Unable to find a long-term solution for Prince George’s County’s crumbling hospital system, state and county officials put forward a plan Thursday to keep hospital doors open with short-term funding while officials looked for a way to provide more state control for the system.
The latest plan, announced by Gov. Martin O’Malley and County Executive Jack Johnson, would create a seven-member authority – three members appointed by the county, three by the governor and one by the county’s senate delegation – that would, within two years, find an organization to both take over hospital management and buy the system from the county.
In the meantime, the state and county would each provide $12 million a year to keep the hospitals open.
“This is a continuation of what we’ve had for the last few years,” said Dunlop Ecker, president of Dimensions Healthcare, the nonprofit that runs the county’s four hospitals. “It’s a minimum level of support funding.”
Dimensions has been under fire from government officials for mismanaging the hospitals.
The authority will have 60 days to determine the county’s and state’s share of funding that will be needed to both attract a hospital manager to replace Dimensions and keep the hospital solvent in the long run, elected officials said.
But determining county and state funding responsibilities is what has scuttled plans in the past. Last year, County Council members knocked down a buyout plan when they balked at the county’s $229 million share of the $400 million price tag.
Johnson and O’Malley said it would be different this time around; the authority would take decision making away from politicians. Those appointed can’t be elected officials, and the state appointees are expected to come from the state department of health.
“What’s important is that it’s not in the county’s hands any longer … and it will provide an authority whose job is to finally look at the magnitude of this problem,” said Del. Doyle Neimann, D-Prince George’s, who introduced legislation last month that would have created an authority and laid out funding plans in one shot.
John Reid, executive vice president of the union representing hospital employees, said the authority is a departure from the closed-door negotiations of the past. “Before, we couldn’t get in the room … but the governor puts a public face on it now, and we intend to be in the room.”
And if the county and state can’t reach a funding-sharing agreement? “We’ll be back here in year to implement an agreement without the county,” Neimann said.
Staying on life support
Timetable for the interim Prince George’s County hospital plan:
» 60 days to determine county and state funding proportions.
» 90 days to issue a request for proposals from hospital managers.
» 2009 legislative session, bidding process complete.
» Funding remains in place through 2010, if there isn’t anyone in place to take over by then, “we’ll extend the payments,” County Executive Jack Johnson said.
