SCOTT OPPOSES HOSPITAL MEASURE

By JIM SAUNDERS
THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

THE CAPITAL, TALLAHASSEE, December 21, 2011.......... Gov. Rick Scott on Wednesday objected to proposals by two Republican lawmakers that could lead to the state's chief financial officer reviewing the sales or leases of public hospitals.

Scott said during an interview he is concerned about the state getting involved in local sale or lease decisions. But if the state does play a role in reviewing deals, he said the governor's office --- not the CFO --- should have the responsibility.

"If we're going to have a review above the local (hospital) district … then it seems like it ought to go through the governor's office,'' the former Columbia/HCA hospital chief executive said.

Rep. Jimmy Patronis, R-Panama City, filed a bill (HB 895) this month that would revamp state laws dealing with the sales or leases of public hospitals, including giving power to the CFO to sign off on transactions.

Sen. Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, said Wednesday he is working on a Senate version of the bill that also will include CFO oversight. He said the proposal would not allow the CFO to pick "winners and losers" in hospital deals, but it would give the Cabinet officer the role of making sure safeguards are in place to protect the public.

"Transactions of this size are very likely to be $100 million or more, and these public hospitals are owned by the public,'' said Gaetz, who had a long career in the hospital and hospice industries. "I want to make sure we don't have less than arms-length transactions.''

The proposals by Patronis and Gaetz come after lawmakers debated controversial bills earlier this year that would have allowed circuit judges to review sales or leases of public hospitals. Those bills died, but sponsors have filed them again for the 2012 session.

At least part of the impetus for the issue was a botched merger of Volusia County's public Bert Fish Medical Center with the non-profit Adventist Health System. The merger collapsed after it was disclosed that the Bert Fish board violated the state's open-meetings law by hashing out the deal in private.

The issue, however, also comes as a Scott-appointed commission prepares to issue recommendations about making changes in public hospitals. Draft recommendations discussed this week included taking steps to ensure that hospital sales or leases involve competitive bidding and that deals include independent valuations of hospital assets.

Patronis and Gaetz both represent Bay County, where a $154 million deal is pending to lease the publicly owned Bay Medical Center to a joint venture that includes Pensacola-based Sacred Heart Health System. But the lawmakers said their proposal would not affect that proposed deal.

HB 895 calls for local governing boards to evaluate the possibility of selling or leasing public hospitals. If the boards decide to move forward with trying to strike deals, the bill would require them to take a series of steps --- including ultimately getting approval from the CFO.

Scott said the CFO's role is to audit how state government spends money. He said that is a "whole different issue than reviewing hospital sales.''

Patronis said he welcomed the governor's opinion on the issue, pointing to Scott's role in buying hospitals while chief executive of Columbia/HCA.

But Gaetz said it would be outside the governor's traditional role to review financial transactions. Also, while Scott has a background in hospital deals, he said the state won't always have governors with health-care experience.

Gaetz, who is slated to become the next Senate president after the November elections, said the CFO could determine whether "due diligence" has happened in hospital sales or leases.

"If you don't have some kind of objective third party, the only people who are really rendering a judgment here are the buyers and the sellers,'' he said.