Laurens hospital officials visit OMC

The board of directors at Oconee Medical Center adjourned to a closed session in the company of two representatives from the Laurens hospital—part of the due diligence as the Oconee hospital goes about deciding whether a potential affiliation with the Greenville Health Systems is worthwhile. GHS now operates the Laurens hospital as part of a lease arrangement. And, by meeting with the Laurens representatives, the Oconee board members were to get the chance to ask questions about that arrangement. Before beginning private part of the last night’s meeting, the Oconee hospital directors heard a report from their president/CEO, Jeanne Ward, on the current status of the potential affiliation with GHS. “We’ve really made a tremendous amount of progress since January and that progress has been beginning to look at opportunities for evaluation and what a partnership might look like and what that potential relationship could end up being,” Ward told the board. The president/CEO gave a timeline as to what is likely to happen next and how soon. And we’ll have that timeline today on 96.3/WGOG NEWS.” The board last night also approved what’s called the temporary replacement of two of its members. A resolution approved by the board states that “it has come to the Medical Executive Committee’s attention that both the current Chief of Staff, Dr. Edwin Evans, and the current Vice Chief of Staff, Dr. Jeffrey Giguere, have notified the Board Chairman of possible conflicts of interest in this important matter.” At least for now, they have been replaced by two other doctors—Kevin O’Brien and Todd Crowe.