By GREG JORDAN
It was an evening that the local media and the public had been anticipating for a long time. The boards of Princeton Community Hospital and Bluefield Regional Medical Center were going to get the public’s input about a proposed action that had been generating rumors for months: the merger of PCH and BRMC into a two-campus hospital owned by LifePoint Hospitals, Inc. and jointly managed by WVU Hospitals, a non-profit entity.
I covered the Princeton meeting and Bill Archer adjusted his weekly schedule so he could cover the Bluefield gathering. Now was the moment when we and the public would hopefully get some answers.
Rumors had been flying for weeks, and many people had concluded that LifePoint was going to buy both hospitals. There was talk of layoffs, service cutbacks, indigent people not being able to get any care, shutting down one hospital if revenues were insufficient. The list went on and on.
What was fueling all this speculation was the lack of information. Both boards had been discussing long-term plans, their strategic planning, in executive sessions that the public could not attend. I understand that some issues such as hiring, firing, legal matters and possible real estate negotiations sometimes call for executive sessions. Such closed door meetings may be necessary up to a point, but there are times when they upset and even frighten the public. We live in an age where terms like “confidential” immediately raise suspicions and, rightly or wrongly, generate implications of shady dealing.
We also live in the Information Age, a time when the citizens living in a democracy expect to know what public officials are doing and what kind of plans they are contemplating. During my years of watching and reporting on controversies, I’ve learned that when people don’t have information they want, they start speculating and make up their own.
During the public comment period at PCH, it was plain that the people there had made up their minds. Being sold to LifePoint was a bad idea, and that was the end of that. More than one person urged board members to describe the proposal in detail.
The board went into executive session, and a little more than two hours later, they returned to the hospital’s classroom, apparently selected because it offered more space than the cramped boardroom. Once there, a motion to enter into a MOU, or memorandum of understanding, quickly died for lack of a second.
I looked over to Wayne Griffith, Chief Operating Officer of PCH. He looked at me and quietly mouthed what I believe was, “I’m not going to talk to you.” Well, I went over as the public was departing, and while he was cordial and professional, he declined to answer any questions, citing that he did not believe the Daily Telegraph’s coverage had been fair to PCH.
Just about every person on the Telegraph’s news staff has heard that observation more than once. If the sports department puts one game “above the fold” on its front and another below, fans who feel slighted accuse them of bias. We’ve had calls and letters from families who are upset because we covered the trial of a loved one. We’ve been accused of leaning all the way from the communist left to the fascist right. And in this latest hospital controversy, some people took offense to the fact that we didn’t have much information about what the hospital boards were discussing in executive session and accused us of conspiring with them to keep the truth from being known.
The fact that not all the readers are going to be happy is part of the business. We accept it. We’ve published letters to the editor that criticize our work; again, that’s part of the business.
At some point, both hospitals and even LifePoint might have benefited from more openness. They could have outlined the overall plan even if all details were not yet in place, and describe how they thought it would benefit the public. If the people in Mercer County knew they had a say in the decision whether to work with LifePoint, there is a chance that they would have given the idea more consideration. The MOUs considered Tuesday would not have cemented any agreement to sell to LifePoint, but the people who spoke plainly did not want to risk seeing the talks go any further.
After hearing from the public, the boards of both hospitals did not go forward with plans for more talks with LifePoint and WVU Hospitals. Of course, similar plans may develop in the years to come. If the boards decide to describe any proposals in detail before any motions are made to continue talks, it will be interesting to see how the public reacts to being included early in the process.
Greg Jordan is a reporter for the Daily Telegraph. Contact him at gjordan@bdtonline.com
