EDITORIAL: The pill that could preserve your hospital
One of these groups is not like the others. Can you guess which one?
a. Board of trustees, North Idaho College
b. Board of trustees, Community Library Network
c. Board of trustees, Kootenai Health
If you guessed c., give yourself a heart-healthy treat. And let’s take just a moment to consider why the Kootenai Health board is, thank goodness, so unlike the others.
The three-person board majorities of our college and public library network have been taken over by people who are great at selling newspapers but inept at running taxpayer-supported institutions of vital importance to the region.
The local political machine that keeps feeding voters unqualified candidates has been a boon to headline writers, but at tremendous cost to the community. Chronicling decisions that have either led to disastrous consequences (NIC) or are poised to do so (CLN) has become almost as routine as providing meals at mealtime.
Sadly, the meal metaphor also includes desperate grabs for barf bags when readers examine the ingredients these ideological chefs are force-feeding their constituents.
Meantime, as one year of chaos at NIC and CLN merges into another year of likely chaos — with those board majorities intact, why would anyone expect anything different? — the Kootenai Health board has quietly and efficiently made a massive transition.
At midnight Sunday, your hospital became a private, not-for-profit corporation. The move was made for a number of reasons, primarily to ensure Kootenai Health remains a locally controlled, state-of-the-art health care provider, but the shift also includes a less dazzling but important gem.
As a private, not-for-profit corporation, Kootenai Health’s board members will be appointed, rather than elected. That process will ensure individuals will be chosen based on their qualifications rather than their political affiliations.
If you’re upset that you’ll no longer be able to vote for KH trustees, answer honestly: How many of the current board members can you name? What does that tell you about the actual importance you place on hospital trustee elections, let alone the institution’s governance?
Put another way, how many of you would be willing to put your family’s health care in the same hands that brought you Todd Banducci, Greg McKenzie, Mike Waggoner, Rachelle Ottosen, Tim Plass and Tom Hanley?
Over time, the very most impactful change in Kootenai Health’s structure might be leadership's ability to choose the best board members possible. Keeping health care immune from political poison might just preserve this prized institution into perpetuity.