Hospital center on life support

Fingers pointed at County Council as hospital talks collapse

“It was disgraceful, absolutely disgraceful,“ Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. (D-Dist. 27) of Chesapeake Beach said. ‘‘The members of the council that rejected the deal forfeited their right to stay in office ... I can’t think of a more despicable act.”

‘‘[The County Council members] are a bunch of irresponsible children that cost 2,300 jobs and left 180,000 people without health care,” said Del. Doyle Niemann (D-Dist. 47) of Mount Rainier, immediately after he learned the talks had fallen through. Niemann had proposed the legislation that was the basis for the negotiations.

Most of the hospital's patients don't have insurance. The system includes the Cheverly Prince George’s Hospital Center, the Laurel Regional Hospital, the Bowie Health Campus, the Gladys Spellman nursing center, and the Larkin Chase Nursing and Rehabilitation Center.

The short-term fate of the system will be decided by the board of directors for hospital operator Dimensions Healthcare when it meets on Monday. Many top-level officials, including Dimensions CEO G.T. Dunlop Ecker, say closure is the most likely course of action. Ecker said he would recommend that the hospital close rather than file for bankruptcy protection, its other option.

Dimensions board Chairman Calvin Brown said there might still be time to reach a resolution by Monday.

County Executive Jack B. Johnson and the council members are still holding out to see if they can keep the hospital open. Johnson said it would take $30 million to keep the hospital open for an extra year, but he offered no details.

‘‘The deadline was not on sine die last night,” Councilman David Harrington (D-Dist. 5) of Cheverly said Tuesday.

Harrington said the county could use $5 million in its own budget, and try to free up part of the $20 million for the hospital in the state budget.

‘‘All this sort of gloom and doom, that the doors are going to close tomorrow - there are dollars there,” Harrington said. ‘‘There’s still time to bring all parties together and talk about this.”

But Gov. Martin O’Malley has said the $20 million in the state budget would only be for the closure of the hospital, since there was no agreement Monday night.

“I'm always willing to continue to talk,“ O'Malley said at a press conference in the State House on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Health Secretary John M. Colmers is working on a “controlled closure“ of the hospital.

O'Malley said talks could have continued had the legislature and the Prince George's County Council agreed on a solution.

“Unfortunately, with us being out of session, that was our opportunity to do something that could have continued -- to have those talks -- once we committed ourselves to a long-term solution,“ he said. “Apparently they didn't realize the importance of coming to that solution.“

Some of those involved in the negotiations say the County Council alone derailed the deal and should be held accountable. The political frustration was palpable in the waning hours of the legislative session, and hope that a deal would be reached in time fizzled shortly before midnight Tuesday.

‘‘It goes beyond my comprehension to understand how [the council] steadfastly refused to participate,” Ecker said Tuesday, surrounded by dozens of hospital employees at the Cheverly Prince George’s Hospital Center. ‘‘I consider it to be a profound breach of public trust, and as far as I’m concerned, the County Council should be held accountable.”

Bowie Mayor G. Frederick Robinson said in an April 11 letter to Council Chairwoman Camille Exum (D-Dist. 7) of Seat Pleasant that the failure to reach an agreement is ‘‘an outrage and an insult to the citizens of the county.”

The Council members cited various reasons for opposing the plan -- a $329 million, eight-year package to fund the hospital. O’Malley’s proposal called for the county to pay $170.3 million and the state to pay $158.7 million. Johnson said he was mostly in agreement with the plan Monday.

But councilmen Harrington and Thomas Dernoga (D-Dist. 1) of Laurel said they were concerned that the deal wouldn't have guaranteed the county sufficient credit for the value of the hospital’s land, which the county owns. They had hoped to make $100 million from the sale of that land and put that sum toward the county's contribution.

Otherwise, they said they might have to look elsewhere for cash, dipping into education and public safety funding to hold up their end of the bargain.

They also said they did not want the county to be tied to these obligations beyond their terms, which end in 2010.

‘‘[The deal] was, frankly, a bad deal. It didn’t address any of the structural issues. It was just throwing a bigger pile of money at [the same problems],” Dernoga said.

Exum appeared to be out of touch with the status of the negotiations Monday. She said in a statement that she was concerned a property tax on county residents might still be part of the plan. The tax would have been used to pay off the hospital's $140 million-$150 million debt, but officials said last week it was no longer part of the proposal.

Exum also said she didn't have enough time to review the proposal with her colleagues, even though other lawmakers said the council had been invited into the process in the final days.

Exum, Harrington, Dernoga and Councilman Samuel Dean (D-Dist. 6) of Mitchellville were in the negotiations, representing the County Council.

State officials said they were told not to move the deal forward unless the County Council, county executive and governor were in agreement. They never reached consensus.

Niemann said the Council never articulated members' objections. He said the excuses that were given were fabrications, and that voters should be calling for the Council members' heads.

‘‘They came in here to kill the bill, and that’s what they did,” Niemann said.

Niemann said he did not share the council’s optimism.

‘‘The problem with the council is they think it’s a game, but the time for the game has ended. I’d be very surprised if the administration plays the council’s game,” he added.

Del. Dereck Davis (D-Dist. 25) of Mitchellville said he was disappointed.

‘‘I’m surprised. All the way up to the last minute I really thought we’d get something done,” Davis said.

E-mail Judson Berger at jberger@gazette.net.