House, Senate Panels Approved Judicial Review For Hospital Sales, Leases

April 28, 2011

As residents of Jay and surrounding areas meet tonight to discuss a rumored sale or lease change for Jay Hospital (more…), Florida House and Senate committees have approved bills that would create new barriers to selling or leasing public hospitals.

The issue has touched off a fierce lobbying battle, with for-profit hospitals pushing the measures and public hospitals and the Florida Hospital Association opposing them.

The bills (HB 619 and SB 1448) would lead to circuit judges having to sign off on sales or leases of public hospitals. Supporters say the proposals would make such deals more transparent and ensure they are fair.

“All I’m trying to do is protect the taxpayers, simple as that,’’ said Senate sponsor Rene Garcia, R-Hialeah.

But opponents say the state already has a law that protects taxpayers. They also said public-hospital boards of directors — rather than judges — should make the decisions about the taxpayer-funded facilities.

“Public trustees, we believe, will make the best decisions for their community, because they’re there,’’ said Rich Rasmussen, a lobbyist for the Florida Hospital Association.

The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 5-2 Monday to approve its version of the bill, while the House Health & Human Services Committee voted 11-5 to approve its proposal.

HB 619 is ready to go to the full House, while SB 1448 is assigned to two more committees — a potential problem with less than two weeks left in the legislative session.

The bills would set criteria for judges to review hospital sales or leases, such as whether the deals are at “fair market value.” If a deal is not at fair-market value, the judge would have to consider whether the “public interest will be served.’’

The Senate version also raises the possibility that proposed sales or leases could go to voter referendums instead of court reviews. But that proposal drew little attention Monday, as debate focused on potential judicial review.

House sponsor, Rep. Ed Hooper, R-Clearwater, said his version could affect as many as 23 hospitals. Eight publicly-owned hospitals would be exempt because they have not been supported by property taxes or other local tax dollars within the past five years.

For-profit hospital companies, including Tenet Healthcare Corp. and Health Management Associates, have expressed support for the bills during committee meetings.

Tenet lobbyist Steve Uhlfelder said the bill would make sure investor-owned companies have an opportunity to compete if public hospitals will be sold or leased.

“We want fairness in the process,’’ Uhlfelder said.

But Mark Delegal, a lobbyist for the Safety Net Hospital Alliance of Florida, which includes public hospitals, said he thinks for-profit companies have two possible motives.

Delegal said for-profit companies might want to thwart the sales of public hospitals, which could put those public hospitals at a competitive disadvantage. On the other extreme, he said another possibility is that for-profit companies are trying to set the stage to buy public hospitals.

A central part of the debate has been a proposed merger between the public Bert Fish Medical Center in Volusia County and the private Adventist Health System. The deal died after it was revealed that the Bert Fish board violated the state’s Sunshine Law by repeatedly holding closed-door meetings about the issue.

Health Management Associates, which is based in Naples, also sought to reach a deal with Bert Fish, according to reports in The Daytona Beach News-Journal.

Barney Bishop, president of Associated Industries of Florida, a business group that includes for-profit hospitals, used the Bert Fish situation to rebut arguments that local hospital boards should be trusted.

“Are you kidding me? … Absolutely not,” Bishop told the House committee.

But Ron Book, a lobbyist for the North and South Broward hospital districts and Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, said Bert Fish’s violation of the open-government law shouldn’t be used to impugn other hospital boards across the state. He said that is “simply wrong.’’

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Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News