university h Just who is going to be decisions about our healt
Beaufort Countys discussions have been more or less limited to the UHS proposal which does not address a seat on the ECH Board， not to be confused with the 20 member UHS Board of Directors whose mission according to their website is to be responsible for the articulation of its mission and values， the protection of assets and the quality of services. This translates to lending their names to fund-raising activities， public relations and other non-direct management roles. You have to be specific to get what you want. Articles of Incorporation can be restated and amended as shown on the various ECH entities listed on the Secretary of State website. Surely other County Commissioners and established advisory councils have rued the day when they realized that they have NO VOTE where it counts; the ECH Board of Directors. ECHs Board membership can and should be expanded to include representation with voting privileges to all involved counties.
It would appear that this is another of those instances of what you see (and hear) is not necessarily what you get
It was very telling when at the January public meeting， Mr. McRae， UHS/CEO did not volunteer any remarks about ECH until the subject came up about ECH board members and representation for Beaufort County on that board. Mr. McRae leaned forward and made it quite clear that he was the Chairman of the ECH Board. Was that admittance supposed to be his assurance to us that he is in control?
da cheerleader man
Mr. McRae here is your opportunity to put your own words into action. I couldnt have said it any better. Take your own advice and run with it， but along the way be sure to include these same expansions to the make-up of the ECH Board.
Betty Murphy is a volunteer researcher and writer for the Beaufort Observer. While living in Washington， DC Ms. Murphy relied on her research skills when called upon to testify before several Congressional Oversight Committees on Family and Childrens issues and legislation. She also served as a special consultant to various news media and documentary specials focusing on child support enforcement and domestic abuse.Since moving to Little Washington Betty has continued her volunteer work serving 2 terms on the Beaufort County DSS Board as well as several other committees.
Even though the ECH Board holds all the power over the hospitals and physicians in the ECH organization， ECH does not even have a separate website. Very little information is available to the public and that appears to be the way UHS wants it. If they can keep all the focus and attention on the highly visible ce of UHS， no one is going to comprehend what is really going on. Do the UHS supporters even know， let alone understand the difference between UHS and ECH? Highly doubtful!
My point is that ones position as registered agent is irrelevant to his role within a given organization. Scanning corporate filings on the N.C. Secretary of States website， I see that Hood Richardson is the registered agent for Eagle Publishing， the corporate parent of the Beaufort Observer. Would it be ir to infer that there is little limit to his power over the Observers operations?
There is nothing so enlightening as a presentation of unarguable cts. On the other hand， the mobs presentations， touted an opposite view， and their comments seemed contrived and unsubstantiated like comments made up just to get their way and without reliable sources.
Your research makes Tennessee， the home of CHS， seem closer to Beaufort County because they were more inclusive of Beaufort Countys representation on their board.
The relevance of the Reg. Agt. role shows a reluctance to delegate even the small jobs and also is a sign of insecurity. Also， the ct that McRae uses his own name makes it easier for you to locate the many UHS profit and non-profit corporations. This will give you the information needed to locate the non-profits EIN which then allows you to search the IRS 990s.
The RFP provides for a local advisory group but makes it very clear that this group has little or no actual decision- responsibilities beyond approving practice privileges for doctors and leaves vague the issue of what information this group would have access to. Regardless of its role and function， the advisory group would be controlled by ECH.
Eli Anderson Warren， board member， Retired Banker，university hHealthcare Technology Greenville
to Winch:
Ernest L Evans， board member Agri-Businessman， Ahoskie
BP
The Pyraamid of Power is topped off with the 2010 Amendment to Articles of Incorporation proclaiming total and sole control over every aspect of UHS.
The Truth Squad
A quick reference search of the NC Secretary of State Corporation website leaves no doubt that there is little limit to the power of the UHS CEO. Click here to review the corporate filings with the Secretary of States office.
We would suggest that an even more important aspect is the governance issue. That issue involves who and how the decisions will be made over the next thirty years， from the day-to-day operation to the strategic issues such as eliminating services， adding services and in general allocation of resources. So we asked our Chief Researcher， Betty Murphy， to take a look at this and this article is what she reported.
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Roger Robertson， officer， ECH President
It would appear that UHS has made a conscious effort to link its image with that of East Carolina University in spite of the ct the UHS and its affiliates are not actually a part of either the Brody School of Medicine or certainly not a part of East Carolina University in terms of ECU providing any oversight and direction to UHS.
The Chief Executive Officer of University Health Systems of Eastern Carolina， Inc. (McRae) shall appoint the President of the corporation (ECH)， shall have control and authority over its other officers， agents， and employees， and shall have general charge of the business afirs and property of the corporation. The Chief Financial Officer of University Health Systems of Eastern Carolina (Jack Holsten) shall serve as Secretary and Treasurer. The standing committees of the Board of Directors of University Health Systems of Eastern Carolina， Inc.， as delineated in its bylaws， are deemed to be the committees of the corporation and as such shall serve to fulfill the designated committee function of the corporation.
Thus， a review of the governance structure of UHS reveals that what you see is not necessarily what you get. UHS has a polished image but it would appear that the real control of Beauforts health care delivery system will rest more with ECH than with UHS and hardly， if any at all， with the Brody School of Medicine or East Carolina University. And it is equally clear that ECH is operated and controlled by a very small group and mainly by one person.Dave McRae， and at best by six other mainly Greenville-oriented people. And while Mr. McRae may indeed be wonderful， he will most likely not serve the duration of this lease. What we know is that Beaufort will have little to say about who replaces him， or little to say about virtually anything else about how our health system is operated.
Editors note: We find it interesting that three requests were made to Kathy Barger of UHS to furnish us the names and biographical backgrounds of the ECH (and UHS) board members， both current and historical， and after two months we have still not received them.)
This piece poses some interesting questions about UHS and ECH. Ms. Murphy states that there is little limit to the power of UHS CEO Dave McRae. She follows that by citing McRaes status as the luniversity h Just who is going to be decisions about our healtisted registered agent for UHS and its subsidiaries. But being a registered agent for an organization isnt the same as running that organization， or even being particularly influential within it. There are many attorneys across North Carolina who serve as registered agents for dozens of corporations without having roles in the management of those organizations.
On the other hand， this idea of county representation is not foreign to Mr. McRae， but he limits the idea to the UHS Board. He acknowledges and recommends the inclusion of appointees from the various counties to the UHS Board in a letter dated January 24， 2006 to Atty. Philip R. Dixon of Greenville， who serves on the UNC Board of Governors.
In addition to his relatively insignificant role of Reg Agt， McRae is CEO and top banana of virtually every board with the UHS web of subsidiaries. I doubt the man ever took the management class that teaches how to delegate authority and groom successors for the day you are promoted， retire， or otherwise leave your position. This much power centralized in one person is not only scary， its bad business.
With more than 20 corporate filings， UHS/CEO Dave McRae is the sole Registered Agent. Corporate filings for EAST CAROLINA HEALTH show that ECH was originally created in 1996 and was part of PCMH. In 2001 ECH restated their Articles of Incorporation to reflect their connection to UHS Board of Directors. In 2010 ECH Inc. and the ECH hospitals amended Articles of Incorporation (Article XI) transferring control， power and auniversity health systems of eastern carolinauthority of each ECH entity to the UHS CEO. Thats a whole lot of power for the 9 million dollar man to have. Below is the most recent amendment.
Dave C McRae， UHS CEO and Chair of ECH Board
This document provides significant insight into how the UHS boards are composed. It is obviously a self-perpetuating board， as the letter from Dave McRae to the UNC Board of Governors indicates. Moreover， even a cursory review of its membership at that time， notwithstanding Mr. McRaes protestations， shows that it was not representative of the geographical areas served， and lacked gender and racial diversity anywhere near the population of the areas it serves.
The seven-member ECH Board includes current/past UHS board members， a Pitt County Commissioner， and the CEO of UHS (Dave McRae) who serves as ECH Chairman. These same seven people are the Board for every hospital under ECH. The names of ECH Board Members can be found on Page 7 of the most recent IRS Form 990 for fiscal year ending 09/30/2009.
Mark W Owens， board member， Attorney， Pitt county Commissioner， Greenville
UHS is reported to have， in 2006， hired the public relations firm of Jennings & Co. to craft its image as inseparable from East Carolina University. And from some of the comments in the public hearings in Beaufort County， it appears to have been successful.
Bakerman
Click here to review that tax return.
UHS/ECH may， as some of the UHS cheerleaders have said， be close to Washington， it is equally clear that organizationally Beaufort will be very removed from the table at which our future health care will be decided…unless something is done to correct the situation.
.We very much like to have appointees from the various counties where we have hospitals represented through ownership or lease by the University Health Systems. These counties include Edgecombe， Bertie， Hertford， Chowan， and Dare County， in addition to Pitt County. Most important is the need to increase representation of women and African Americans. We have only two women and three African Americans represented on the UHS Board at this time. We should have better representation of these individuals on this board that has a responsibility to represent all the people of eastern Carolina.
East Carolina Health (ECH) plays a much more important role in the scheme of things than we have been led to believe. Weve all heard the chants of UHS， UHS， UHS at recent meetings， but there has been very little discussion about the role played by ECH. Organizational charts included in UHSs response to the Request for Proposals (RFP) show all corporate entities ultimately reporting to UHS while the management structure chart clearly shows the UHSPhysicians and the local hospitals， of which Beaufort would be only one， reporting to the ECH President.
Home Team! rah， Rah， RAH! UHS! UHS! UHS! ECU! ECU! ECU! Pirates! Arrrrrrrrrghhh!!! ECH! ECH! ECH??? RAH， Rah， rah…Huh?? Say What???
J Larkin Little， board member， Retired Greenville Banker， Bath
Editors note: Much of the discussion related to the bid by University Health Services (UHS) to take over the Hospital has focused on the financial aspect. Some have talked about quality but as we have documented， most of the research shows little difference in quality as measured by patient satisction. Thus， the question becomes: Is the financial aspect all that the Board of Commissioners should focus upon in deciding on the lease?
Thus， while most of the attention in Beaufort County during the public hearings and other meetings has been focused on UHS， there has been very little attention given to the role that ECH will play in the operational and strategic decision- in for the health system in Beaufort County. It could be deduced that this image of UHS as the focus， rather than ECH， is intended. For example， in a panel discussion sponsored by BusinessNC.com McRae made it clear that his strategy is to use UHSs image and the brand he wants the public to see， while it is actually ECH that apparently really makes the important decisions. And that leaves ECH to operate both autonomously and anonymously， saying: McRae: University Health Systems is recognized in some national publications as a top health system， in the Top 100 in the country， but it is not known in its own state. People in Charlotte and Winston-Salem and other places dont even know what UHS is. But they know East Carolina. I want to piggyback on everything ECU does because its recognition brings recognition to the health-care system.
The Winch
Frances Duke Moye， board member， Community Volunteer， Congressional staffer for Walter Jones， Farmville