3 county commissioners check out Atrium's board meeting
Elected officials step up pressure on Atrium Health over medical debt and public meetings, following a series of articles in The Ledger
The following article appeared in the Feb. 7, 2024, edition of The Charlotte Ledger, an e-newsletter with smart and original local news for Charlotte. We offer free and paid subscription plans. More info here.
Update: Three county commissioners sit in on Atrium board meeting; ‘the public meeting didn’t seem very public’
By Michelle Crouch
Co-published with NC Health News
Three Mecklenburg County commissioners attended the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Hospital Authority board meeting on Tuesday after reading a Ledger/NC Health News article this week — and all said afterward that it bothers them that the public board doesn’t give the public a chance to speak.
Commissioners Susan Rodriguez-McDowell, Elaine Powell and Laura Meier also said they would like to have more input in approving appointees to the board, which governs Atrium Health, the $9.3 billion system that’s also a government entity.
The Ledger/NC Health News article highlighted the benefits the hospital system enjoys as a local unit of government, including the power of eminent domain and antitrust immunity. The hospital authority is a public body bound by the state’s open meeting and public records laws, but critics say it operates more like a private corporation.
At the two-hour meeting, the board never discussed working with RIP Medical Debt, a charity that buys debt from hospitals and forgives it. A local physician has been trying to talk to board members about working with the charity, as The Ledger/NC Health News reported in December.
The county commissioners were seated at the back of the room with a Ledger/NC Health News reporter and two members of the public. No agenda was offered to the guests, but Powell said it was emailed to her after the meeting.
As usual, Tuesday’s meeting was polite and scripted. PowerPoint presentations covered topics including a minimum wage increase for Atrium workers, the hospital system’s virtual medicine program and its ambitious expansion plans, all of which had been previously announced.
After the meeting, commissioner Powell said, “The public meeting didn’t seem very public. It was really like watching a show.”
N.C. law does not require hospital authorities to set aside a portion of their meetings for public comment.
The law also says the chair of the board of commissioners, George Dunlap, must appoint authority board members from a hospital-nominated slate of candidates. The chair may require the hospital “to submit as many additional lists of nominees as he or she may desire,” the statute says.
Rodriguez-McDowell said she has “conflicting feelings” about Atrium after reading The Ledger/NC Health News article and sitting in on the meeting.
“They talk about how much they are spending in the community and all the free care they are giving,” she said. “I have trouble reconciling that with the experiences of my constituents, and with their huge salaries and the millions that (Atrium) makes.”
Meier said she was disappointed the board did not discuss whether to work with RIP Medical Debt.
Atrium previously emailed a statement that said the hospital would not sell its debt to RIP, because it already has a generous financial assistance program. Atrium also said that the community would be better served by directing one-time funds toward other programs. Last week, Meier and Charlotte City Council member Dimple Ajmera called for the full hospital board to discuss working with the charity.
In a presentation at the meeting, Kinneil Coltman, chief community and social impact officer, told the board that Atrium made “significant enhancements” to its financial assistance program in 2023. She described it as “absolutely the most generous financial assistance program in North Carolina.”
At the end of the meeting, The Ledger/NC Health News asked Board Chair Angelique Vincent if she had any response to the Ledger/NC Health News article.
“I think we covered a lot of that in the meeting,” she said. When asked about whether she had considered putting RIP Medical Debt on the agenda, she told the reporter to call Atrium’s media relations department.
Michelle Crouch covers health care. Reach her at mcrouch@northcarolinahealthnews.org.
This article is part of a partnership between The Ledger and North Carolina Health News to produce original health care reporting focused on the Charlotte area. We make these articles available free to all. For more information, or to support this effort with a tax-free gift, click here.
Related Ledger/NC Health News articles:
“Charlotte hospitals say ‘no thanks’ to charity’s efforts to erase medical debt” (Dec. 11, 2023)
“Charlotte leaders urge Atrium to consider new approach on medical debt” (Jan. 29)
“Atrium Health is a unit of ‘local government’ like no other” (Feb. 5)
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