Opinion: TGH's long road ahead

Two events last week set Tampa General Hospital on course to reverse the disaster of privatization. On Friday, a state appeals court struck down the hospital's secrecy scheme, a decision that, if left unchallenged, could improve the hospital's finances and public image. Tampa General also reported a profit for the fourth quarter last year. The turnaround is dramatic, but the long-term outlook remains uncertain. Public confidence, good press and short-term financial gains can easily be swept away by mismanagement at the top.

The court ruling forces the hospital to make a fundamental decision. It can accept reasonable public oversight of its operations in exchange for direct taxpayer support, or it can prolong a legal war with the community and squander its finances and public trust in the process. Tampa General converted from a public to private hospital in 1997, largely to evade Florida's open-government laws. The St. Petersburg Times and the Tampa Tribune sued in 1999, maintaining the hospital continued to serve a public purpose. The unanimous decision by the three-judge panel of the 2nd District Court of Appeal affirms the democratic principle and constitutional right giving the people access to public institutions.

The turnaround in revenue underscores that point. Hospital president Ron Hytoff called the fourth-quarter profit "astounding" news. But the reasons for success are actually quite simple. Tampa General received a boost in public funds, thanks to a broad and vocal lobbying effort that paid off in Tallahassee. The hospital increased prices prudently, did a better job managing expenses and landed more managed-care contracts. Not least of all, in-house publicists did a good job promoting the unique services TGH provides and keeping bad press to a minimum. Unlike his predecessor, Hytoff has had the good sense not to pick fights with politicians he needs. And most skeptics have given Tampa General the benefit of the doubt. "Positive media relations," Hytoff said, improved the hospital's image, causing physicians to boost their admissions and the hospital's bottom line.

Tampa General has a long way to go. It has lost $30-million in three years since going private, and any trend in a positive direction must be sustained for years simply to break even. The hospital board should not appeal the secrecy ruling. This is probably asking too much of those in charge -- then and now -- who chose to litigate, stonewall, move the hospital, tank its brand name and keep Bruce Siegel as president long after his credibility was shot. But continuing this legal battle will be costly -- and not just in dollars. It would alienate the political support that every safety-net hospital needs. Florida's open-government laws offer plenty of loopholes for meetings and records to enable a hospital to compete. Only arrogance would drive the board to test public tolerance any longer.

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