BCH Has New Members and some leave

The Board of Bath County Community Hospital has been through some challenging times over the past year, and appears to have recognized how seriously the public would like to see some changes from within. After meeting on Friday, April 24th,, the board released a statement through their spokesperson, Mark Hubbard of McGuire-Woods LLC.
“We looked at a very large number of candidates to come in as new board members. We listened to the community that told us they wanted to see some new board members in addition to some new leadership on the board. And the board has been extremely responsive in that we have brought on six new board members, and we have changed out leadership.”
The six newly elected members are:
Ralph, (Ron) Clark, M.D. chief medical officer, VCU Health System
Mel Herwald, retired electrical engineer, Westinghouse Electrical,
G. Scott Hetzer, senior vice president and treasurer, Dominion
Timothy K. Pistell, retired chief financial officer, Parker Hannifin Corporation
G. Dastgir Qureshi, M.D. oncologist and hematologist, Virginia Cancer Center
Laurens Sartoris, president, Virginia Hospital Shared Services Corporation, Virginia Hospital Research and Education Foundation

The board also unanimously elected interim board leadership including Peter Faraone as chair, and Wiley “Buddy” Kling Jr. as secretary. They will postpone election of permanent officers until, as Faraone stated, they have had “ample time to get acclimated and become familiar with one another.” The following members will continue their terms: William A. Bratton, Michael Bost, MD, Sarah McWilliams, George Phillips, James Redington, MD and Ruth Rodgers.
Mark Hubbard, spokesperson for the board, also explained why the change is not a sudden and sweeping one.
“Among the Bath Community Hospital Board there are some members who are starting brand new four year terms, there are some who are in the middle of their four year terms and there are some who will end their four year term next year. So there is a variety of term periods going on among the members of the board, and that’s done with purpose, so that we can constantly have a very strong knowledge base among our volunteer board members.”
The three outgoing hospital board members are: David Troast, Amery Mellen III; and Tracy Phillips. When asked if recent changes in administering and paying for health care contributes to the challenges of operating even a small hospital, Mark Hubbard replied,
“Remember that Bath Community Hospital is a certified critical access hospital, by the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services. We are very dedicated to maintaining that status, and if our certification were to come into any kind of jeopardy, it would be detrimental to the operation of the hospital, so we need to make sure that each and every day we are adhering to all federal and state standards and maintaining those certifications so that we can continue to operate in a fiscally prudent way.”
In addition to thanking other outgoing board members for their years of service, Davis Troast observed, “The future is very bright for Bath Community Hospital.”