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MNA Testifies at State Oversight Hearings on
Hospital Closings Calls for State Action to Prevent Closings of
Community Hospitals
In the wake of the threatened closure of Waltham Hospital, the Joint
Committee on Health Care yesterday held oversight hearings on the
problem of failing hospitals and potential responses the state might
make to address this growing crisis. The MNA was among the organizations
invited to testify at this hearing to offer the organization's perspective
on what should and might be done to protect our community hospitals.
Below you will find the Testimony submitted by MNA President Karen
Higgins (delivered by MNA Associate Director Roslyn Feldberg as
Karen is out of state this week) providing our specific recommendations
and position on the issue. Also testifying were Joanne Bartoszewicz,
RN, MNA local bargaining unit chair from Whidden Hospital in Everett,
and Jeanine Hickey, RN, local bargaining unit chair from Hale Hospital
in Haverhill.
The MNA proposed extending the period before a hospital could be
closed from the current 90 days to at leas 180 days, called for
a task force to evaluate troubled hospitals and to identify means
of preventing their closure, and called for strengthening the power
of the Attorney General, as has been done in other states, to allow
greater oversight of hospital finances, the ability to stop a closure
when it threatens the public health of a community, and the institution
of a receivership process similar to that in effect for HMO and
insurance providers. Bartoszewicsz spoke about the process last
year that resulted in Whidden Hospital avoiding closure through
community and legislative action, and the support of Cambridge Health
Alliance. She pointed to the effectiveness of CHA's ability to recognize
and work with the MNA all through the process to ensure a smooth
transition.
Hickey told a different story about the trials of
the Hale Hospital, which was purchased by Essent Health Care, a
Tennessee-based for-profit provider, which refused to acknowledge
or work closely with the MNA and other unions, leading to a troubled
transition, that resulted in hundreds of nurses leaving the facility,
which hampered that hospital's ability to function effectively following
its conversion. As part of the MNA's testimony, Felberg suggested
that the legislature institute a three-year moratorium on for-profit
conversions by a provider after it has come into the Commonwealth
to allow the state to monitor how well that for-profit entity meets
its obligations to the communities it serves. Below you will find
each piece of MNA testimony, as well as powerful testimony offered
by Dr. Alan Sager, from the BU School of Public Health, who is a
leading expert on hospital closures. He has called for the Governor
to intervene to prevent any closings of community hospitals until
it can be proven that such closings will not harm the public health
of those communities.
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