Mendocino Coast District Hospital Board of Directors Meeting June 28 2018

Pain Clinic Contract Terminated & Measure C Recount!

The Mendocino Coast District Hospital (MCDH) Board of Directors meeting on May 28, 2018 held a couple of surprises as well as the usual reports and the video is available for you to view at the bottom of this post.

In the usual list of Closed Session Items, which generally have a generic response such as “gave staff direction on” and then the title.  An example of this is the Hardin v. Mendocino Coast District Hospital legal case, which is on the agenda monthly.

This month the agenda included “Proposed termination of Summit Pain Alliance (Summit] Agreement with MCDH, pertaining to potential litigation regarding contractual dispute. Government Code §54956.9”.

It was reported that the MCDH Board, in closed session, had voted to terminate the contract with Summit Pain Clinic, without any further comment or questions from the audience. I expected at some point in their reports they would share more information about the decision and the relevant details.

Hearing nothing, I finally asked questions about the Summit Pain Alliance Contract and the future of chronic pain care at MCDH and North Coast Family Health Center (NCFHC), where the associated clinic visits occurred. CEO Edwards reported that they will invoke the 30 day notice to sever the contract and were hoping that current staff may fill the chronic pain care gap.  While Mr. Edwards did not reveal the name, as to not put more pressure on the person, John Kermen D.O. made it clear he is the person under consideration.  So, the future is unclear except for the fact it will not be Summit Pain Alliance providing it.

A relevant question is whether or not this decision will have a positive or negative impact on the budget, although that will depend on if and how chronic pain care will or will not be provided.

Another surprise, not on the agenda, was that a citizen, with a large number of property parcels, paid for an official recount of “Measure C”, which imposes a $144 per parcel tax for the Mendocino Coast Healthcare District (MCHD), which operated Mendocino Coast District Hospital (MCDH).

(As of July 3, after carefully examining 7,171 ballots, there were no changes and no challenges to the initial official results, according to County Clerk Susan Ranochak.  With 57.3% of eligible registered voters casting ballots, there were 4,593 Yes Votes (66.77%) and 2286 No Votes (33.23%).  So, by a handful of votes, the Parcel tax measure has passed successfully.)

The other items on the agenda, including the Strategic Plan Update and 2018/2019 MCDH Budget, can be viewed on the recorded meeting which is below this MCDH Press Release.

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Mendocino Coast District Hospital Thanks Community for Measure C Passage
Fort Bragg, CA – June 25, 2018 – Mendocino Coast District Hospital (MCDH) and the Mendocino Coast Healthcare District Board of Directors are overjoyed to report that Measure C has passed. The measure received 66.77% of the votes, more than the two-thirds required for passage.
MCDH leadership and the Board of Directors would like to sincerely thank our community, the Measure C Committee, volunteers, staff, and consultants for all the hard work that made this a success. We also want to thank everyone that helps organize and conduct our vital elections in Mendocino County for their hard work and dedication to our democratic process.
CEO Bob Edwards commented, “We are excited about the election results and have been energized by a realization that the overwhelming majority of our community members support us and our efforts here at MCDH.”
A total of 6,879 votes were cast, with 4,593 of those in support of Measure C. MCDH is thankful for the remarkable amount of support we have received from our community. Throughout this process, we have appreciated every opportunity we’ve had to learn more about our community and their concerns, and we hope that through our efforts, community members now understand more about the modern healthcare challenges we face as well. Working together, we believe we can provide the healthcare our community deserves.
Additionally, as was shared in the information provided about Measure C over the last number of months, there is an exemption for contiguous parcels. This will allow immediately adjacent parcels, owned by the same owner and used for residential purposes, to be treated as a single parcel requiring the owner to pay $144 annually (as opposed to $144 multiplied by the total number of parcels). To provide these exemptions, MCDH will utilize an application process. Granted exemptions will be honored until there is a change of ownership of the parcels.
Normally, the deadline to submit this application will be June 15th of each year, allowing MCDH sufficient time to process all applications received and submit the updated parcel roll to the County, prior to their annual deadlines. However, given the proximity of the election to the deadline – and that we did not find out the final results until just last week, some days after the deadline – MCDH is committed to honoring any valid applications submitted at any point during this first year. This means:

• If MCDH receives a valid application prior to the County deadline in this first potential year of the parcel tax (likely in mid-July of 2018), that property owner will receive the exemption.
• If we do not receive a valid application prior to the County’s deadline in this first potential year, MCDH will reimburse the owner for whatever is billed and paid in excess of $144 for contiguous parcels – and then the exemption will be granted in the following year.

MCDH will soon make the application available and it can be submitted as referenced above. Should any property owner want to initiate this process more immediately, however, please just send an email, including owner name, addresses and APNs, to Gayl Moon (gmoon@mcdh.net) in the CEO’s office.
If there are any questions about the Contiguous Parcel Exemption Application Process – or anything else related to Measure C – please call the CEO’s office at 707-961-1234 or email Gayl Moon at gmoon@mcdh.net.

Doug Shald
Director PR & Marketing Communications
Mendocino Coast District Hospital
707.961.4961