uals can be declared exempt from
tlie law. All exempt employees fall
into one of three categories; pro
fessional, administrative, or execu
tive.”
How has the law changed payment of over
time at the Medical Center?
“We have three different systems
going. The law basically states that
when a person works beyond 44
hours a week he must be paid for
time and a half. There are two
other options provided in the law
that allow for slight deviations. All
three are in effect in the Medical
Center at this time.
‘ ‘ The overtime provisions became a
little ironic where the Personnel
Office was concerned, for we had to
pay time and a half to our girls in
order to process the payrolls in
March. Of course, that was the first
month of having to deal with the
new methods of payment; and,
hopefully, by now we’ve ironed out
most of the problems.”
Was the Medical Center given enough ad
vance notice ahoxct the new provisions of
the law to make the necessary prepara
tions?
“We had adequate advance warn
ing the new provisions had passed,
but we did not have adequate
guidelines to follow in putting them
into effect. Of course, the reason we
did not have adequate guidelines
was because there was no prece
dence. Hospitals and educational
institutions had never been covered
by the law before.”
lias the law been expensive to enforce here
at the Medical Center?
‘ ‘ It has cost us thousands of dollars
to comply with the law, primarily
because of overtime provisions.
However, as I have already said,
we were not greatly affected by the
minimum wage provision, for with
very few exceptions we were al
ready in compliance.”
How will the minimum wage law affect the
Medical Center in the future?
“The government is permitting us
to ‘ phase in ’ to compliance with the
minimum wage law. This means
that for the next four years the
minimum wage will continue to in
crease a little at a time until the de
sired minimum wage is reached.
“Specifically, the minimum wage
will be increasing at 15^ an hour
from February 1 of each year un
til February 1, 1971, when the
minimum wage will be $1.G0 an
hour.
“The rate of overtime pay will not
be greatly affected in the next four
years, but what is considered as
overtime will change. Any time
over 44 hours is considered over
time now. Any time over 42 hours
will be considered overtime in
1968, and any time over 40 hours
will be considered overtime by
1969.”
Has the law produced any good results
other than increased pay for a few?
“I think so. Because of the law,
we have had to examine carefully
certain things, such as overtime
use of employees. ’ ’
1 x
About 100 experts from across the
country attended, at the invitation of the
Forum’s sponsor, the Duke Graduate Pro
gram in Hospital Administration.
“The capital financing of health faci
lities in this country traditionally has been
from a diversity of sources,” noted Mr.
Ray E. Brown, director of the sponsoring
Duke Graduate Program. Two aims of the
1967 Forum were to try and determine the
potential of each of these sources for the
future, relative to the total needs for capi
tal, and to provide guidelines for a national
policy.
Financed by the Duke Endowment, the
Forum was the third of its kind to be held
here.
This year’s Forum examined capital
needs and sources for hospitals, term obli
gations against patient revenues, term
obligations against tax revenues, federal
grant programs, proprietary capital, depre
ciation, fund raising, and many other
topics.
“The rapid growth and changing nature
of hospital and medical care is precipitat
ing obsolescence of existing facilities as
well as increasing demands for additional
facilities,” said Mr. Brown.
Currently, new construction of health
facilities is costing about $1.5 billion a
year. It is estimated that this will have to
be hiked to about $2 billion a year just to
keep up with increased demands caused by
population growth and more utilization of
facilities.
Professor Brown said a recent Public
Health Service report disclosed that over
coming the obsolescence of existing health
facilities would require a minimum of $10
billion. This would be in addition to the
current construction needed to keep up
with the demands.
Speakers at the Forum included: Mr.
Brown; Donald M. Rosenberger of United
Hospitals of Newark, N.J.; William Hen
derson of North Carolina Medical Care
Commission; Dr. II. M. Graning, Assistant
Surgeon General; and Robert M. Sigmond
of tlie Hospital Planning Association of
Allegheny County, Pittsburgh.
When the new director of personnel, Frank N. Gay,
arrived on the JFedical Center scene in January, lie
was ‘ ‘ greeted ’ ’ with tlie then perplexing provisions of
the minimum wage law that were to go into effect
February 1. lie is shown with Jlrs. Janice Minyard,
whose headache it was to figure out the first payrolls
being covered by the new provisions of the law.
Financing of Hospitals
Is Concern of Forum
The sources and concerns of capital
financing of hospitals were discussed at the
annual National Forum on Hospital and
Health Affairs, held at Duke in May.
Highland Hospital
Now Part of Duke
Iligliland Hospital in Asheville, N.C., a
psychiatric institution in operation for 42
years, has become a full-fledged unit of the
Duke University Medical Center.
Duke University has owned the Hospital
since 1939, when the Hospital’s founder.
Dr. Robert Carroll, donated it to the Uni
versity. But it has been a self-supporting
institution operated by a corporate organi
zation, Highland Hospital, Inc., whose
board of directors was appointed by Duke’s
board of trustees.
INTERCOM - 9
VOL. 14 NO. 1/1967