ECHD candidates spar on conflicts

April 23--Early voting begins Monday in Ector County's municipal elections as charges of conflicts of interests are being lobbed by some Ector County Hospital District candidates.

"Why do we need the competition sitting on the board?" District 5 candidate Don Hallmark said of opponent Julie Molland. Both are challenging incumbent David Nelson.

Facebook posts on Thursday from Hallmark detailed: "Julie Molland's ties to the medical community render her unable to separate her financial and business interests from her need for objectivity as a hospital board member."

Hallmark said Molland has no committed ties to Medical Center Hospital, but she does have a tie to Odessa Regional Medical Center.

Molland is a medical administrator at her husband's private practice. Her husband, John, is a limited partner with ORMC and owns stock that Molland said is a very small percentage, "less than half percent," Molland said. "And he owned those stocks before it was even Odessa Regional."

Molland said since her husband's practice is private and he is not a hospital-employed physician it is not a conflict of interest. As for her not having any "committed ties" to Medical Center, Molland said that's not true.

"I'm a taxpayer," she said. "And I have more than just real estate, our business is also taxed. As a taxpayer, I am tied to that hospital. I'm not committed to Odessa Regional, my husband is a shareholder to Odessa Regional."

Molland said others have greater conflicts.

"A realtor has more to benefit from than me," Molland said.

District 7 incumbent Virgil Trower, who is being challenged by Ben Quiroz, said he abstains from votes that might be seen as a conflict, such as the purchase of property. Trower, a longtime Odessa realtor, said there have only been one or two transactions where his real estate company had property listed and anytime the hospital discussed the purchase of that property, he'd excuse himself from the executive session and would abstain when the board voted on it.

Trower said Medical Center has never paid him any fees. One of the properties the hospital purchased included the owner of the property, who was out of California, paying Trower a realtor's fee, but Trower said "Medical Center didn't pay us anything."

"I leave if there's a conflict of interest. Or I stay there, but abstain," he said, adding that legal counsel has always been involved and provided guidance during those situations.

Trower said there's a possibility Molland will face conflict of interest situations if she is elected. He said his concern is about executive sessions.

"Say you're gonna go into executive session to keep everybody from knowing what's going on and she's sitting in executive session. I mean, I'm not saying she'd tell ORMC what's going on, but it could happen. She'd know what was going on behind the scenes. Again, I'm not saying that would happen, but it's a possibility," Trower said.

District 1 incumbent Judy Hayes, who is facing Bryn Dodd, agreed with Trower.

"Even though she's bound by certain guidelines and ethics and that sort of thing, she has the possibility to sharing information with her husband," Hayes said.

Hayes said there are a number of things Molland would not be able to vote on in regard to physicians, but added she was "not really qualified to answer that" question and said, "I don't really know."

Hayes asked the Odessa American to confirm the information with the hospital's attorney, Ron Griffin, but attempts to contact him throughout the week were unsuccessful.

Nelson, who is campaigning against Molland and Hallmark to retain his District 5 seat, also said he believes there would be a lot of conversations regarding doctors that Molland, if elected, would be required to recuse herself from. He said the board votes almost every month on doctor's privileges.

"I'm not sure she could vote on that," Nelson said. "It does concern me."

Molland said if there were any instances that came up where there would be a conflict of interest that she would gladly recuse herself.

Hospital board members sign a conflict of interest form every year provided by the Texas Ethics Commission.

Dodd said if Molland is prepared to recuse herself and step aside when she knows it's inappropriate, she doesn't see a problem. Dodd added Molland may have to step out on a lot of votes though, and that she feels what the board needs is elected officials who can make decisions on a lot of things.

"I hope we can elect someone that can actually vote on things and make a difference. We want people to be on the board so we can actually voice our concerns and make a decision," Dodd said.

Quiroz said Molland's husband has such a small percentage of stock, it doesn't seem like that big of an investment.

"Julie is very well-educated, she has a business degree from SMU, which is one of the best business schools in the world," he said. "I think she's a qualified individual, a qualified candidate. She couldn't manipulate an entire board, I don't think, to go in the way of ORMC. There's six other people that can analyze and make decisions."

Quiroz said one person wouldn't be able to sabotage an entire hospital, "that's why we have educated people serving on the board to keep that from happening."

ANOTHER CANDIDATE'S CONFLICT?

Molland said there is another candidate who could also pose a conflict of interest. Write-in candidate Adela Vasquez, who is running unopposed in District 3 is also a shareholder of Odessa Regional, Molland said.

"She personally is an investor in Odessa Regional," Molland said. "She owns stock in Odessa Regional because she sat on that board."

The Odessa American made numerous phone calls to Vasquez, but none were returned.

Nelson said the difference between Molland and Vasquez is that Vasquez has no access to ORMC records.

"The fact is with Dr. (John) Molland, he does have some access. That is more of a concern to me, the connection to ORMC as a doctor concerns me more than the stock. The stock ownership, that's not really the big deal. The big deal is the access to records and Adela has no access to records," Nelson said.

Molland also said Vasquez was encouraged by Medical Center Hospital administration to run for the District 3 seat and visited with both President and CEO Bill Webster and the MCH legal department.

"So if they don't have an issue with her conflict, why does anyone have an issue with mine?" Molland asked.

When it became apparent there was not going to be a candidate for District 3 since board member Richard Herrera, the only minority on the board, was leaving, Webster said, "I think there was an effort to reach out to the Hispanic Chamber if they might recommend someone in that district and her name was mentioned and someone contacted her. If I understand it, she did submit her name."

When asked about the potential conflict of interest for both Molland and Vasquez and whether hospital administration was concerned about it, Webster said, "If that's true (if Adela is a shareholder) she's not a physician."

"If someone held a passive investment like that, a non-physician, I don't think we'd have an issue. There's a difference between having a passive investment versus a physician investment."

Molland said her husband still has courtesy privileges, but not acting privileges at MCH. There was a time when he delivered babies, conducted surgeries and provided other obstetric services at both hospitals. He completed his residency at Texas Tech and started his career at Medical Center, she said.

COMPETING HOSPITALS?

Trower said ORMC and MCH are competing hospitals because they offer a lot of the same services. He gave the example of having a friend who is also in the real estate business. They are friends, but they are still competitors.

"I wouldn't want him to know what I'm doing," he said.

In Molland's eyes, she said ORMC and MCH are not competing hospitals.

"Medical Center offers completely different services. They may offer some of the same services, but Medical Center does it on a much bigger level," she said, adding "I don't see it as competition."

Molland said the two hospitals need to work together and she wants to see both hospitals do well. The community also needs both hospitals, she said. The major difference between the two hospitals, Molland said, is one is for-profit and one is nonprofit.

Dodd also said she doesn't see ORMC and MCH as competing hospitals.

"They're not necessarily in competition. I think there's issues that drive people over to ORMC, but they're not necessarily competitive," she said.

Hallmark said both hospitals have to compete for patients, though. That's why Medical Center has an advertising program and reaches out to get more doctors.

Quiroz also said he believes the hospitals compete with one another.

"They're trying to gain market share in certain demographics," he said, adding MCH wants more births, more surgeries, more of what makes them money.

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