What an evening! It was nice to see a little bit of common sense displayed by the majority of Franklin aldermen. For those of you that have not yet heard, the Franklin Board of Mayor and Aldermen voted 4-3-1 to reject a resolution opposing Spring Hill Hospital's certificate of need application. I continue to feel sorry for the aldermen in the area (in this case Franklin) that are forced to put up with intense and continuous lobbying by Williamson Medical and TriStar. I think it would serve the elected officials and communities much better if they were all presented the facts out in the open with both sides of the debate and then make a decision. OR...and this is a novel idea...stay out of it altogether and let the body responsible for making this decision do its job.
And another thing Mayor Miller, if you are going to spring this issue on your board without a proper debate, then you should at least acknowledge those that wish to speak on both sides of the issue. Last night there were a parade of Williamson County Commissioners speaking on behalf of Williamson Medical, but not one elected official from Spring Hill (including the Mayor) was allowed to speak or respond to anything presented. Nice work!
Now lets take an up to date look at the list of those that have passed resolutions opposing the Spring Hill Hospital.
Williamson County Commission - Obviously biased and protecting a financial interest.
Waynesboro City Commission - Where is Waynesboro again?
Nolensville City Council - At least Nolensville is on the regional map. Although I am not sure how they are affected by this. Nolensville is surrounded by hospitals.
Williamson County Public Health Committee - Extension of Williamson Medical.
Lewisburg City Council - Isn't there a hospital or two between Spring Hill and Lewisburg?
Lewis County Commission - Excuse me...how is Lewis County affected by this?
Hohenwald City Council - Again...is Hohenwald affected in any way?
Maury County Commission – Obviously biased and protecting a financial interest.
Columbia City Council – In Maury Regional's back pocket.
Maury Regional Hospital Medical Staff Executive Committee – Obviously biased and protecting a financial interest.
I am not sure about any of you, but this list of opponents seems to be a little flimsy. Who are the names in the region NOT on the above list DESPITE extreme lobbying by Williamson and Maury? I think that you will find this list even more telling.
Spring Hill - With unanimous support, I think this is obvious.
Thompson's Station - Stood up to the pressure applied by Mr. Miller and company.
Franklin - Voted down the resolution last evening.
Fairview - Not really affected, but staying out of the issue as they should.
Brentwood - Again, not really affected, but staying out of the issue as they should.
Wednesday, June 28, 2006
Another Resolution Attempted
Posted by Gorilla in the Corner at 9:16 AM
Labels: Spring Hill Hospital
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IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER: The information on this website is a series of personal opinions and is not meant to reflect an official position by the City of Spring Hill.
5 comments:
What a load of crap. As usual, the deeper issues have been ignored when considering how these small towns who rely on MRH for health care would be impacted when MRH loses its paying customers to this TriStar hospital. The truth is that there have to be enough paying customers to offset the number of non paying customers. If TriStar steals all the paying customers, which they will, then what becomes of MRH? It closes and other communities, including Spring Hill, experience higher tax rates as the county has the right to increase taxes to offset the cost of the loss of income. So I hope you get your hospital and the people in the small communities will have to bear the cost of the increased costs.
Oh yeah, when they close the small hospitals because they cannot afford to keep them open, you all will be happy then. I hope you all realize that there are other communities that you will be robbing of healthcare, and guess what? They will be over 15 miles away from their house.
what are you on about?
i would think most residents of columbia will continue to use MRH. if your issue is location, that's really not much of a measure of paying vs non-paying patients. if your issue is that TriStar is a for-profit hospital, rest assured HCA has issues with non-paying patients as well. it is illegal for a hospital to turn away a patient, regardless of whether it's a brentwood zip code or wherever it is you're from.
The common sense I saw, and I was there in the audience, was when Alderman Burger tried to make sense out of the Resolution and give 100% support to WMC and at the same time let the State know in plain English that they better be very care in their consideration of the Certificate of Need. This would have been a good thing for both sides and she was the one with the thinking cap on that night. Both sides could have gotten what they wanted, but some seemed like it had to be all or nothing. So in the end, the extreme she was tying to avoid on both ends, just ended badly for WMC efforts. The three who voted for the resolution would have been further ahead to second her amendment and go for the discussion. Anyway, the State will decide.
The common sense I saw, and I was there in the audience, was when Alderman Burger tried to make sense out of the Resolution and give 100% support to WMC and at the same time let the State know in plain English that they better be very care in their consideration of the Certificate of Need. This would have been a good thing for both sides and she was the one with the thinking cap on that night. Both sides could have gotten what they wanted, but some seemed like it had to be all or nothing. So in the end, the extreme she was tying to avoid on both ends, just ended badly for WMC efforts. The three who voted for the resolution would have been further ahead to second her amendment and go for the discussion. Anyway, the State will decide.
But it is not illegal to provide a medical screening exam, which consists of answering the question " are they gonna die in the next 24 hours" and then discharging them to follow up with their MD rather than admitting them and adressing their problem then and there.
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