Court ruling should end hospital fight

THE ISSUE: Court decision on Citrus Memorial.
OUR OPINION: Get back to work.

Could the controversy finally be over?   

The three-year battle over the management and direction of Citrus Memorial hospital may have come to the beginning of the end on Wednesday when a Tallahassee judge ruled in favor of the Citrus County Hospital Board of Trustees.

Circuit Court Judge Jackie Fulford decided that the governing board has the upper hand in the dispute with the Citrus Memorial Health Foundation because it is the body that has legislative oversight and the direct taxing responsibility.

The governing board has been fighting with the foundation board, an organization it started and then leased the hospital to for operational purposes. The two organizations began to battle when the expanded foundation board had more members, and more votes, than the gubernatorial-appointed governing board.

State Sen. Charles Dean, R-Inverness, and state Rep. Jimmie T. Smith, R-Inverness, led a legislative effort to create a new law that clearly gave authority to the governing board. The foundation board challenged the constitutionality of the legislation, but the court finding this past week put a stamp of approval on the law.

The court also ruled against the charge that members of the governing board violated the state’s Sunshine Law by having a private meeting with then-state Rep. Ron Schultz, R-Homosassa, to discuss the law.

The judge’s decision was very clear. It is the governing board that can be held accountable because it is run by appointees selected by the governor and confirmed by the Florida Senate. The foundation board members are selected by the other members of the foundation board.

The judge felt that a public hospital — spending local property tax dollars — should be held accountable and operate in an open fashion.

The judge’s decision is a stunning setback for the current administration of the hospital.

Barring the unforeseen, significant changes are in store for how the hospital is governed.

This governance battle over Citrus Memorial hospital has gone on way too long. Many millions of tax and consumer dollars have been wasted on attorneys who have argued over the justification of their non-compromising positions.

As we have argued for years, the general public is not really overly concerned about the complex governing issues. The consumers and taxpayers of Citrus County are concerned about high-quality medical care at an affordable price.

Citizens are concerned about easy access and the stress-free delivery of services.

While the administration will argue otherwise, this legal battle has hurt the reputation and delivery of services at Citrus Memorial. While resources and time have been pumped into fighting this complex legal case, consumers continue their complaints that the delivery of services in the emergency room takes way too long.

And the hospital’s relationship with the local medical community is on the critical care list. The legal confrontation has spilled over into conflicts between hospital administration and many of our best known and respected physicians.

It’s time for this to stop.

We urge the governing board to invite the foundation board to the table and let the two sides hammer out a governance model. The court decision certainly gives the governing board the upper hand, but that doesn’t mean there needs to be winners and losers.

How about sitting down and working out a compromise where the consumers and taxpayers of the community are the winners? A hospital in the middle of a three-year governance squabble is not as focused on patient care and the delivery of services as it needs to be.

We urge the hospital leaders to not push this to the next court of appeals and instead listen to the appeals of the taxpayers and consumers — stop the dispute and get back to work.