Physician dedicated to best care

This column documents my commitment to providing health care to the people of Washington County.

On May 20, at the annual meeting, I was removed from the board of trustees at Down East Community Hospital. I was told this was because I held a personal meeting to discuss my opinion of DECH as a critical access hospital and that my meeting created an emotional situation making it impossible to follow the process to study the conversion to critical access.

I made it unquestionably clear at my meeting that I was expressing only my own opinion and not that of the board of trustees nor of the medical staff. I was informed that I did not hold to the standard of being a board member above all else, and that holding this meeting was a breach of standard.

I have explained before, and I will unequivocally state again, that I am a physician above all else. The health and well-being of those people who trust me with their lives, and of every single person needing medical care, has always been and always will remain, my highest professional commitment. I do not see this position as a conflict with holding a position on the DECH board of trustees.

I very clearly expressed my extreme reservations and the reasons for them, about the quality and accessibility of health care at DECH if this hospital were to become a critical access hospital. When justification for a change of this magnitude in our health care was reviewed, I deliberated at every opportunity. As a board member, my opinion was among the minority and clearly too public.

I do not need to be on the board of trustees of DECH to continue to work for greater access to health care right here at home. I have worked tirelessly for this for the 14 years I have lived in this community and I will do so for as long as I live. And my influence on the board of trustees should not end with my removal. The board of trustees represents the people of Washington County and they will hear my opinions and answer my questions, as is the standard of a board of trustees.

You must all ask questions, too. Understand the nature of a critical access hospital. Understand the reasons that are presented to warrant such a drastic change in health care access for each of us. With this understanding make your opinions clearly known to your board of trustees. They are holding the fate of DECH and of health care in Washington County in their hands. Those hands are your hands.

Time is running out. Six months ago the board asked physicians, the community, and the administration to work toward a profitable hospital. Six months later the board would review the financial status of DECH and reassess the change to a critical access hospital. The time is now and the administrator is demanding a decision on critical access by July 15.

The board of trustees’ responsibility is to protect the interests of this hospital and to provide services to the people of our community, as representatives speaking for this community. You must make your wishes clear to the board. The people of this community should decide the fate of this hospital, through the board of trustees. It should not be the administrator who dictates the word of the board of trustees.

In the last six months admissions to the hospital have increased; both doctors and patients committing to and giving and receiving care at DECH. Length of stay has decreased; careful and thoughtful disease management aimed at decreasing costs and increasing profits. Case Mix Index has improved; we are caring for our sickest right here at home. Surgery is at the highest level ever; physicians here working harder to improve access and profitability.

Every one of those last six months has brought more income to DECH and this was demonstrated in the financial statements prepared by DECH. Now, at the end of the sixth and most lucrative month, we are told our losses are so great in this sixth month that we must consider becoming a critical access hospital. Expenses have climbed continuously under this administration, but income continues to outpace them. Let us understand the significance of all these issues that contribute to the financial well-being of our beloved hospital.

This hospital has never lost money in all of the 14 years that I have practiced medicine here. And we really aren’t now either. Is the issue that we aren’t making enough money?

I think enough money is keeping the doors open, delivering all of the services that we can possibly provide, for all of the people that we can possible serve. I think the priority of this hospital, and of this board of trustees, and of each one of us who needs this hospital, is to provide all of the medical care that we can right here at home, for our loved ones in their hours of greatest.

David C. Rioux, D.O. is a family practice physician with Machias Medical Associates.