Hospital board may grow

Stevens Hospital may change the size and method of election for board members of the taxpayer-supported hospital, with three members elected from districts and two elected at-large.

The suggestion was made by the board’s president, Fred Langer, at Wednesday’s meeting. The issue was first raised earlier this year, when taxpayers said they felt it would make the board more representative. The current three-member board is elected at large.

Board member Jack Tawney said he supported Langer’s idea. Fellow board member Deana Knutsen said she thought the public hospital’s board should be expanded to "at least five members." By law, a public hospital board can be as large as seven members.

Langer said public hearings would be held on the issue, but after the meeting said he didn’t know when they would be held.

The issue of adding commissioners to the board was first raised in February by Laura Hall, a former mayor of Edmonds. "I am congratulating you for thinking in terms of (expanding) the commissioners to five," she said at Wednesday’s meeting.

She also said she liked the decision to move the meetings to a larger room on the hospital’s third floor. The change in meeting rooms, as well as microphones so board-member comments can be more easily heard, was requested during public meetings in February and March.

Wednesday’s meeting was the first time microphones were set up for board members.

Former Brier Mayor Wayne Kaske said a review of the minutes of the Snohomish County Fire Chiefs Association indicated there continues to be a problem between the hospital and paramedics and emergency medical technicians, causing them to "have concerns" about bringing patients to the hospital.

Carol Abel, the hospital’s executive director of patient care services, said an informal survey has been conducted of emergency medical service workers.

"We realize we have some issues there," she said. "We have been working closely with emergency medical service (workers) to make improvements in our service."

In other action, Dr. John Todd, the hospital’s acting chief executive, said the consulting firm Wellspring Partners Ltd. has been brought in to evaluate the hospital’s business processes. The decision was made "because we’ve had so many years of losses," Todd said.

Since 1998, the hospital and its affiliated businesses have made money in only one year. Last year’s losses are estimated at $2 million or more.

The consulting firm charges about $75,000 a month, Todd said, but has helped other health care organizations, including a public hospital in Kennewick, improve business practices and become financially stronger.

Steve Maxwell, the hospital’s chief financial officer, said the hospital lost $398,000 in the first quarter.

Langer reported that the first meeting of a committee that is assisting in the search for a new hospital chief executive has been held. The group will help write a job description for the new chief executive and will select a firm that helps choose chief executives. A candidate for the post will be presented to the board for approval in the next six months, he said.

Steve McCary, the hospital’s former chief executive, was fired in January. He was given a severance package worth more than $2 million.

Reporter Sharon Salyer:

425-339-3486 or

salyer@heraldnet.com.

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