Dear Editor:
After hearing the response from the
public, Riverside Medical Center is making one final attempt to seek a
formal, binding agreement with St. Tammany Parish Hospital regarding
their operation of Family Medical Clinic. At the Riverside Medical
Center Board meeting on Jan. 29 the Riverside Board of Commissioners
approved a resolution expressing its desire for St. Tammany Parish
Hospital to return to negotiations — specifically, to enact a
Cooperative Endeavor Agreement in accordance with the provisions of LA
R.S. 46:1077 and health care privacy laws.
For additional background on what has
led Riverside Medical Center to these current circumstances, below is a
time table of events outlining what has happened:
• July 7, 2014, members of Family
Medical Clinic approached the Washington Parish Council to enact a
20-year resolution. This resolution was not approved by Riverside
Medical Center.
• Aug. 25, 2014, a public meeting of the
Washington Parish Council directed Riverside Medical Center and St.
Tammany Parish Hospital to work on a mutually beneficial agreement. Mr.
William Jones said this needed to be done expeditiously in a 30-day
window.
• Board members of Riverside Medical
Center and St. Tammany Parish Hospital met to discuss plans for an
agreement on Sept. 12, 2014. Both parties felt positive about the
meeting and recommended a follow up meeting with board members,
administration and general counsel for additional discussion.
• Board members, general counsel and the
CEOs of Riverside Medical Center and St. Tammany Parish Hospital met on
Sept. 18, 2014. A verbal, mutually acceptable agreement was reached.
After close of the meeting, the attorneys discussed who would draft the
agreement. Mr. Jones took the responsibility of drafting but refused to
make it a Cooperative Endeavor Agreement.
• Mr. Matthew Brown reached out to Mr.
Jones on Oct. 2, 2014, to inquire as to the status of the agreement. Mr.
Jones responded that he had just completed the most extensive agreement
in St. Tammany Parish Hospital history and would turn full attention to
drafting the Riverside Medical Center/St. Tammany Parish Hospital
agreement.
• On Nov. 14, 2014, Riverside Medical Center received the
St. Tammany Parish Hospital draft of the Memorandum of Understanding. It
was an extensive 14-page document, mostly favorable to St. Tammany
Parish Hospital, with requirements that had not previously been
discussed. The document was reviewed at the Nov. 20, 2014, board
meeting, and the attorney was given specific changes by the board, which
he began to draft in the form of a Cooperative Endeavor Agreement,
according to LA RS 46:1077.
• On Jan. 9, 2015, a revised draft was
sent to St. Tammany Parish Hospital, which very simply outlined what had
been agreed to at the Sept. 18 meeting. Subsequently, St. Tammany
Parish Hospital officials accused Riverside Medical Center and the board
of stalling.
• Jan. 13, 2015, the board of Riverside
Medical Center received an ultimatum from St. Tammany Parish Hospital
instructing Riverside Medical Center to sign the Memorandum of
Understanding as presented by Jan. 23, 2015, at 3 p.m., or the
negotiations would end, and St. Tammany Parish Hospital would cease
operating Family Medical Clinic on or before Oct. 27, 2015.
• Jan. 19, 2015, the Riverside Medical
Center board held an emergency meeting to discuss the ultimatum.
The
board passed a resolution requesting a meeting between the hospital
boards resulting in a resolution and letter sent to St. Tammany Parish
Hospital. The resolution and a letter were sent to St. Tammany Parish
Hospital on Jan. 20, 2015.
• St. Tammany Parish Hospital denied the
request for the board members to meet and demanded Riverside Medical
Center furnish a detailed list of the issues by Thursday, Jan. 22, 2015
at 3 p.m.
• On Jan. 21, 2015, after being denied a
meeting with St. Tammany Parish Hospital’s board, Riverside Medical
Center responded with the following two issues, though were willing to
accept other provisions: 1)Remove the reporting requirements imposed by
St. Tammany Parish Hospital; and 2) revise the dispute resolution
process to protect Riverside Medical Center and the residents of
Washington Parish to state that if the Memorandum of Understanding is
terminated, St. Tammany Parish Hospital would have 18 months to
relocate.
• On Friday, Jan. 23, 2015, at 3:15
p.m., Riverside Medical Center received a response from St. Tammany
Parish Hospital that they had revoked their offer after it had expired
and was no longer subject to acceptance, though the St. Tammany Parish
Hospital board would take into consideration Riverside Medical Center’s
response and requested revisions at their Jan. 26 meeting but by no
means was this to be considered a new offer or negotiations.
•
On Jan. 27, 2015, Riverside Medical Center learned in an article
published in the newspaper that St. Tammany Parish Hospital was
announcing publically that Family Medical Clinic would cease operations
in Franklinton, Louisiana, on or before Oct. 27, 2015, before receiving
any prior direct notification from St. Tammany Parish Hospital.
Furthermore, Riverside discovered in the minutes of the St. Tammany
Parish Facilities meeting of Jan. 12, 2015, that St. Tammany Parish
Hospital had authorized its representatives to immediately seek to find a
new location for Family Medical Clinic, one day before St. Tammany
Parish Hospital submitted the ultimatum to Riverside Medical Center on
Jan. 13.
As you can see, the Riverside Medical
Center Board of Commissioners and hospital administration have made
repeated attempts to negotiate in good faith. However, Riverside is
unable to approve a Memorandum of Understanding that requires reporting
of patient information that would violate federal patient privacy laws.
Further, according to state law a Memorandum of Understanding is not
sufficient to satisfy the requirements of the law. Our desire is to
enact a Cooperative Endeavor Agreement, in accordance with the
provisions of LA R.S. 46:1077, that would allow the continued operation
of Family Medical Clinic in Franklinton. If St. Tammany Parish Hospital
would like to continue delivering world-class health care to their
patients in Washington Parish, we sincerely welcome them to contact
Riverside Medical Center by noon on Monday, Feb. 9, 2015, expressing its
desire to enact a Cooperative Endeavor Agreement.
Both Riverside Medical Center and Family
Medical Clinic are a vital part of health care delivery in this area.
Riverside is excited about the growth of this hospital and health care
delivery, with the expansion of existing services and addition of new
services. These include the opening of the new Family Care Clinic,
expanding the Riverside Pediatric and Internal Medicine Clinic, adding
additional physicians and nurse practitioners, building a new cath lab,
establishing an in-house pharmacy for its employees and staff and
continuing to recruit other physicians, nurse practitioners and other
specialists. We welcome Family Medical Clinic and St. Tammany Parish
Hospital to be a part of this growth.
– Thank you,
E. Kyle Magee, M.D.
CEO
Riverside Medical Center
