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From The Observer News
(www.observernews.net) Top Stories By Melody Jameson
The unequivocating support was expressed during a June 26 town hall session here when Florida Senators Ronda Storms and Victor Crist, along with Hillsborough County Commissioners Brian Blair and Mark Sharpe joined area residents in enthusiastic opposition of a South Bay Hospital proposal to relocate most of its services to a Big Bend Road site. The community has been largely united against the revised plan developed by the hospital and its parent company, Hospital Corporation of America (HCA), after an initial application to simply move the hospital from its present site on S.R. 674 to the Big Bend location was denied by state regulators in 2005. At that time, the Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) also rejected an application by the St. Joseph’s Hospital network to build a full service facility on its Big Bend acreage. However, as South Bay/HCA revised its proposal in 2007 from an out-and-out move to a split-services relocation, St. Joseph’s chose instead to continue pursuing its original program and to appeal the first AHCA rejection in court. Subsequently, late in 2007, AHCA approved the South Bay/HCA relocation plan and then, in April, 2008, a Florida Administrative Law Court in Tallahassee recommended state reconsideration of the St. Joseph’s plan for a 90-bed acute-care hospital on its Big Bend property. Currently, the state agency is considering formal exceptions to the court’s recommendation by various concerned parties to the matter, including other medical facilities such as Tampa General Hospital. Under a new secretary, the agency is weighing the court recommendation favoring St. Joseph’s along with its previous approval of the South Bay proposal. An AHCA decision is expected later this summer. Under its present relocation concept, South Bay/HCA wants to build a 112-bed, full service, acute care facility on Big Bend while keeping emergency and some diagnostic services at the S.R. 674 location. As part of its application, HCA has promised to, among other things, create a transportation system to make it easier for SCC area residents to reach the new hospital. Throughout, though, the community has opposed any relocation of South Bay Hospital services, for a long list of reasons. And, encouraged by the administrative court’s recommendation in favor of St. Joseph’s, local leaders recently initiated a massive letter-writing campaign aimed at demonstrating the widespread support for retaining South Bay in its present location and giving approval to the St. Joseph’s proposal. Elected officials also have joined in the written support effort, they told residents during the town hall meeting. Storms, Blair and Sharpe all referred to letters consistent with the SCC position sent from their offices. In addition, Commissioner Rose Ferlita, who did not attend the town hall session, has sent a strong letter of support and a similar correspondence from Seth McKeel, the state representative whose district includes SCC, was read during the meeting. Officials are addressing both AHCA and the Governor’s office. Blair also underscored the fact that the entire seven-member board of county commissioners unanimously voted recently in support of a formal “Declaration” recommending approval of St. Joseph’s on Big Bend. Storms, whose firmly expressed position drew agreement from her colleagues, based much of her argument on the importance of encouraging competition in delivery of medical services. Describing her support of the community as “the right thing to do,” the first-term senator noted that if South Bay were to relocate to the Big Bend site, there would be three HCA-owned facilities between Brandon and SCC, eliminating any competition by another hospital services provider. What’s more, Storms suggested, three to five years after the South Bay relocation plan comes to fruition on Big Bend, the for-profit corporation could begin lobbying to close its limited-services SCC site, pleading dwindling patient traffic and insufficient income. “Call me a cynic,” Storms said, “but I have a hard time trusting the (HCA) strategy.” Commending Storm’s leadership, Crist noted that in the 18 years he has been involved in Florida politics, he’s learned “agencies do make mistakes.” Gently implying that efforts may be ongoing behind the scenes, he added he has met with AHCA representatives and endeavored “to make them aware of what is going on here.” Sharpe pointed to the rate of residential growth that, until recently, was developing across the South County. Inasmuch as that growth is likely to resume in the foreseeable future, he anticipated “there’s going to be a need for two strong hospitals here.” During a Q and A period, residents also emphasized the increasing number of retirees resorting to golf carts as their primary transportation in the face of escalating gas prices and the difficulty for them to visit a hospital no closer than Big Bend Road eight miles distant. They pointed to the fact that, in an acute care emergency, the existing South Bay Hospital is four to seven minutes away by ambulance but if the only acute care facility were on Big Bend, the time could stretch to 20 minutes or more. And, they questioned whether, in fact, the existing South Bay facility cannot be expanded on its present site as HCA has contended. Cannot the existing hospital, from an engineering standpoint, actually be built upwards, they asked rhetorically. Picking up on Sharpe’s comments about growth, they noted 14 new developments are in various stages within five miles of SCC and underlined rapid development of the 19th Avenue corridor between U.S. 41 and U.S. 301. And, while noting differences between the not-for-profit St. Joseph’s and the for-profit South Bay, they called attention to the $30 billion-plus leveraged buy-out by Wall Street financiers that took HCA private a few years ago with more than $25 billion in debt and after it settled over $600 million in medicare fraud claims. The company now needs to make money to repay the LBO debt, they asserted. Taking it all in was Michelle Todd, representing the office of Gov. Charlie Crist. Todd answered no questions and made no comments, calling her role solely as an observer. Encouraging residents to “keep up the good work,” Blair repeated it’s the “squeaky wheel that gets greased,” adding “we’re with you.” ©Melody Jameson 2008 © Copyright 2008 by The Observer News Publications and M&M Printing |
