Management of Bayonne Medical Center and representatives for the HPEA have been conducting negotiations to help find ways of reducing operating expenses Stacy Miceli Harris, the staff representative at BMC for Health Professionals and Allied Employees (HPAE) said management and union officials are looking at mutual concessions that would help keep the hospital from closing, and would also prevent similar fiscal problems from occurring in the future.
Although some members of the union have expressed concerns about a proposal that would give up pay increases for the next six months as part of a deal that would help lowering hospital over head, Harris said union membership will have the final say on any deal struck, and that the union will give no concessions without getting concessions from management as well.
“We’re committed to do what is necessary to save the hospital,” Harris said. “But we are going into negotiations with a list of concessions we want hospital manage to make.”
Harris, however, said the details of what the union may give up to help the hospital are not yet fully determined, but will hinge on the hospital also making an effort to clean up its own act as far as operations.
Two weeks ago, a report issued by Jim Lawler of JPL Healthcare Consulting that gave the first objective glimpse of hospital finances, something union representatives as well as other members of the Coalition to Save Bayonne Medical Center have demanded since last August.
Although the Lawler Report was only a superficial survey of hospital finance issues – partly because some critical information was not available during the time of the study, it pointed to serious financial problems and lack of proper oversight in some areas.
“The report tells us two things, first that we were right about the finances and it tells us that the hospital is in such financial peril that it is in danger of closing,” Harris said.
Paul Swibinski, spokesperson for BMC, said he could not comment on union negotiations, but said the hospital is not closing.
Harris said the union’s goal is to save the hospital and the jobs of the 1,000 union people the hospital employees.
“We will be open in our negotiations, but we have demands that must be met,” Harris said. “First, we want people on the oversight committee for the turnaround plan. This committee needs to include members from the community, the union and coalition doctors.”
The union is also demanding “complete transparency,” Harris said.
This means union members will be privy to information about the hospital finances that has been denied in the past.
Any union concessions, she said, will be on a temporary basis.
“If the hospital turns around we expect to recover what we’ve given up,” Harris said.
One of the key demands, however, will be the appointment of a new chair and co-chair of the hospital board of directors, she said, noting that the current board leadership ignored warning signs that could have averted problems.
Hospital officials earlier this year said they had been misled by Robert Evans, the former chief executive officer, who allegedly “painted a rosy picture” of hospital finances, when the hospital actually faced some serious financial shortfalls. The Lawler Report showed several areas of distorted information, such as use of book keeping tricks that disguised fundamental flaws and flawed analysis of why patient admissions were in decline.
Harris said the object of union negotiations is to make certain that the hospital remains open and that various people who are currently left out of the decision making become stake holders in a recovery plan.
Mary Jane Desmond, spokesperson for the Coalition to Save Bayonne said union members and members of the coalition need to be represented on several key boards such as the Board of Trustees for Bayonne Medical Center, and the Board for its sister hospital, Richmond University Medical Center on Staten Island, as well as any advisory planets including the search committee for a permanent chief executive officer and a new chief finance officer for BMC.
“We will work with the mayor (Joseph Doria) to determine who will sit in those seats, and the number of available seats may grow,” she said, noting that she has also advised physicians that they should seek leadership roles within their clinical specialties and professional governance committees and boards.
“Their consistent participation in these arenas will help to secure spots at the board as well,” Desmond said. “Some of these spots are guaranteed by Medical Staff Bylaws and do not require a vote amongst the BMC Board Members.”
Desmond said that give backs from the union should be part of a larger program for recovery and that the hospital should be generating revenue and collecting appropriate reimbursement from all payer groups and asking senior management to provide give backs, such as going back to 2001 salaries to help the hospital recover.