Plan to Break Up Hospitals Alarms Council Members

The Prince George's County Council yesterday criticized a plan that would allow a panel responsible for the sale of the county's troubled hospital system to sell pieces of it to various buyers.

After a briefing by members of the Prince George's County Hospital Authority about proposed state legislation, council member Samuel H. Dean (D-Mitchellville) argued that the plan violates an agreement the county made when it pledged, along with the state, to pay $174 million over five years to the winning bidder.

Council Chairwoman Marilynn M. Bland (D-Clinton) worried that the system's more competitive hospitals in Bowie and Laurel would be sold and the less-stable Prince George's Hospital Center in Cheverly, the state's second-busiest trauma hospital, would be left without a buyer.

"When we entered into our agreement, we wanted to sell the whole system," Dean said. If the system is sold piecemeal, there will be no assurances that the entire system will be sold, he said.

Council member Camille Exum (D-Seat Pleasant) asked why the council was not consulted on the proposal.

But authority Chairman Kenneth E. Glover said in a telephone interview yesterday that the authority is required to sell the whole system. The agency is asking the General Assembly to consider legislation that will allow it to sell the system piecemeal because the recession had made the sale more difficult.

"We have to deal with today's marketplace," Glover said.

Thomas Himler, a member of the hospital authority, told the council that nine companies have expressed interest in pieces of the system.

The hospital authority was supposed to issue a final report on its bidding process Jan. 14, but Glover asked for and received a 60-day extension that day.

Donna Wilson, vice chair of the authority, said the panel plans to work with the council to address some of its concerns because its opposition would be "problematic" as the bill moves through the legislative process in Annapolis.