GCHD Trustee Candidate: John Barbara
NOTE – The Flint Creek Courier invited the candidates running for the Granite County Hospital District Trustee seats to submit letters as to why they are running. These letters/statements are solely the views and opinions of candidates and do not represent the views of the Flint Creek Courier.
Why I am Running- Tim Allen, from the Flint Creek Courier, asked me to write a statement as to why I am running for another term on the Hospital Board. The answer is quite simple, this is a critical time for the Hospital District with important work yet to be done and I feel I am the most qualified to do it. Having worked on Wall Street for over forty years, I have a background in Finance and Information Technology and managed technology projects in the US, UK, Europe and UAE. I have been a Board member for five years and the Board Chair since last June. During my time on the Board, we have encountered financial, as well as, management issues and overcome them. I feel my greatest contribution has been as project manager overseeing the implementation of the AthenaNet electronic medical records system. Until June, 2017, GCHD did not have an EHR system, all medical records were paper based. In order to provide the best health care possible for our patients and to comply with government regulations, GCMC needed to convert to an electronic system. After conducting a study of the available medical records systems on the market at the time, I found Athena HealthCare, which would implement a internet based system on our hardware for zero upfront cost. While other companies, like Epic, were charging over of $1,000,000 in upfront costs, the decision was clear. Besides the initial cost aspect however, the Athena system was designed for small rural critical access hospitals like ours, which made it ideal for our purpose. The system was implemented within six months and has been fully operational for almost two years. This is the experience and expertise that I bring to the Board. The task currently at hand is the installation of the new General Electric CAT Scan in a facility to be built adjacent to the hospital building and scheduled for summer, 2019. This system will not only add critical healthcare services to the County, but increase revenue to the Hospital District. The Hospital Board currently in place, comes from a varied background, with different experience, which I feel is very important. The Board has become a cohesive group that works well together and gets things done. With all that said, I am a firm believer in term limits. So, if elected for another term, it will be my last. I am happy to see that others have filed for the seats available. As I have stated in the past, the resident voters should have a choice in the people that represent them whether it be on the County Commission, School Board, or in this case Hospital Board. John Barbara GCHD, Board Chair
