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| CEO Spiros Hatiras and Chair Toni Tomarrazo |
Officers Selected
The election for the Board of Commissioners took place at the beginning with Toni Tomarazzo retaining Chairperson, E. Norman Wilson continuing as Vice Chair, and Tejal Desai staying on as Treasurer. Jonathan Metsch stepped down as Secretary and nominated Eric Kurta for the position The move by Dr. Metsch seemed to surprise Mr. Kurta at first creating a small comic moment but he accepted and was approved. All votes were unanimous.
Spiros Gives Summary
The Hospital had a unexpected survey and they passed. The will be a list of recommendations and in 45-60 days the hospital will provide their remediation steps. The hospital will also be getting a credit from Medicare from a 2007 reconciliation that found the hospital is owed $1.5 million from that period, the bulk of which will be paid by this year. This was not expected and accounted for in the budget so it could be considered a windfall.
Kramer Steps Down
Later in the meeting its was announced that Kevin Kramer has stepped down from the board as he took a new position with another entity that could cause potential conflicts.
RFP Almost Ready for Release
An RFP to reach out to potential investors for strategic partnerships is almost ready to be released. Special Counsel from Lowenstein Sandler went over the proposal after an introduction by Toni Tomarazzo that emphasized the difficult economic times that the hospital is in. Spiros Hatiras, Alfred Fayemi, MD and Joseph Kozel, MD all reiterated Chair Toni Tomarazzo's assertion that this move is in the best long term interests of the hospital staying on as a viable concern. Toni said that the goal is to preserve the hospital as an acute care facility and not to close the hospital . She added for the hospital to grow to its potential that outside funding will have to come from private interests since the $9 million left in capital funds is not enough to take the hospital to where it needs to be and that public funds have already been put to the limit.
The RFP once the final draft is cut, should be posted on the HUMC Authority website soon.
Public Session
Hoboken citizens Valerie Pels and Tom Greaney (potential 2nd Ward candidate) stated that they thought it was a positive development that this RFP was moving forward and that there was some good news finally coming from the hospital. 4th Ward Councilman Mike Lenz also made a statement of support for this initiative and carefully framed it as preserving the hospital's functions to the community, especially those who need health care the most. Doctors from the OB GYN unit spoke on behalf of preserving their program which was finally making some headway after investment in facility upgrades.
Closed Session
Correction: I thought I had heard that the latest year's audit was discussed in closed session.It was not. The board had a discussion on ways to improve the financial situation of the Hospital. ◦
