Although robust public input into health system decisions is laudable, it must be tempered by the realization that the future now belongs to the nimble.

Health care is one of the most regulated activities in America. There already is a plethora of external regulatory oversight as well as the assurance of mandated internal governance.

Hobbling hospital administrators with a thicket of intervening supernumerary committees, hearings, town hall meetings, and boards will guarantee the delay, dilution and probable failure of their crucial, time-dependent decisions.

That could only hurt the public. No company – especially one in the dynamically evolving healthcare field – could effectively function under that level of bureaucratic overhead.

With a third of the nation’s hospitals losing money, their longevity, traditional governance structure and not-for-profit status seem to provide no antidote to the possibility of eventual transfer of ownership to a more efficient provider outside the region.

If that happened in this community, instead of decreased local public input, we would be left with none.

William K. Sullivan, M.D.

Former chief clinical officer, EMMC

Former deputy chief medical officer

Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services

Veazie