Bills seek to open ME hospital board meetings to public

AUGUSTA, Maine — Two bills that would open hospital board meetings to public scrutiny went before lawmakers Tuesday. One bill, LD 1118, seeks to make board meetings of hospitals that receive significant taxpayer funding open to the public. The law would apply to hospitals that receive more than 50 percent of their gross operating revenues from the state and federal government. That would apply to nearly all Maine hospitals, which are reimbursed by Medicaid, the state-federal health insurance program for the poor, and Medicare, the federal health insurance program for seniors and people with disabilities.