The union that represents workers at West Virginia's state-run hospitals called Friday for a public hearing on a bill introduced in the Legislature earlier this week that would privatize three state-run nursing homes.
House Bill 4352, introduced Tuesday, would allow the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources to sell Lakin Hospital, in Mason County, Jackie Withrow Hospital, in Beckley, and Hopemont Hospital, in Preston County. If passed, it directs the DHHR to develop a plan to unload the three hospitals by Nov. 30 - and to sell each and divest itself of the contracts associated with them by July 1, 2017.
"If the proposed legislation is passed by the Legislature and signed by the governor, the DHHR will comply with a full assessment or study of these facilities," Victoria Jones, commissioner for the Bureau for Behavioral Health and Health Facilities, said in a statement. "We appreciate the hard work and dedication of our employees as they provide quality healthcare to our patients."
Jones' statement did not include an explanation of what might have prompted the bill, which comes two years after an unsuccessful attempt by the DHHR to privatize two psychiatric hospitals. A plan to privatize William R. Sharpe Hospital, in Weston, and Mildred Mitchell Bateman Hospital, in Huntington, was rejected by Kanawha Circuit Court Judge Duke Bloom, whose decision was upheld by the West Virginia Supreme Court.
"If privatization wouldn't benefit patients at two of the hospitals, it's hard to see why it would be OK for three others," said Jamie Beaton, a hospital worker and union steward for UE Local 170, the West Virginia Public Workers Union, which opposes the bill.
Gordon Simmons, a representative for UE Local 170, said that, while the motivation to privatize the three hospitals is unclear, it would mean a blow to the state workers employed by them.
"With Jackie Withrow, they looked at repairs to the building itself, and the conclusion was that it would probably be cheaper to build a new nursing home there on the site, rather than repair the existing structure. This may be a way to dump liability - I don't know. There's no clear rationale expressed in the writing of the bill itself," Simmons said. "Obviously, these folks would no longer be state employees, which means they lose their retirement, I would guess, and benefits, with respect to leave and so forth."
Simmons added that the privatization of the hospitals likely would come by selling them to large, out-of-state companies. UE 170 President Donna Morgan said that, if the bill were to pass and the hospitals were sold, it could mean similar legislation in the future targeting other facilities and jeopardizing other state government jobs.
"We have a moral duty to citizens in need of long-term care," Morgan said. "This legislation is not in the public interest of West Virginians."
The bill notes that the DHHR's plan must include "strategies to minimize the effects on state and contract employees," as well as "strategies to minimize the effects on long-term care facility residents." The bill also would create a fund within the state treasury called the "Health Care Facilities Liquidation Fund."
The bill is before the House Health and Human Resources Committee.
Reach Lydia Nuzum at lydia.nuzum@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-5189 or follow @lydianuzum on Twitter.