The details of Allen Memorial Medical Center’s merger with Community Health Partners have been kept secret by CHP and Allen board members, and may not be released to the College or the public.

Concerned citizens are now asking both parties for answers.

“Can the public see the document which describes what this merger is all about?” former Oberlin professor Sam Goldberg said.

“From [the Allen Medical Board’s] reaction it seems like not,” he said. “That disappoints me.”

Allen Medical Center has been a community health facility for nearly 100 years, and College and community members are concerned about its takeover by a state-wide Catholic hospital chain. Community Health Partners is a subsidiary of Catholic Health Partners, which has yearly revenues of $3.2 billion.

CHP will form a new board of directors under the tentative agreement, according to Andrew Evans, the College representative on the Allen Medical board.

If the merger goes through, the College will have little to no say over the running of the hospital. If CHP decided to cut care, “there isn’t a whole lot we could do about it,” Evans said.

CHP has managed the hospital for the past three years. During this time there have been dramatic improvements in the hospital’s financial state.

“They came in after pinks slips [for layoffs] were already issued,” Oberlin City Manager Rob DiSpirito said. “They literally saved us in the eleventh hour.”

According to city council documents, the hospital was set to lose $6 million in 2001. By the end of that year, CHP had cut losses to less than $1 million. A year later the hospital turned a profit of $102,262.

The hospital’s turnaround could also be partially attributed to increased federal funding for its emergency care unit and roughly $300,000 in forgiven payments for city utilities.

The College also bolstered the hospital with a $2 million purchase agreement at the time of CHP’s management takeover. The city and Allen Medical Board had owned the facility after buying it from the city for one dollar in the 1960s.

Community Concerns

Despite the new management’s successes, many have cast doubts on the financial viability of CHP as a whole. City council records show that the company suffered a $3.8 million revenue shortfall in 2003 and was forced to cut 41 positions.

On Sept 19, Sandra Hodge, who was serving as the City Council’s representative on the hospital Board of Directors, resigned from her position on the board “due to the impending mergerand the potential AMC Board of Directors restructuring.”

Scrutiny has also fallen upon CHP’s parent company Catholic Health Partners. The company’s religious affiliations could theoretically prevent certain procedures from being performed for religious reasons.

“Allen’s operations are already informed by our ethical principals,” Greg Smith, communications director for Catholic Health Services said.

“Any services that we don’t provide are available elsewhere,” he added.

Catholic Health Partners’ religious affiliations will also have an impact on the makeup of the new hospital board. The new board will include two “religious women,” according to a memo sent by City Council Chairman Bill Jindra on Nov. 3.

The memo states that the board will also include CEOs of CHP and Allen, as well as eight community trustees, one CHP trustee and the president of the Oberlin Medical Staff. This is a striking shift from the current voting board, which includes only one CHP representative.

Merger hinted at all along
Hospital Board President Doug Wilber said that CHP had planned the merger since taking over care at the hospital, according to the Oberlin News-Tribune.

The original transfer agreement did indeed state that CHP would be granted the option of merging with Allen, but stopped short of stating that the merger was an inevitability.

“Oberlin Medical Center shall take all necessary actions to grant to CHP an option to merge or consolidate OMC with or into CHP,” the document read. It went on to state that the merger plans will “be submitted to the College for its review and approval not less than 10 days prior to the date on which such merger is scheduled to be consummated. Such approval shall not be unreasonably withheld.”

The College had no knowledge of the merger agreement until late November, an administration official said.

Director of College Relations Alan Moran said that the College was still undecided on the proposal. “As far as I know, the College has requested more information from Allen before [supporting] the merger.”

College President Nancy Dye held a closed-door meeting with Allen Medical President Edwin Oley on Thursday, Dec. 4. The details of their discussion are unknown, and Dye was unavailable for comment. Sources outside the administration say that Dye was convinced by the presentation and that the merger is moving forward.

The College has no future plans to inquire into the details of the merger, but is fully supportive of a public meeting to address community concerns, Moran said.

CHP makes its case

At the Dec. 1 city council meeting, CHP made a presentation to the hospital board, strongly advising the Council against rejecting their offer. They warned that without CHP the hospital would have “no access to cash” and would suffer an “inability to compete in the market.”

In the presentation, CHP also warned that if the hospital chose simply to renew the existing management contract, CHP would be “entitled to fair market price for services if they want to continue agreement.”

CHP officials asserted that the merger was “in the best interests of patients in southern Lorain County and in the best interests of the Allen Medical Center.”

“CHP was (and is) the only organization interested in maintaining a hospital in Oberlin,” one presentation slide said.

However, represtatives from EMH Regional Medical Center in Elyria stated that they had never been consulted about the possibility of running the hopital and had never made any statements about it.

EMH has a comparable or superior management record to to CHP in several key areas. It has been named by Solucient magazine as one of the top 100 hospitals in the country, and is one of only 35 hospitals to earn the honor five times. They also have an operation agreement with the Cleveland Clinic, a larger system that has garnered national acclaim.

“Is there anyone who that denies that Cleveland Clinic and University hospitals are better institutions?” retired Oberlin professor Sam Goldberg asked.

Another antendee called the CHP presentation a “horse and pony show.”

CHP Brian Lockwod was adamant that CHP had exclusive rights over merger talks with Allen Medical Center.

“If you really want to go off and talk to anybody else, we’ll back away,” he said.

All parties will have another chance to make their arguments in an open forum on the merger to be held at New Russia Township Hall on Dec. 17 at 7 p.m.