In November, voters in Stevens Hospital’s taxing district will be asked if the hospital’s board should be expanded from three to five members. If approved, it would be the biggest change in the hospital’s governing structure since it opened in 1964.
Currently, there are three publicly elected board members.
District residents first called for expanding oversight of the hospital in February. They suggested increasing the number of board members to at least five, and perhaps seven, the maximum number allowed under state law for taxpayer-supported hospitals.
The matter has been under discussion since then, and board members recently approved asking voters to approve adding two more board members on Election Day.
Calls for more openness followed the January firing of longtime hospital chief executive Steve McCary at a meeting that was not publicly announced. McCary received a $2.1 million severance package.
The firing followed a string of years in which the hospital lost money. Last year, for example, the hospital had net losses of $2.5 million. In 2003, the hospital received nearly $4 million in tax money from property owners in south Snohomish County, including Lynnwood, Edmonds, Mountlake Terrace, Brier and Woodway.
This year, the hospital, its medical clinics and associated businesses have a $137 million budget. Strong emphasis has been placed on getting the hospital on firm financial footing. Wellspring Partners Ltd., a consulting firm, was hired in May to advise the board.
Through the first seven months of the year, the hospital lost $1.1 million. But money-saving and money-generating steps instigated earlier in the year are expected to keep net losses to about $ 1 million.
For example, consultants compared the prices the hospital charges for common tests with what is charged by other Puget Sounds hospitals. Until recently, Stevens charged $20 for a white blood cell count. The average charged in the region is $41, said hospital spokeswoman Beth Engel. The hospital now charges $26.
Those and other changes in business procedures are helping the hospital save money and increase revenues by $130,000 a month, said Gary Wangsmo, interim chief financial officer.
That’s expected to increase to $208,000 a month by the end of the year. If so, it would mean $2.8 million in savings or added revenue in 2005, he said.
Laura Hall, a former mayor of Edmonds, was one of a group of one-time elected officials who earlier this year began regularly attending hospital board meetings. She was among the first to ask for more people to be added to the board.
Hall was one of several people who complimented the board for sending the issue to the voters.
A five-member board “will have many long-range benefits to the public and the staff who work here in the hospital,” said Bob Brown, of Lynnwood.
If approved, the current three board members, Fred Langer, Dena Knutsen and Jack Tawney, would temporarily appoint the two new board members until voters can make their own choices in the November 2005 elections.
Reporter Sharon Salyer: 425-339-3486 or salyer@heraldnet.com.
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