � Nikki Sorum, Thrivent Financial � Jeff Spartz, CEO, HCMC � Gordon Sprenger, former chief executive, Allina Health System � Sandra L. Vargas, Hennepin County administrator The task force will study hospital governance, Minnesota statutes and existing county policy and recommend to the County Board: � Legal, organizational and governance structure for oversight of HCMC that will maximize effectiveness, efficiency and operation, while meeting its mission as a public safety-net teaching hospital serving multiple constituents. � Guidelines for determining roles and responsibilities between the County Board and any oversight or advisory board recommended by the task force. The task force will submit recommendations to the County Board by Sept. 2. The county administrator was also directed to negotiate contracts with the Governance Institute, a private organization that advises hospitals nationwide on governance trends, and Hogan and Hartson L.L.P., a law firm that has done work for the county on hospital issues in the past. The board also approved a performance improvement plan for HCMC that includes aggressively pursuing bill payments and non-clinical revenue such as grants and charitable giving; changing purchasing practices; reducing non-clinical staff; promoting growth of profitable services such as trauma care; and finding more effective ways to coordinate patient care. It�s estimated the plan could save the hospital $112 million for years 2003 through 2008. What we've seen are layoffs and voluntary early retirements. We've lost some interpreters, social workers, the entire chaplaincy training program, all the buildings and grounds workers, and some library staff. There were some relatively small cutbacks in nursing department staff. It looks like the governance task force will be deciding between options like converting HCMC from a charitable hospital (as defined in MN statute) to a Public Benefits Corportation or a 501.c3 corporation or building a "firewall" between the county board and hospital administration. All of these involve a loss of direct citizen influence of HCMC operation in my personal opinion. I could go on... David Finke, RN, OCN President HCMC Nurses Association TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. 2. If you don't like what's being discussed here, don't complain - change the subject (Mpls-specific, of course.) ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
