Editor’s note: NewsLanc’s publisher attended Thursday’s open meeting and was impressed with much that he heard. But representative of the sense of superiority and sheer arrogance of LGH was Chair Alex Henderson mentioning that Tom Beeman would only receive about half of the $1,200,000 gift that was reported in the Sunday News and repeated by NewsLanc, yet never corrected by representatives of LGH despite several contacts. We will report at length on line by this weekend and summarize in next week’s newsletters.
A stay by a Lancaster friend in a Philadelphia hospital verified the superior competence, commitment and compassion of the nurses, interns, and other workers at Lancaster General Hospital. The issues raised today are criticism and challenges to LGH’s top executives and the board of trustees, not of hospital staff.
1) In large part because of LGH dominance of many aspects of health care delivery in Lancaster County, it is able to average a hundred million dollars a year in profits which it calls “surplus” of revenue over expenses. Over the past couple of years, apart from contributions to city and school system of payments in lieu of real estate taxes, it has donated only 4% of its surplus to other non-profit organizations in the essential realms of public health and education, a figure that would have been less than 2% were it not for a one time grant last year to South East Lancaster Health Services.
Would not the community benefit more if 20% of the surplus went to other non-profits for public health and education purposes?
2) Why do LGH executives and spokespersons constantly distort facts and propagandize? For example, they claim the losses resulting from care to Medicaid and the indigent are charitable contributions when they are not. They are services required of hospitals and are treated as expenses in calculating ‘surplus’, not as donations from ‘surpluses.’
3) The Drug and Alcohol Commission estimates there are 5,000 to 10,000 heroin addicts in the county, which is tragic for many of their families, adds to the cost of social services, and, through sharing of dirty needles, spreads the HIV virus, Hepatitis ‘C’ and other socially contracted diseases. Why does LGH only operate a part time clinic for their treatment?
Why did LGH refuse a grant to The Urban League when it expressed a willingness to operate a first class syringe exchange? The legal argument that LGH might violate the paraphernalia laws is dubious. In any case, LGH could explicitly give a hundred thousand dollars in annual support for The Urban League’s other programs, thus making it possible for the League to devote other contributions to dealing with addicts
4) If not indeed a violation of the law, is it not an act of cronyism and a violation of the public trust to gift $1.2 million to LGH’s President and CEO for the year he is taking off to serve in the Navy? LGH is a Public Charity. This is the public’s money.
5) Why ban media and the public from other board meetings, considering LGH is a non-profit organization? The only information available is the federally required annual 990 Report. If it were a for-profit hospital, LGH would be paying around $25 million annually in direct corporate taxes and indirect taxes of its dividends, and it would have to make copious information available to the Securities and Exchange Commission and its stock holders. Shouldn’t the public have a say in how a Public Charity spends its huge surpluses?
Maybe LNP should donate $500K and fund the HRC so everyone wins…Scott Martin can claim his savings of half a million dollars within a $150+ million budget as the crowning achievement of his political career and the discriminated in the County can keep their small voice and seat at the table.
Their answers as to transparancy and charitible investment were lacking.
The good news – Three times as many public comments and questions as last year.