Health District gets down into details of upcoming negotiations

— by Susan McBain, Orcas Issues Reporter —

As promised, the Orcas Island Health Care District commissioners turned their attention at their Aug. 18 meeting to details to be negotiated in their proposed agreement with Island Hospital (IH).

The conversation ranged widely across topics, focusing sometimes on areas for general discussions between the negotiating teams and sometimes on specific details to be included in the agreement. The major areas of discussion were:

• Whether to add a clinical social worker to the clinic staff right away when the new clinic opens.
• What level of involvement the Orcas commissioners would like in hiring clinic leadership versus clinic staff.
• What sorts of community involvement IH should undertake in the early months of clinic operation.
• What kinds of clinic performance metrics should be tracked.
• How and when the IH management fee should be reconciled with actual clinic revenues and expenses.
• How patient records can most easily and completely be transferred from other providers.
• Whether to require any particular type and frequency of communication between the board members and Superintendents/CEOs of the two Public Hospital Districts. (For the record: The negotiating parties—the Orcas District, officially the San Juan County Public Hospital District #3, and the Skagit County Public Hospital District #2, which owns and operates IH—are both government entities, so the contract between them will in fact be a government interlocal agreement.)

In each area, the commissioners chose to follow their usual patient approach: seeking more information as needed, and depending on the two negotiators, commissioners Pegi Groundwater and Art Lange, to work out details during negotiations and bring the results back to the full commission. This process, though not speedy, has served the commissioners well.

Finally, Superintendent Anne Presson reported that the District is likely to end the year with about $300,000 more than budgeted. This is a function of additional revenue through a $100,000 rural health grant and a $30,000 grant from OICF via the Lundeen Endowment. The District also did a good job of minimizing expenses in certain areas. Next year’s budget is expected to be finalized by the Board at their October 6 meeting in preparation for the Public Hearing on November 3.

The next regular meeting will be Tuesday, Sept. 1, beginning at 5 p.m. Click the meeting link on the District’s Meetings Calendar for Sept. 1 for more information on attending.