Kootenai Health leaders will not attend forum

COEUR d'ALENE — A town hall meeting, billed as an opportunity to discuss the future of Kootenai Health with hospital leaders, will be missing something.

“Katie Brodie, chair of the Kootenai Health board of trustees, and Jon Ness, CEO of Kootenai Health, respectfully declined the invitation from Kootenai County Republican Women Federated,” said Kim Anderson, communications director for Kootenai Health.

Carla Mattare, president of the Republican women’s group, invited Kootenai Health trustees and Ness to be featured panel speakers at the event slated for 10 a.m. Saturday at New Life Church in Rathdrum.

“... you can share your high-level insights with the community in a transparent forum that the Kootenai County Republican Women are pleased to sponsor,” Mattare wrote in the email invitation to hospital trustees sent Monday.

Mattare wrote that other panel contributors include state legislators, “which will be available to discuss House Bill 603 and the intent behind that legislation.”

House Bill 603 is now Idaho law after being passed almost unanimously in Boise earlier this year, during the last legislative session. Introduced by Rep. Rod Furniss (R-Rigby). It updates a statute to allow public district hospitals like Kootenai Health to transition to nonprofits. It went into effect July 1.

Idaho Reps. Ron Mendive (R-Post Falls), Tony Wiśniewski (R-Post Falls), Vito Barbieri (R-Dalton Gardens) and Doug Okuniewicz (R-Hayden) are all invited panel members at the forum being hosted Saturday by the Kootenai County Republican Women Federated.

Each of these North Idaho legislators voted in favor of House Bill 603, which was presented to them with the following written statement of purpose: “This legislation updates statute to allow district hospitals the same options already available to county hospitals to lease or sell property to a qualified nonprofit for the continuity of service in the community. It provides options for district hospitals to enable them to address future fiscal challenges.”

Kootenai Health officials told The Press in September that they were considering making the move to a 501(c)3 and that they were initiating an in-depth evaluation before making a decision.

“I think our board actually has an obligation to evaluate whether this is a good idea,” Ness said, in September.

In a Nov. 9 letter to Mattare, Kootenai Health Trustee Brodie and CEO Ness declined the invitation to attend Saturday’s forum. They wrote that discussing the situation publicly would be premature.

“Engaging in a town hall before our Board has received a full analysis would not provide the full context needed to have the most productive discussion,” they wrote.

Anderson said Thursday that she understands Kootenai Health Trustee Steve Matheson plans to attend the event.

He will not be speaking for the hospital.

“It is important to note that Trustee Matheson has not been delegated authority to act as a spokesperson for Kootenai Health,” Anderson said. “Per the board of trustee bylaws, it is the CEO’s responsibility to act as the organization’s official spokesperson or delegate that role as appropriate.”

The evaluation being done is a highly technical one, Anderson said.

“Kootenai Health has engaged some of the most knowledgeable and experienced partners in the nation to help our board,” she said. “Over the coming weeks, they will be providing the trustees with a white paper outlining the benefits, drawbacks and considerations for transitioning to a 501(c)(3).”

Once the white paper is available, it will be posted at KH.org/501c3 and shared with anyone interested in learning more about the scope of the potential transition.

Kootenai Health established the KH.org/501c3 webpage two months ago. It includes detailed information about the process, including frequently updated FAQs and an email address where community members can send questions: questions@kh.org.

“All of these community feedback options have been shared broadly and repeatedly with community stakeholders, and our 3,700 employees,” wrote Brodie and Ness, in their letter to Mattare. “Additionally, more background was provided in a front page story of the Coeur d’Alene Press and our board meetings are open to public attendance via WebEx.”

To date, Kootenai Health has not received a single emailed question asking about the 501(c)3 evaluation.

“We are also working with the Joint Chambers of Commerce public policy committee to host a community informational session after the white paper is available,” Anderson said.

Mattare told The Press on Thursday that even though Kootenai Health's board members and CEO will not be in attendance, Saturday's forum will still take place.