"Almost everyone involved in the matter has a hand in bringing Hadassah Medical Center to its present condition," is the conclusion of the Gabbay Committee, chaired by former Bezeq CEO Avi Gabbay, on the reasons for the hospital's NIS 1.3 billion deficit and risk of liquidation. Gabbay does not recommend nationalizing the hospital, as proposed by Ministry of Health director general Prof. Ronny Gamzo, recommending instead keeping it without a controlling core.
In effect, the Gabbay Committee recommends leaving the hospital's current owner, Hadassah Women's Zionist Organization of America, with just one director on the hospital's board, and to increase the number of public directors, including representatives of the workers. It is unclear how the Hadassah Organization can agree to this, as the committee recommends that it continue raising substantial donations for the hospital. It also recommends establishing Friends of Hadassah groups to also seek donations, as proposed by former Hadassah Hospital CEO Prof. Shlomo Mor, which was strongly opposed by the Hadassah Organization.
The Gabbay Committee blames the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Finance, the Hadassah Organization, Hadassah Hospital's board of directors, its unions, its previous management, and, to some extent, its current management under CEO Avigdor Kaplan. In short: everybody.
The Gabbay Committee says that the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Finance "create strict regulation on the hospitalization system, without creating the same mechanisms for aide and financial supervision and control for all general hospitals in Israel, especially private hospitals, like Hadassah, which must provide public services." Here, the committee agrees with the hospital.
As for the Hadassah Organization, the Gabbay Committee says, "Besides raising donations on a huge scale, the Hadassah Organization failed to properly manage the hospital during the crisis." It recommends appointing a completely independent board of directors, where no party will have a veto.
The Gabbay Committee recommends changing Hadassah Hospital's private healthcare model to divide income equally with the doctors, instead of the current arrangement in which doctors take 85% of the proceeds. It slams the current practice, saying, "Private healthcare is a major reason for Hadassah's administrative problems, including the structural distortion that harms administration motivation. This is a mechanism that some hospital doctors and senior administrators manipulate for the personal interests, creating operational, service, and financial distortions."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on April 8, 2014
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