State Senate panel hears bill to allow UMC board secrecy

The Clark County Commission and UMC’s governing board would be able to close off more hospital meetings and records from public scrutiny under a bill heard for the first time in the Nevada Legislature.

The bill, heard by the Senate Committee on Health and Human Services Wednesday, would close off records tied to strategic planning efforts at public hospitals, including the Clark County-subsidized University Medical Center, unless approved in an open meeting. Under the proposal, public hospital boards could go into closed-door meetings to talk about strategic plans in an effort to keep competitors in the dark.

Supporters say the measure is needed, especially those in a competitive market such as Las Vegas, so private-sector hospitals cannot hear potential plans about building purchases or new programs.

County officials are pursuing the bill, saying it’s needed as UMC faces increasing competition and patients have more options through the federal Affordable Care Act.

But the opposing argument is that public hospitals also get public tax dollars and should act with transparency.

The open meeting law exemption would apply to both the County Commission when it acts as the UMC Board of Trustees, and the UMC governing board, whose nine members are appointed by the commission.

Boards would still have to make their final decisions and vote in open, public meetings. Any contracts and plans voted on in open session would be public.

After a hospital board’s action, the records of deliberations from the closed-door meetings would become public five years later. But the board could open the records earlier under the bill.

UMC’s CEO Mason VanHouweling stressed that the board vote would always be public.

“We operate in a very competitive environment,” he said.

VanHouweling noted there have been cases when competition has acquired property after hearing of UMC’s interest in it. As for the records of closed meetings, the goal would always be to release them sooner than five years whenever possible, he said.

Barry Smith, director of the Nevada Press Association, said the bill’s language is overly broad and vague.

“They are using public money,” Smith told the committee. “That’s their advantage and that’s their responsibility to be open and transparent and let taxpayers know what they’re planning (and) what the discussions are and not do all that behind closed doors.”

The committee didn’t take a vote on the bill.

Its chairman, state Sen. Joe Hardy, R-Boulder City, said allowing the county-subsidized hospital to be more competitive “would probably be a benefit for the taxpayers.”

Contact Ben Botkin at bbotkin@reviewjournal.com or 702-405-9781. Find him on Twitter: @BenBotkin1.