It is expected to cost up to $75,000 to facilitate the amalgamation of two local hospital boards.
A report presented to the Waterloo Wellington Local Health Integration Network (LHIN) at its Sept. 16 board meeting states the boards of Groves Memorial Community Hospital and North Wellington Health Care (NWHC) have each submitted four names of governors who will sit on a steering committee.
The committee will work directly with facilitator Mark Rochon, of the consulting firm KPMG, who was appointed by the LHIN in August to facilitate the amalgamation of the two boards by Nov. 30.
An issue with the renewal of the contract for shared CEO Jerome Quenneville was a key factor in a dispute between the boards of Groves hospital in Fergus and NWHC, which operates hospitals in Palmerston and Mount Forest.
In July, at the LHIN’s direction, both boards dealt in-camera with a report from KPMG that included a number of options for further integration of governance of the two hospital corporations. Groves board endorsed proceeding with a formal amalgamation, while NWHC governors endorsed the concept of “a more robust alliance.”
The report presented this week states the steering committee will guide the community engagement activities that will be part of the process.
Interviews have been completed with the steering committee members and a workshop is planned for Oct. 8. The report states that once the parties develop “an appropriate solution for all residents of Wellington,” it will be presented to the LHIN board, which will make the final determination under the terms of the Local Health System Integration Act of 2006.
Hospital boards to pay
Elliott Fung, interim director of communications for the local LHIN, said the cost for mediation by KPMG could be as much as $75,000.
“As the hospitals requested help in mediation, the WWLHIN has been clear to both hospital boards that they will be sharing any costs incurred as a result of this dispute,” stated Fung in an email to the Advertiser.
“This mediation will be provided by KPMG at a cost of up to $75,000. It is the WWLHIN’s hope that they are able to resolve the dispute right away, so there will be less cost. The WWLHIN set a date of having this issue resolved by Nov. 30, 2015 so that unreasonable costs were not incurred.”
Asked about the cost of the original KPMG report outlining potential integration options that the hospital boards dealt with in July, Fung stated “all of the costs associated with resolving the governance dispute between the hospital boards will cost up to $75,000 combined.”
In a telephone interview, Fung said the consultant was appointed to mediate a solution at the request of North Wellington Health Care.
In a July 6 letter to LHIN board chair Joan Fisk, NWHC suggested appointment of a meditator to address “key issues and ground rules” prior to discussions on further integration.
“We are concerned that this report skips an important step of reconciliation required to open the conversation and allow fruitful joint discussions,” the NWHC letter states.
“There are a few key issues and ground rules that should be addressed to repair most of the divide between the two boards.
“A third party mediation approach with GMCH, if supported by that board, would be much preferred to work through these first issues.
“The experienced mediator/facilitator needs to be impartial with no vested interest and perhaps drawn in with the assistance of the WWLHIN to avoid selection as an initial barrier previously encountered,” the letter continues.
The letter was among the communications between the LHIN and the two boards posted on the LHIN website, along with the report from the facilitator, in advance of the Sept. 16 meeting.
“It really does help clarify the two positions of the two boards and that we need to bring them together to come up with a consensus solution,” said Fung.
