The newly approved purchase of a $2.6 million piece of high-tech radiation treatment equipment rounds out about $12 million worth of recent investments in Erlanger hospital’s cancer program, a hospital official said Thursday night.
“It’s all about being able to provide the level of care that needs to be provided to the people of this community,” said Roger Forgey, senior vice president of operations and business development, after the hospital’s monthly board of trustees meeting.
On Thursday the hospital’s trustees approved the purchase of an updated linear accelerator, which is used to administer radiation to cancer patients. The needed update to the hospital’s older model will complement the board’s December vote to purchase a $7.3 million CyberKnife radiosurgery program, in a joint venture with an ambulatory surgical center development company, Mr. Forgey said. The hospital also will spend millions more in constructing a space to contain the technologies.
CyberKnife’s targeted beam of radiation allows doctors to treat tumors previously considered untreatable and minimizes damage to surrounding tissue.
The major purchases are part of the hospital’s strategic plan to grow its oncology program, Mr. Forgey said.
Also at the meeting, two local medical teams who traveled to Haiti in the aftermath of the Jan. 12 earthquake gave presentations to the board recounting their experiences. The teams did dozens of surgeries a day in the devastated city of Port-au-Prince.
Earlier on Thursday, Erlanger’s management and board evaluation committee voted to negotiate a contract, not to exceed $50,000, with compensation consulting firm Mercer.
GOOD NEWS* Bill Hicks, executive director of the Southside and Dodson Avenue Community Health Centers, has been named president-elect of the Tennessee Primary Care Association.* Erlanger North has been named Business of the Year for 2009 by the Red Bank Chamber of Commerce.* Erlanger hospital’s latest advertising campaign received numerous “Addy Awards” for the 2009-10 competition from the American Advertising Federation, including “Best in Show” in the broadcast media category.
The company will advise the hospital on executive pay issues, including how the hospital executives’ pay, benefits and bonuses stack up to similar-size hospitals in cities with comparable costs of living, said committee chairwoman Kim White after the vote.
The seven-person committee held a closed meeting on Thursday to discuss the contending consulting companies, then voted to choose Mercer during a brief open session.
Despite the economic recession and the financial challenges at Erlanger, which has lost $2.7 million year to date, Ms. White said hiring a compensation consulting firm for these services is a worthwhile expense that is overdue.
The last time a consulting company evaluated the hospital’s compensation practices was five years ago, she said.