FFH board hears public, meets with Quorum reps

Members of the Hospital Service District 1 Board of Commissioners met in executive session Monday during yet another special meeting in front of a crowded board room.
The special session was the third in the past three weeks in which the Franklin Foundation Hospital physician contracts with Drs. Steven McPherson and Donna Tesi were terminated, reinstated and are now being renegotiated.
The meetings have drawn comments from Tesi and McPherson supporters and Monday there were at least two people carrying signs stating, “I support the CEO and the Board.”
Board member Dr. Roland Degeyter urged all to review the hospital financials, physician contracts and a hospital analysis commissioned by Chief Executive Officer Claudia Eisenmann before formulating an opinion. He also cited a USA Today article published last week entitled, “Rural hospitals in critical condition.”
“I have practiced in Franklin since July 1981 and I can honestly say that Claudia Eisenmann is the best CEO I’ve ever met,” Degeyter said. “She is smart, courageous and principled.”
Public comment that followed included information on the alleged incident that “is what started it,” said Dr. Randall Horton.
Horton said Eisenmann “committed a grievous error in her actions against Steve McPherson.”
He added that the error was acknowledged by an outside review group enlisted by Eisenmann.
Horton said that when the medical staff convened to review the incident they asked Eisenmann, ‘“Knowing what you know now that Dr. McPherson had not done anything out of the ordinary or wrong, mistreatment, would you do anything different? She told us ‘no.’”
That answer led the medical staff “to send a motion to the board that we did not have confidence and would like to have her replaced,” Horton said.
He added that the medical staff by-laws provide for peer review of such incidents.
“The big issue that the medical staff has with (Eisenmann) is that the by-laws are not being followed or will not be followed,” said Dr. Brent Allain. “If you don’t support us as a medical staff you will not have a hospital.”
He added that the by-laws allow for peer review which is for the protection of the patients and the doctors.
When told by the Quorum hospital management representative that the medical staff has representation on the board, Allain said, “No we do not either. Dr. Degeyter does not represent the medical staff on this board.”
Board member Nick Accardo (retired orthopedist) stated that Eisenmann did precisely what she should have done to immediately address a perceived patient safety issue.
“That doesn’t go into a peer review process that may not meet for three or four weeks,” Accardo said.
“She should have called the physician,” Dr. McPherson interjected. “When this situation came up nobody tried to get ahold of me.”
McPherson said he did not hear from the hospital until Friday when the incident had occurred on Tuesday.
“If this is a patient safety issue isn’t it incumbent upon (Eisenmann) to get ahold of me ASAP?” he asked. “Patient safety? You can’t use that buzz word after the fact and not act like it was a patient safety issue when it was happening in real time.”
The meeting was called to order by board chairman Allan Von Werder to halt debate among McPherson, Eisenmann and Quality and Patient Safety Director Lori Leonard on the timeline of events.
Karen St. Blanc, an RN who now works on physician computer applications for the hospital told the group that confidentiality prevents the hospital from discussing many issues in public.
“Some physicians have been vocal but they’ve not admitted (patients) here or been involved here for years and years and years,” she said. “The parish council wants the board to work this out and they’ve come to an agreement. Work it out. … The board has heard all the facts and we shouldn’t assume that they don’t represent all the people and they don’t represent us and they don’t represent the medical staff.”
After public comment, Quorum Vice President Michael Halstead was introduced.
He said he had spent the day talking with people “to help the board come up with some ideas as to how they might be able to move forward.”
The board then entered executive session to “discuss and debate” Halstead’s ideas.
After meeting behind closed doors for almost 1½ hours, an item to consider physician recruitment contracts was deferred to the board’s regular meeting on Thursday.