INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — Hospital District trustees told Indian River Medical Center leadership last week that they expect the hospital to keep its promise to present a thorough top-to-bottom review of hospital operations to the trustees.
At a public meeting in mid-November, hospital board chairman Tom Segura and hospital CEO Jeff Susi guaranteed District trustees that the hospital would bring in an independent consulting firm to do a thorough and comprehensive top-to-bottom review of hospital operations and finances and report back to the seven elected District trustees.
At the time of the promise, the District, which directs millions of local taxpayer dollars to the hospital for indigent care, was concerned over dramatically rising and unexplained hospital bills for indigent care, the hospital’s struggling finances and huge staff cuts, which threatened the quality of care.
Agreeing with District trustees that a top-down review would help the hospital get a better grasp of how to improve perations, in February hospital leadership hired the independent consulting firm of Alvarez and Marsal, which specializes in performance assessments.
But at last Thursday’s Hospital District meeting, District chairman Tom Spackman said his impression of the review, which has yet to be presented, was that “it’s a high-level superficial first pass” instead of the “top-to-bottom review promised.”
Furthermore, said Spackman, the hospital has made no attempt to present the findings of even a superficial review to the seven Hospital District trustees who requested it in the first place.
“The results of the consultant’s review will have to be made known to the trustees. Then we will make the decision whether the hospital’s commitment has been fulfilled or not fulfilled,” said Spackman. “If not, we will then consider choices to correct what has happened.”
Among the choices under consideration will be to decrease the money the District gives to the hospital and, several trustees said, use part of the savings for a hospital audit so that the District has a clearer picture of what the hospital is doing with taxpayer money.
Susi, who attended the District meeting last week, told Spackman after the meeting that the Alvarez and Marsal review – which Susi described as “pretty good” – would be presented to the hospital’s strategic planning committee in early May. But Susi did not say that the review would be presented to the seven District trustees, as was originally agreed.
Later, Susi told Vero Beach 32963 that the date in early May for the planning meeting and the presentation of the review has yet to be confirmed. But when the meeting does take place, said Susi, District chairman Spackman, who is on the hospital’s strategic planning committee, will be there and hear the findings, which he can take back to the District.
Furthermore, said Susi, the findings will be presented to the hospital board.
“It is the obligation of the hospital board of directors to arrange a presentation to the (District) trustees,“ said Spackman.
