‘Your tax dollars at work’; Protecting public access to governmental process
Tax season is here, and residents are busy preparing to file their 2020 taxes.
“Your tax dollars at work” is a commonly heard explanation referring to how governmental entities choose to utilize revenue. Taxes collected by municipalities, states, and the federal government fund an array of services.
The use of taxpayers’ money is a contentious topic. Elected officials are held accountable for their financial decisions. Some money is available from non-profit organizations in the form of grant funding but almost the entire annual budget of any governmental entity relies on tax-based revenue.
Sometimes it seems there is no end to what can be taxed: real estate, personal property, sales and services, numerous routine purchases including online transactions, trash collection, utilities including electricity, internet, natural gas for heating and cooling equipment, telephone, and so on. These are some of the taxes that pay for education, public safety, maintaining branches of the military, hospital and healthcare services, law enforcement, public lands, transportation systems, et cetera.
I am not favoring or opposing any specific expenditure. My concern is based on public access to how these decisions are made.
Underlying the importance of open meetings is the belief that the democratic ideal is best served by a well-informed public. Not all decisions are made by elected officials. Some of that authority is delegated to appointed boards/committees. Appointments to municipal planning and zoning commissions and hospital boards are examples of entities whose decisions have wide ranging effects on community residents.
Hospitals rely on a variety of revenue streams including patients who pay out of pocket for services, insurance payments which may require a co-pay by the insured, and federal reimbursement provided through the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
(The CMS provides health coverage to more than 100 million people through Medicare, Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program, and the Health Insurance Marketplace. The CMS seeks to strengthen and modernize the Nation’s health care system, to provide access to high quality care and improved health at lower costs, according to https://www.usa.gov/federal-agencies/)
New Mexico counties also contribute to the Indigent Fund and the Safety Net Care Pool; these reimburse hospitals for services provided to patients who meet specific criteria.
Public access to information is protected by NMSA 1978, Chapter 10, Article 15 of the New Mexico Open Meetings Act. This law addresses four areas: the basic policy of the state regarding meetings of non-legislative public bodies and how the statute is applied in conducting public business, the open meetings policy as it applies to committees and meetings of the state legislature, the effect of violating OMA on the validity of actions by the public body, and penalties for violating the Act.
The OMA applies to meetings of counties, cities, school districts, most water districts, and other entities, but there are some exemptions. Generally, the OMA applies to meetings held for the purpose of (a) formulating public policy, including the development of personnel policy, rules, regulations, or ordinances, (b) discussing public business, or (c) for the purpose of taking any action within the authority of or the delegated authority of any board, commission, or other policymaking body, according to https://law.justia.com/codes/new-mexico/2006.
The OMA includes ten specific exemptions. The topics include: Assumption of Openness; License Hearings; Limited Personnel Matters; Administrative Adjudicatory Deliberations; Personal Information About A Student; Collective Bargaining Strategy; Certain Purchases; Pending or Threatened Litigation; Real Property and Water Rights; Strategic Planning for Public Hospitals; and Meetings of the Gaming Control Board.
Public Hospital Board Meetings exemption
The law states:
“Those portions of meetings of committees or boards of public hospitals where strategic and long-range business plans or trade secrets are discussed,” page 34, Open Meetings Act Compliance G u i d e , https://www.nmag.gov/uploads/files/
The New Mexico Foundation for Open Government agreed about exemptions for hospital board meetings and the Open Meetings Act.
“They [public hospitals] are only allowed to meet in private to discuss strategic and long-range business plans or trade secrets,” according to Melanie Majors, NMFOG executive director, https://nmfog.org/lessons/exemptions-to-oma/
Cibola General Hospital board The Cibola General Hospital Foundation board oversees operations including recruitment of medical services’ providers, revenue, and expenditures. The county and CGH Foundation share responsibility for making appointments to fill the nine board seats and one county commissioner serves on the hospital board.
The New Mexico Department of Finance and Administration has ruled that CGH is a component of Cibola County government. The Cibola County Commission and the CGH Foundation negotiated two agreements last year: a lease of the property and a separate operating agreement. The NMDFA approved the lease agreement.
The NMDFA has “no say over the operating agreement,” emphasized County Manager Kate Fletcher, who clarified that CGH is a private hospital and not a government-run facility.
“They [CGHF] run the hospital and we lease [them] the property,” explained the county manager.
Cibola General Hospital recently changed its board meeting policy. The administration will publish the approved minutes of the previous monthly meeting on the CGH website. Administration will no longer provide public access to monthly reports by the Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer, or the Co-Chief Nursing Officers, which have always been part of the media packet provided for each regular board meeting.
“We will no longer be preparing a media packet. We are also going to start posting our approved meeting minutes to the website,” said Cynthia Tena, marketing director, via a Jan. 29 email.
Editor’s note: The Cibola Citizen was unable to reach hospital CEO Thomas Whelan for comment prior to the Feb. 3 publishing deadline.
The question:
Should CGH provide public access to CEO, CFO and CNO reports?
Visit cibolahospital.com for more information.