Wednesday, April 28, 2004
By Rebecca Vesely, STAFF WRITER
Just two days after trustees at the Alameda County Medical Center fired their ninth CEO in 10 years, a bill is being heard in the state Assembly today that would limit severance packages to the hospital system's administrators.
The bill, AB 2630, was introduced by Assemblywoman Loni Hancock, D-Berkeley, in response to a $490,000 severance package former CEO Kenneth Cohen received in September. Cohen -- on the job for about two years -- was terminated during a dispute with the county Board of Supervisors over the troubled hospital system's direction and financial management.
"There was widespread public concern over the size of the settlement and the size of the (medical center's) deficit," Hancock said. "It's all county money and all taxpayer money."
County voters approved a half-cent sales tax in March to underwrite the hospital system, which includes Highland and Fairmont hospitals and clinics in Oakland, Newark and Hayward. The medical center has a deficit of $71 million.
Hancock's bill applies only to Alameda County's medical center and extends limitations among county employees of 18 months maximum severance pay to the hospital system. The bill is scheduled to get its first hearing today in the Assembly's Local Government Committee.
The medical center is governed by a hospital authority appointed by the county Board of Supervisors. This means that unlike most county hospitals nationwide, it is one step removed from county governance -- putting it in somewhat of a gray area on such matters as severance.
Medical center spokesman Mike Brown said he had no comment on the bill.
If the bill were in effect last year, the medical center could have saved $112,000 in Cohen's severance, Hancock said.
"That would have made up for some of those people who lost their jobs (Monday) night," she said.
On Monday night, the governing Board of Trustees approved a plan to cut 340 full-time positions. This included about 57 registered nursing positions, 10 accounting jobs and 28 housekeepers. Hospital officials will negotiate with unions representing workers in the next 60 to 90 days over layoff details.
The current interim CEO, Efton Hall Jr., was let go Monday night as well; his contract will expire May 10. Hall earned an annual salary of $220,000. The medical center's trustees have not taken any action on his severance contract, Brown said.
Cambio Health Solutions, a turnaround consulting firm hired in February on an 18-month, $3.2 million contract at the medical center, will be handling administrative duties and a search for a new CEO, Brown said.
Hancock said a severance limit shouldn't hamper the CEO search.
"They've recruited good talent in the county," she said. "It sends the wrong message to give one county administrator a higher severance than another."
Contact Rebecca Vesely at rvesely@angnewspapers-