Photo by Nancy Royden. Dr. Gita Shah, a member of the board of directors of Dimensions Healthcare System and an employee at Laurel Regional Hospital in Laurel.

Published on: Wednesday, October 07, 2009

By Nancy Royden

A buyer, or buyers, for the Prince George’s Hospital Center and other local medical facilities continue to be sought months after a special board was formed to expedite the effort.

The facilities for sale are owned by Prince George’s County, but managed by locally headquartered Dimensions Healthcare System. They include the Prince George’s Hospital Center in Cheverly, the Laurel Regional Hospital in Laurel, the Bowie Health Campus, the Gladys Spellman Specialty Hospital and Nursing Center in Laurel and the Larken Chase Nursing Rehabilitation Center on the campus of the Bowie Health Campus, in which Dimensions has a 25 percent minority investment, Donna Wilson, spokeswoman for the Prince George’s County Hospital Authority, said.

The PGCHA is an independent board created in 2008 by Gov. Martin O’Malley and Prince George’s County Executive Jack B. Johnson to find a firm to take over the Prince George’s Hospital Center and the other Dimensions-operated facilities, according to the Prince George’s County Web site.

Dr. Gita Shah, a member of the board of directors governing Dimensions Healthcare System, told members of the Prince George’s County Hospital Authority, who met Sept. 30 at the Laurel Regional Hospital, the not-for-profit health care system is important to her and she is devoted to working at LRH. Her remarks were made during a public comment session in which the board took no action and there was not a quorum.

“The physicians are totally devoted to the system,” she told board members.

Shah said she is proud of the hard work she has completed at the hospital and is seeking to help attract new physicians to join the hospital’s staff.

“We are trying to go forward…The employees are so devoted and the nurses are in demand. They could have left the hospital in minutes,” she said.

Shah asked the board members – Kenneth Glover, Dr. Donald Wilson, Stanley Brown, Andrea Leahy Fuchek, Thomas Himler, Karen Johnson Shaheed and Dr. Joseph Wright – to respect and listen to the physicians.

“Please help us move forward. I am proud of my administration. I was not proud two years ago,” she said.

Glover said the process of obtaining a buyer for the hospital has been a tough undertaking, and two more authority meetings, set Oct. 9 in Laurel and Oct. 19 in Cheverly, are planned.

According to a press release issued June 6, 2008 by John E. Erzen, public information officer for PGC Executive Jack B. Johnson’s office, the seven-member authority was created to, “conduct an open, competitive bidding process for the purpose of selling the health care system to a new owner capable of providing high quality, community-oriented health and hospital services to Prince George’s County residents.”

Some people who spoke during the meeting said they want more transparency concerning the bidding process and the firms involved in it.

In a memorandum dated May 21, 2009, nine entities expressed interest in purchasing all, or part(s) of the system. They were: Anne Arundel Medical Center, Children’s National Medical Center, Dimensions Healthcare System, HealthSouth Corp., Physicians Group of Laurel LLC, Rockledge Realty Partners LLC, Solomon Eye Associates, Southern Maryland Hospital Center, and Washington Adventist Hospital.

The memorandum’s promising news gave some people hope of a sale, its unnamed author penned.

“Each of the entities named above has been through the initial review process to determine the adequacy of its financial resources and management experience. The Authority, over the next 60 to 90 days, will enter a period of final negotiations with the goal of having firm bids for the transfer of the system by Aug. 1, 2009.”

Wilson wrote in e-mail the Oct. 9 meeting will be earmarked for administrative purposes, and the authority’s members are expected to establish a quorum, approve minutes and adjourn into executive session to discuss bids.

“While there has been some discussion about the identities of bidders being released at the Oct. 9, 2009 meeting, the identities will be made public at a later meeting. Future scheduling changes will be reflected on the Authority’s Web site…,” she wrote.

One group whose members have expressed concern that a new owner(s) may not serve the county’s poor population is the American Civil Liberties Union of the Nation’s Capital.

Dr. Harold Weiss, an internist, pulmonary disease specialist and physician advisor to the case management department at the Prince George’s Hospital Center, told board members he would like for the hospital system to stay intact.

“In my daily activities with the case managers and social work staff, we find it increasingly difficult to ‘place’ patients in much needed after-care facilities such as rehabilitation and nursing home centers. The centers unrelated to our system ‘pick and choose’ those patients they are unwilling to accept,” he said.

Weiss said the Gladys Spellman Specialty Hospital and Nursing Center and the Laurel Regional Acute Rehabilitation Hospital, “serve as our last hope.”

For more information about the hospital authority, visit www.princegeorgescountymd.gov/government/agencyIndex/pgcha/. Questions for the authority members may be sent to: PGCHospAuth@aol.com.