Casey Kelly

It’ll soon be easier to find where you’re going at Bartlett Regional Hospital.

This week, the board of directors for Juneau’s community-owned hospital approved funding for three new signs. Two will point visitors to the emergency room and the third will identify the main entrance.

During renovations over the past few years, the emergency room has sometimes been used as the main entrance, and BRH Community Relations Director Jim Strader says some patients and their families are understandably confused. Strader serves on an employee committee that’s been looking at signage for over a year and recommended the three new markers.

“Hospitals all over the country, they’re complex buildings,” says Strader. “It’s very difficult to navigate, even if you know your way around the building. And the fact that Bartlett, just like many other hospitals have undergone construction and changes in the layout and things like that, it’s something that hospitals are continuing to try to improve that process just to make it a little easier for people to find out where they’re going.”

Two of the new signs will be located on the side of the building as you drive up to Bartlett via Hospital Drive. The third will be on the Bartlett House building as you make the left turn to go to the emergency room.

The board approved about 19-thousand dollars for the project. It’s not known when the signs will be installed, but Strader hopes it’s before the end of the year.

The Bartlett Regional Hospital Board of Directors wants to stick with Quorum Health Resources as the management provider for Juneau’s city-owned hospital facility. But members have a backup plan if an agreement with the company can’t be reached.

The board voted unanimously last night (Tuesday) to enter into contract negotiations with Quorum, the hospital’s management services and supply purchasing provider for the past 23 years. If those negotiations break down, the board will turn to another management provider – PeaceHealth.

Quorum, PeaceHealth and Alliant Management Services were the three finalists that responded to a request for proposals issued by the board. It’s the first time in 14 years that the management contract has been put out to bid.

The decision to stay with Quorum came after two consecutive nights of meetings, including presentations on Monday by all three finalists, and more than five hours of talks in executive session.

Board member Robert Storer led a committee that put together the RFP and communicated with potential bidders. He thanked the board for its hard work, and the handful of hospital employees who attended both nights of deliberations.

“I hope the message that you all get out of this is that we took our responsibility very, very seriously. It’s very important, and hence the long discussions,” said Storer.

The next step will be negotiating the details of a new contract with Quorum. Under its current deal the company hires the Chief Executive and Chief Financial Officers for the hospital. During the presentations on Monday there was some talk of the board filling those positions.

Quorum is paid between 350- and 400-thousand dollars a year for management services. The actual amount is tied to the Consumer Price Index. The current contract expires at the end of the year.

Bartlett Regional Hospital is owned by the City and Borough of Juneau. The board is appointed by the CBJ Assembly, which will ultimately need to approve the contract.

No decision from Bartlett Regional Hospital’s Board of Directors on a new management contract.

The board met yesterday (Monday) for more than eight hours – the last three in executive session – without reaching consensus. It’ll take the issue up for further discussion tonight (Tuesday) at its regular monthly meeting.

The first five hours of last night’s special meeting were dedicated to presentations from the three finalists for the hospital’s management contract – current manager Quorum Health Resources, along with Alliant Management Services and PeaceHealth.

It’s the first time in several years that the board has solicited bids for the contract. Quorum’s current deal expires at the end of the year.

Board Chair Kristen Bomengen declined to say whether a decision is close. Tonight’s meeting starts at 5:15 p.m. in the hospital boardroom.

Click here to read our story from yesterday.

For the first time in 14 years, the board of directors for Juneau’s Bartlett Regional Hospital is using a competitive bid process to select a management company.

The board tonight (Monday) will hear presentations from three firms that responded to a June request for proposals. Tennessee-based Quorum Health Resources has managed the city-owned hospital since 1997, and is seeking a new contract. It’s joined by Kentucky-based Alliant Management Services and PeaceHealth, headquartered in the Seattle area.

Last year, Quorum came under fire from some Bartlett employees, who said the local management team fostered “a culture of fear” at the hospital. But Bartlett Board Chair Kristen Bomengen says the criticism wasn’t the driving force behind the decision to use a competitive bid process.

“Once you’ve worked with one company for so many years, it’s only appropriate to go out and re-bid. And so, in any case we would have been going out to receive more statements of interest,” Bomengen says.

All the bidders have decades of health care experience. Quorum is the largest hospital management company in the country, and operates the Sitka Community Hospital in addition to Bartlett. Alliant’s hospitals are clustered in Indiana, Illinois, and Kentucky. And PeaceHealth has six hospitals in the Pacific Northwest, including Ketchikan Medical Center.

Under its current contract, Quorum is paid between 350-thousand and 400-thousand dollars a year. The amount is tied to the Consumer Price Index. But Bomengen says the board won’t just look at cost when deciding on a management company.

“We want to make certain that we have management advice from people who are tracking what changes we’re going to be looking at in the health care industry. We would like to see an understanding of Juneau’s circumstances,” says Bomengen. “We’re interested in the kind of expertise that they’ll be able to deliver. One of the things we do through our management services contract is a lot of our purchasing and we try to get the best value for medical equipment and ongoing medical supplies.”

All three companies have representatives in Juneau for today’s meeting, which starts at 3:30 p.m. in the hospital boardroom. Bomengen says an hour and 15 minutes has been set aside for each presentation, which will be open to the public. The board may go into executive session to discuss financial aspects of the bids. An offer is tentatively scheduled to be made to one of the companies at the end of the meeting.

There’s not much that’ll make you feel better when you lose by 64 points. But after suffering their second straight blowout – 84 to 20 at the hands of the Homer Mariners last night (Thursday) – Thunder Mountain High School Head Coach Bill Byouer told his team it’s not the end of the world.

“I’m not dead, and neither are they,” Byouer said. “So they’ll be in here come Monday and we’re going to be fighting hard again and try for next week.”

The Falcons came out strong, forcing a Homer fumble on the first play from scrimmage. Less than two minutes later, Thunder Mountain Quarterback Camden Thomas connected with Sam Jahn on scoring strike from five yards out.

But Homer was simply too quick, too savvy, and too good for the out-manned Falcons. Mariners Running Back Dylan Day had eight touchdowns, including five on the ground, one after a catch, one on a fumble recovery and another on a punt return.

The Falcons’ other touchdowns came on a one-yard quarterback keeper by Thomas with 8:03 left in the first half, and a 57-yard scamper by running back John Jolly to cap the scoring with 2:38 left in the game. Between those two scores Homer pretty much dominated both sides of the ball.

To make matters worse, Byouer says seven of his players had to leave the game due to injury.

“JV stepped in there and still worked hard,” said Byouer. “I mean, I got young, young freshman out there, sophomores, you know, and they’re learning.”

Byouer can only hope another week of practice will help his young players take on their next opponent – Nikiski. The Bulldogs are 2-0 and coming off a 48-0 win over Sitka on Wednesday. They’ll be in Juneau for a showdown at Thunder Mountain next Saturday (8-27).

Meanwhile, The Juneau-Douglas Crimson Bears play the North Pole Patriots tomorrow (Saturday) in the first Railbelt Conference game of the season.

The game is played in North Pole. The Patriots had their shake-down game last week against West Anchorage – and lost to the Eagles by a score of 44-28.

The Crimson Bears first game of the season last week was an easy victory over Thunder Mountain.

Sean O’Brien will run for Juneau School Board as a write-in.

O’Brien filed a letter of intent with the city clerk’s office Thursday afternoon, making his candidacy official.

He previously served one term on the board from 2005 to 2008, but didn’t seek a second for personal and family reasons. He’d planned on running in 2012, but decided to move it up a year when only one candidate – School Board President Sally Saddler – filed to run for two open seats during the just concluded filing period.

“I’m kind of rejuvenated and ready to go, and my kids are a little bit older. So, I’m in a better position to volunteer and serve the community,” he says.

O’Brien grew up in Juneau and now works at the state Labor Department. He and wife Sue have three kids, including two boys still in the school system. One attends Thunder Mountain High School and the other goes to Floyd Dryden Middle School. O’Brien believes the biggest issues facing the Juneau School District right now are the budget and graduation rate.

“Prioritizing and operating as smartly as efficiently as you can and as effectively as you can obviously are critical,” he says. “I guess the other things I would say is the dropout continues to be a challenge and school performance and school engagement for our kids, they’re all kind of interrelated. I think they’re all critical.”

City Clerk Laurie Sica says O’Brien was the only write-in candidate to file a letter of intent as of Thursday afternoon. No one else has indicated a possible run. The deadline to file as a write-in is 4:30 p.m. on September 29th.

The city election is October 4th.