Medical Ethics Committee Viability Study

Community Health Center: Ethics Committee Viability Study. HA-15-10-10 www.title24uscode.org/CHC.htm

On October 15, 2010 it was Proposed to Advertise: Community Health Center (CHC) social workers and Hospitals & Asylums have partnered to conduct an Ethics Committee Viability Study pursuant to E: 9.11 of the AMA Code of Medical Ethics that states,

“Ethics committees in all health care institutions should be educational and advisory in nature. Generally, the function of the ethics committee should be to consider and assist in resolving unusual, complicated ethical problems involving issues that affect the care and treatment of patients within the health care institution. Recommendations of the ethics committee should impose no obligation for acceptance on the part of the institution, its governing board, medical staff, attending physician, or other persons. A wide variety of background training is preferable, including such fields as philosophy, religion, medicine, and law. Ethics consultation services, like social services, should be financed by the institution. Patients, employees and family are humbly invited to submit their ethics and human rights cases to ethics@communityhealthcenter.org (not operational)”.

The provisional audit of CHC is that it was initially founded in 1972 as the result of an extensive, grassroots, community-based effort, and exists today as a non-profit corporation, which enjoys IRS tax-exempt status. The singular charitable mission of Community Health Center has remained relatively unchanged for over a quarter-century and that is to promote the health of low-income, working uninsured, and other vulnerable adults and children in Jackson County, Oregon.

The services of CHC are made available pursuant to a generous sliding-fee-schedule, which is adjusted for household income and number of dependents. Patients are permitted to make small monthly payments commensurate with their financial abilities. The agency emphasizes a patient participation model, and offers a hand up but not a hand out. No one is turned away because of their inability to pay.

In the 2009 Annual Report Board President Tilly Gibbs wrote that the 2009 Operating Budget was $5 million of which $4,065,019 was wages for 76 employees, an average salary of $53,487 a year. 9,135 unduplicated patients paid 35,452 visits. 95% of these patients were at 200% below the federal poverty line and 51% were uninsured, $1,836,675 was discounted. Patients are 51 percent uninsured, 32% Medicaid, 12% Private Insurance and 5% Medicare.

Financial support comes 58.3% from patient fees ($2.915 million), 23.2% from federal grants ($1.16 million), 11.9% other grants ($595,000), 3.1% fundraising ($155,000), 1% Jackson County ($50,000), City of Medford 0.8% ($40,000), City of Ashland 0.7% ($35,000), United Way 0.6% ($30,000), other 0.2% ($10,000).

15 days was not enough for a response. My mother and sister work there. They suggested volunteering. CHC made a liar of me. I can always change my schedule though. CHC is an ideal non-profit primary care health care organization to set up a social welfare program for author/patients below the poverty line and medical bill forgiveness for those under 200% of poverty. Poor petitioners would be paid $10 a page they write and everyone would be read for free.

The ethics committee could be paid from a percentage of chonically unused malpractice assets for risk reduction. The ultimate socio-economic goal of this health care corporation is for the government to pay their entire $5 million budget because CHC has gone above and beyond the call of non-profit status to actually redistribute wealth to their poor patients who do their homework and submit their essays to the Ethics Committee.

I hope other artists will also petition local health care institutions to conduct similar Ethics Committee Viability Studies in pursuit of a health care institution that not only doesn't b(k)ill people but actually redistributes their subsidies to those poor patients who need money to recover and achieve the highest possible level of health.

I pray CHC and all health institutions will staff Medical Ethics Committees and employ some artists with their revenues. It is not too late for CHC to respond. I hope people everywhere will give Medical Ethics Committees a try, in their community, and report their experiences in this blog. It sounds like a good job to me sanderstony@live.com