The Regional Medical Center’s “legacy board” will end its work on Oct. 1, but some of the old hospital’s bills still need to be paid.
Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter, D-Orangeburg, met with the RMC board on Thursday evening.
“I ask you to do whatever you need to do between now and Oct. 1 to get people paid because it is not acceptable to have vendors out there not being paid,” Cobb-Hunter said.
“I was hoping the finance department would be here because, for the life of me, I can’t understand why we still have outstanding debt for vendors who have not been paid when we’ve had six months to do it and we’ve had the resources to do it,” she said later in the meeting.
The legacy board was formed on March 1 to wrap up the work of the former Regional Medical Center of Orangeburg and Calhoun Counties. The counties have leased the hospital to the Medical University of South Carolina and it is now called MUSC Health-Orangeburg.
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The delegation has given the counties the go-ahead to dissolve the board, which is expected to occur on Oct. 1.
“There is no RMC,” Cobb-Hunter said.
Board members say they haven’t been able to get the information they need from the finance department to pay the bills.
Board member Jeannine Kees said the board has requested specific financial information, but it’s not gotten what it requested.
Cobb-Hunter tasked the board with reaching out to the hospital’s chief financial officer to get a list of expenditures and a list of who is still owed money.
Board member William Johnson said, “Contracts and things that I thought we’d be looking at, somehow they’re gone or we’re not dealing with them. I just don’t see what we’re doing, why we’re here or continue to exist. At some point I thought we’d go away, I guess I didn’t think it would be this soon.”
Orangeburg and Calhoun county councils will need to agree to dissolve the current RMC board. Cobb-Hunter said she’s had conversations with attorneys who represent each of the county councils.
Cobb-Hunter said the Constituency Advisory Board, which represents area health organizations, will take on some of the responsibilities of the board.
The advisory board was set up as part of the partnership between RMC and MUSC to serve as a community liaison. The CAB consists of number of area organizations and government leaders.
Cobb-Hunter said CAB’s responsibilities will be “tweaked.”
“I don’t want you to think you’re being thrown under the bus, out the door, none of that, because I’m just so grateful,” she said. “Y’all just don’t know how much I appreciate y’all bearing with us during this process.”
Cobb-Hunter told the board that an upcoming financial audit will most likely show deficiencies and needed corrective actions.
“If there aren’t deficiencies, then somebody needs to explain why we were at the brink before the (MUSC) partnership took over,” Cobb-Hunter said.
“While I’m socially liberal, I am extremely fiscally conservative and very much concerned with taxpayer dollars and how they’re being spent,” she said.
She noted that the elimination of the current board and not having a board attorney hired on retainer will save money that should be used to offset the hospital’s debt.
Cobb-Hunter said she’s is optimistic about the future of MUSC’s provision of core and expanded services not only in Bamberg, Calhoun and Orangeburg counties, but its possible expansion into underserved areas like Allendale and Barnwell counties.
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