Foundation board, mediator meet behind closed doors

The Franklin Foundation Hospital Board of Commissioners met Thursday for their monthly meeting and once again the group met in executive session for “strategic planning.”
The board met in executive session, with a mediator present, for over an hour. Public and press are not allowed into executive sessions, though the hospital is a publicly-owned facility. Board members are prohibited from discussing what goes on in executive session but several matters on the agenda were discussed openly including an employee satisfaction survey that was tabled for a future meeting.
Another matter discussed was in regards to medical staff bylaws. The hospital’s interim CEO, Craig Cudworth, said the hospital board and the medical staff work together to make necessary adjustments to the set of guidelines that dictate medical staff policy.
“The board is responsible for the actions of the medical staff but must delegate professional activities to the medical staff,” Cudworth said. “The medical staff have been working on their bylaws. The board is going to take a look at the medical staff bylaws and say we want to look at particular issues and here are some things we want to look at.”
Cudworth said, at that point, the medical staff and the board will work collaboratively on establishing guidelines and policies.
“Then the two groups get together and hammer out these documents,” Cudworth said. “These are basically roadmaps. Every hospital in the United States does this. This is a legal requirement.”
Other business included a message from FFH Marketing and Business Development Director Dawn Melancon in regards to FFHs’ successful Facebook campaign to raise awareness about the facility on social media. Melancon addressed the thousands of social media users who have been reached on the hospital’s Facebook page and the need to continue to engage the public on social media platforms.