FROM WHERE I'M SITTING...By jeff mero, executive director

We are working our way through budget development for 2006. We'll be bringing a draft budget to the AWPHD Finance Committee, chaired by Treasurer Jim Robertson (Public Healthcare Services District No. 3 of Pacific County, Ilwaco), in just a bit over two weeks. If you have any special projects or other new activities you'd like the Board to consider, please let us know.

One significant budget issue is tied to the new Certified Public Expenditure (CPE) program. Because of the shift away from Disproportionate Share programs and payments, we are projecting a shortfall in current year dues and a significant drop in income in 2006. While the shift is artificial in some ways (the districts involved in the CPE program have significant hold harmless protections in the state budget and should not suffer any loss from the change), it does mean that our approach to dues assessment has to be revised. The Board last week approved an approach that Jeff Uyyek and I will be bringing to the dozen or so districts in the CPE program.

I was pleased last week to hear from Gregg Davidson (Skagit County PHD No. 1, Mount Vernon) that he will stand for election as AWPHD's treasurer this October. Gregg and Glen Marshall (Kennewick PHD) will be the new Board nominees on the ballot, joining Andrew Craigie (Garfield County PHD, Pomeroy) who will stand for president and Jim Robertson who will become president-elect. Camille Scott (Clallam County PHD No. 1, Forks) and Dale Polla (Okanogan-Douglas Counties PHD No. 1, Brewster) continue as at-large members.

The kids are headed back to school and that means it is "Meeting Season." I'd encourage you to look carefully at the great schedule that Dick Goldsmith and Wendy Ray always include in this newsletter: it provides the most comprehensive overview of what all your supporters at 300 Elliott Avenue West have planned. It does seem like a busy fall is in store as the Rural Healthcare Quality Network, the WSHA Patient Safety Initiative, and the Washington Health Foundation's "Healthiest State in the Nation" campaign all look to capture some of your time and imagination. AWPHD has two interesting education programs in the works as well: a September conference in Yakima on developing your district's foundation and a two-day workshop in Ellensburg in early November that will be a primer for planning and managing construction projects.

I have spent a pretty significant part of August working with people here, at the state Department of Health, and at a few other agencies to look for ways to focus all the demands for data that are being placed on your quality assurance/risk management/ performance improvement/compliance employees. I know you are hearing that there are too many competing requests, all (or very nearly all) of a voluntary nature. We are beginning, now, to find ways to "thin out" these demands, and I hope the end product will be better for this focus. At the same time, I keep hearing that we are "just at the beginning" of the quality measurement and reporting wave, with the first mandatory reports for most of you still about a year away.

SNAPSHOTS

The Public Disclosure Commission (PDC) has advice for districts wondering whether they can sponsor a community forum for candidates for local public offices. In responding to a sponsorship question from a public hospital district (which would involve no financial assistance from the district or use of its facilities), a PDC compliance officer approved the district's sponsorship if the forum met the following criteria:

· All candidates are invited and participate in the forum.
· Each and every candidate is allowed an equal opportunity to participate.
· The forum is designed to provide information to attendees in an unbiased and non-discriminatory manner and will not benefit any particular candidate.
· The moderator is objective and is not biased toward any candidate or position that may be favorable to one candidate over another.
· The moderator does not "stack the deck" or select certain audience members to question the candidates. (Preferably, the moderator would ask the audience to address the candidates directly from the floor and not chose the questioners.)
· Each candidate is allotted the same amount of time to respond to questions from the audience.
· The general public is notified of the forum. The audience cannot be a select group of invitees (for example, hospital staff) who may have a preference for a specific candidate or a position that is addressed or discussed as part of the forum.

The PDC also suggests that a district considering the use of its facilities for a candidate forum take a look at PDC Declaratory Order No. 13, which is found online at http://www.pdc.wa.gov/guide/declar/DECL_13.pdf

And in regard to another election concern, AWPHD and the Washington Public Ports Association are working to get another Attorney General Opinion (AGO) that could enable the governing boards of special purpose districts to take a collective position on a ballot measure because this action is part of their "normal and regular conduct" under RCW 42.17.130(3). (To obtain an AGO, we'll need to get a state legislator who is willing to pose a question broader in scope than the one resulting in 2005 AGO No. 4. AGO No. 4 says that RCW 42.17.130(1) doesn't allow governing bodies of these districts to take a collective position on ballot measures. You can find background information about AGO No. 4, its impacts, and AWPHD's subsequent actions in the May, June, and July editions of In Focus, online at www.awphd.org/resources_IF.asp.)

There are only a few days left to register for Opportunities and Challenges, the September 15th-16th conference in Yakima for Washington State PHD foundations. Foundation board members and staff, as well as CEO/Administrators and other district personnel interested in attending, should contact Beionka Moore by September 6th. Beionka can be reached at (206) 216-2530 or beionkam@wsha.org. (The conference brochure and registration form are online at www.awphd.org/events/OPBrochure.pdf

A two-day AWPHD workshop on public works projects has been scheduled for November 3rd and 4th in Ellensburg. Currently under development, the workshop will help district commissioners, CEOs/Administrators, and staff understand the "best practices" for taking construction projects from vision to reality. A "soup-to-nuts" primer, the workshop will be about more than just going from the architect's drawing board to a completed structure: it'll cover topics such as the importance of community assessment and strategic planning before bringing a construction proposal to the Board, potential funding sources, how to plan for "moving-in" day, and "lessons learned" about construction projects that didn't go as smoothly as hoped. All this from experts in strategic planning, architecture, law, finance, and construction management, as well as some of your colleagues who have recently completed construction projects (both large and small). We'll provide you with more details as they become available.

Thanks to Angela Belbeck and Don Black, attorneys with the Seattle firm of Ogden Murphy Wallace P.L.L.C., for putting together AWPHD's recent webcast "Public Records and Public Hospital Districts." For those of you who missed this informative program or want to review Angela and Don's remarks, go online to www.awphd.org/resources_WEB.asp#publicRecords.

PEOPLE AND PLACES

Skagit Valley Hospital (Skagit County PHD No. 1) invites you to a groundbreaking ceremony for its three-story (220,000 square foot) addition on Thursday, September 1 at 4 p.m. The event will take place on 14th Street, north of the existing hospital in Mount Vernon. (A report on the groundbreaking will appear in the next edition of In Focus.)

Skagit County PHD No. 304 has reported several significant events that took place in August. On August 24th, the district held a groundbreaking ceremony for a three-story medical office building-"the Pavilion at United." (In a speech before some 200 people at the ceremony, AWPHD Executive Director Jeff Mero remarked "that a facility such as this is one of the most important steps a community can take to insure its economic future. Bringing in great new doctors attracts great new teachers, and that means new families and new businesses.") This 30,000 square foot structure is the first major addition to United General Hospital's campus in Sedro-Woolley in more than a decade. The state Department of Health granted a Level IV trauma designation to United General's emergency department. And the American College of Surgeons' Commission on Cancer granted the hospital's cancer care program a "Three-Year Approval with Commendation."

Several AWPHD members will be hosting a group of state legislators and legislative staff as they tour rural health care facilities in Eastern Washington September 7th through 9th. Whitman Hospital and Medical Center in Colfax (Whitman County PHD No. 3), Pullman Regional Hospital (PHD No. 1-A of Whitman County), Garfield County Public Hospital District in Pomeroy and Dayton General Hospital (Columbia County Health System all are on the itinerary for the annual Rural Legislative Tour organized by the House Health Care Committee. (Next month's In Focus will carry a report on the tour.)

UPCOMING EVENTS

WSHA Public Policy Committee
September 9 - 10:00 am • WSHA Offices
Contact: Melissa Waddell (206)216-2510

AWPHD/WSHA Rural Advocacy Days
September 13-14 • Washington, DC
Contact: Wendy Ray (206)216-2516

RHQN Board Meeting
September 15 - 10:00 am • Conference Call
Contact: Brad Vollegraaf (206)216-2550

AWPHD Public Hospital District Foundation Conference
September 15-16 • Red Lion, Yakima
Contact: Beionka Moore (206)216-2530

WHF Governor's Bowl Webcast
September 16 - 12:00 noon • Webcast
Contact: Connie Ray (206)216-2511

WSHA Executive Committee & Finance Committee
September 16 - 8:00 am • WSHA Offices
Contact: Lisa Rusk (206)577-1852

AWPHD Finance Committee
September 19 - 3:00 pm • Conference Call
Contact: Wendy Ray (206)216-2516

AWPHD/WSHA Patient Safety & Quality Communications Program
September 21 - 10:00 am • Embassy Suites, Lynnwood
Contact: Wendy Ray (206)216-2516

WSHA Safe Table Learning Collaborative
September 22 - 9:00 am • SeaTac Hilton
Contact: Angela Segarra (206)216-2539

WHF Board Retreat
September 22-23 • Alderbrook Resort, Union
Contact: Heather Pitre (206)577-1848

WWRHCC Board Meeting
September 23 • Morton General Hospital, Morton
Contact: Elizabeth Floersheim (206)577-1851

HWFI Board Meeting
September 23 - 11:00 am • HWFI Offices
Contact: TIna Praseuth (206)216-2541

WSHA Patient Safety Task Force
September 26 - 5:00 pm • WSHA Offices
Contact: Angela Segarra (206)216-2539

AWPHD/WSHA Patient Safety & Quality Communications Program
September 26 - 10:00 am • Radisson Hotel Seattle Airport, SeaTac
Contact: Wendy Ray (206)216-2516

AWPHD/WSHA Patient Safety & Quality Communications Program
September 27 - 10:00 am • Red Lion Hotel, Olympia
Contact: Wendy Ray (206)216-2516

AWPHD/WSHA Patient Safety & Quality Communications Program
September 28 - 10:00 am • Red Lion Yakima Center, Yakima
Contact: Wendy Ray (206)216-2516

AWPHD/WSHA Patient Safety & Quality Communications Program
September 30 - 10:00 am • Red Lion at the Park, Spokane
Contact: Wendy Ray (206)216-2516

RHQN PDSA Workshop
September 30 - 9:00 am • Sacred Heart Medical Center, Spokane
Contact: Brad Vollegraaf (206)216-2550

WSMA Lessons From Terry Schiavo - Are Advance Directives the Solution or Part of the Problem
October 1 - 1:00 pm • Tacoma
Contact: Graham Short (206)956-3633

RHQN Board Meeting
October 11 - 10:00 am • Conference Call
Contact: Brad Vollegraaf (206)216-2550

WSHA Rural Hospital Committee
October 12 - 12:00 noon • WSHA Offices
Contact: Melissa Waddell (206)216-2510

PHD & WAH Board Meeting
October 12 - 4:00 pm • TBD
Contact: Anita Badri (206)216-2553

AWPHD Board Meeting
October 12 - 6:00 pm • TBD
Contact: Beionka Moore (206)216-2530

WSHA Annual Meeting
October 13-14 • Bell Harbor International Conference Center, Seattle
Contact: Danie Wright (206)577-1845

Workers' Compensation-Building Bridges for a Culture of Safety
October 25 - 12:00 noon • Webcast
Contact: Anita Badri (206)216-2553

WWRHCC Board Meeting
October 28 • Jefferson General Hospital, Port Townsend
Contact: Elizabeth Floersheim (206)577-1851

Washington End of Life Consensus Coalition Fall Conference
October 28 - 8:00 am • Seattle Marriott SeaTac Airport Hotel
Contact: Graham Short (206)956-3633

The deadline for the next In Focus is: Friday, September 23rd. Send articles or information to Dick Goldsmith (richardg@awphd.org, Fax: 206-577-1897, 300 Elliott Avenue West, Suite 300, Seattle, WA 98119-4118).

View Archive