FFH chief of staff scuffle not yet settled

The question as to who actually is the Franklin Foundation Hospital chief of staff remains unclear after the board of commissioners failed to reach an agreement on the ongoing issue at their monthly meeting on Thursday.
At their last meeting, the eligibility of Dr. Donna Tesi to be appointed as chief of staff was brought into question based on certain commissioners’ and administration members’ opinion that she did not meet the requirements to be elected as chief of staff.
According to hospital medical staff by-laws, to be appointed as chief of staff to the board of commissioners, one has to not have held the position for one calendar year before being appointed again.
Because the commissioners and members of the administration, specifically Chief Executive Officer Craig Cudworth, who contested Tesi’s appointment did not have proof at the last meeting of the timeline regarding Tesi, the matter was referred to legal counsel.
At Thursday’s meeting, legal counsel again cited by-laws that indicated in order to be eligible for appointment as chief of staff, one has to not have held the position for a calendar year. Cudworth asserted this was the case regarding Tesi despite any evidence as to a specific date as to when Tesi previously held the position of chief of staff.
When pressed by Commissioner Allan Von Werder on how the decision was made to determine Tesi’s eligibility based on the timeline of events, Cudworth was unable to back up the determination with factual evidence.
According to a statement released minutes after Thursday’s meeting, a meeting that indicated on the posted agenda an intent to “discuss and approve-Chief of Staff Selection” in regards to Tesi, the Franklin Foundation Hospital Board of Commissioners “reviewed the appointment of Dr. Donna Tesi for the Hospital Chief of Staff at the Board of Commissioners meeting on August 25, 2016. Dr. Tesi’s appointment for this position was nominated at the FFH Medical Staff meeting on June 16, 2016. The FFH Board of Commissioners did not recognize the appointment of Dr. Tesi as Chief of Staff due to discrepancies following the Medical Staff by-laws. The FFH Board of Commissioners made the motion to send this course of action back to the Medical Staff for further discussion and review.”
The motion referred to in the press release was never made. The press release, which was handed to the Banner-Tribune minutes after the meeting adjourned, claimed an official action was taken regarding the election of chief of staff. No such action was taken during the actual board meeting.
Cudworth has repeatedly refused to answer questions from the Banner-Tribune about board meetings and hospital affairs. When asked by the Banner-Tribune about why Cudworth has refused to answer questions regarding a publicly funded hospital, Director of Business Development and Marketing Dawn Kaiser-Melancon was not able to fully explain Cudworth’s actions.
Reached for comment, board chairman Eugene Foulcard said, in regards to the selection of chief of staff, the matter would be decided at a later date. It was not immediately clear if the matter would come up at the next board meeting.