Greenville state lawmakers see Phillips’ removal differently

 

Garry Smith and Bruce Bannister are part of the Greenville County state legislative delegation, but they disagree about the future that Greenville Health System is taking.  GHS is the parent body of the Oconee Memorial Hospital.  Bannister, a state representative, describes Rick Phillips a victim of politics when it came to the decision against re-naming the Oconee businessman to a second term on the GHS board.  Bannister and his House colleague Smith are on opposite sides of a battle within their delegation on whether GHS should be allowed to remove itself from its current public oversight and affiliate with a regional not-for-profit provider as a better way to ensure hospital care.  The issue, Bannister says, is to be decided by a legal challenge to the GHS decision late last year to embark on a new path to new governance.