Yes, I know I have posted this article recently....but after reading the media coverage of the City Council meeting this week, the sense of deja vu is overwhelming.
http://www.registerbee.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=DRB/MGArticle/DRB_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1137833952500&path
Read it again...then read the recent coverage....
Why aren't we further along than we are?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
23 comments:
What we must keep in mind is that the Lifepoint management does not know how to handle this crisis. No doubt they were deceived in ways we will never know when they made the purchase, but that cannot be an excuse at this point. Lifepoint blundered into buying a property that could not be squeezed into their form-fit mold. The shoe simply will not fit. The fact they may be able to operate smaller hospitals successfully does not mean they can operate DRMC. Compare it to a pilot trained in a simple aircraft trying to fly a jumbo jet.
The article from a year ago, joined with what we are witnessing now, unfortunately indicates that Lifepoint management isn't learning much--or is not interested in learning much.
When Lifepoint quits trying to use its own "experience" to guide them and turns to some pros who know something about hospitals this size, they will have a chance. By then, of course, a great deal of the blue-ribbon business will have departed for the excellent alternatives this region is blessed to have.
Again and again, it all tracks back to the terrible decision made by five people in secret: Barkhouser, Motley, Davenport, Majors and Ashby. If only Lifepoint would show good faith toward the community, instead of showing the contempt reported at the recent meeting, perhaps they could start to put things back together. It's high time they got started. It is in everyone's interest that they succeed.
drmc is not a jumbo jet its a big old outdated prop job. you got it right deception deception poor bill carpenter got taken to the cleaners with everyone else in danville.
does anyone in danville care throw the old out get a board that holds lifepoint accountable. everyone is together ashby carpenter judy!!! come on where are the big boys this is your hospital!!
I DONT THINK HE LIED. 1 YEAR LATER LOOKS LIKE HE TRIED TO WARN THE CREW. RUN RUN RUN
ALL OF YOU LOVE TO BEAT UP ON THE MEN THAT SOLD THE HOSPITAL. WHY DOESN'T SOMEONE INVITE THEM TO TAKE OVER TO SEE WHAT THEY CAN DO. YOU MIGHT BE SURPRISED.
Okay, o typer of ALL CAPS...invite them back in...perhaps if it is their investment, then they will truly seek out the expertise that it takes to run the hospital in a business-like manner.
But, then again...do you know how much interest $200 million in the bank earns each day?
By the way, that genius consulting company LPNT hired to help DRMC become "PROFITABLE" supposedly went out the door Fri. Now, if their goal was to cut staff to the point profit can be made, and there's a group in the building preparing staff for JCAHO, where's the balance. Just can't meet both quotas at once. Where's JCAHO? Surely LPNT can't afford the impending loss that will come with inspection. What will we do for a job then?
"oh woe is me" says most of the DRMC nursing staff, "Woe is me" !
Shut up, buckle down and remember who is important here...NOT YOUso much as the patient.
It is more apparent than ever that your pity party has to come to an end. Come from behind the nursing stations and seek out your patients.Answwer the call bells, deliver the pain meds, give the heart savings drugs, and do it NOW !
Do your job in the manner in which your customers deserve. And , NO, it is not ALL related to staffing numbers. This crutch of an excuse is about worn to a nub!!
On the nasty comment about DRMC nurses having a "pity party," be sure to note that that comment is posted from Livingston, Tennessee. I wonder who that could be? Could they have a connection to Lifepoint?
"Just Wondering"
Yep, pretty interesting that no one local was on this page at the time of the "fellow drmc nurse" post. Hmmmm...
And i dont think its just nurses making comments here...talk to people who work in other departments like lab, security, env services...oh yeah, how about patients? More stuff is happening and it is getting serious. A mistake is going to be made.
fellow drmc nurse,
How are things on your unit? As mr. castiglione wanted to know, what is your nurse/patient ratio? Let's hear what your unit is doing right, so that we can follow your lead. Trust me, my co-workers would welcome some good news.
Does anyone remember the days that we were a 350 bed hospital? According to US News and World Report, we are currently a 194 bed Hospital! And that is the 2007 figures, so it must be fairly recent. If you want to check it out go the the link and search for Danville Regional Medical Center.
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/health/hospitals/
Was I the only one that missed the announcement that LifePoint was cutting our capacity nearly in half?
And here is another point of interest. Art, who said that he is here and in this for the long haul, still lives in Phoenix, Az. He fly’s home on the weekends. Also, he is a partner of a five man group called Hospital Interim-Management. Does he even work for LifePoint, or have they outsourced our CEO as well? Check out the link.
http://www.himllc.com/index.html
I worked at DRMC for over 15 years and left after the Lifepoint takeover. I had the "pleasure" of working with some of the Phoenix interim bunch before I left. There was one in particular that liked to call Danville by the name of "Dumville." This was highly offensive to those of us "born and bred" in the area, however; when it was reported nothing was done. How does this make you feel?
Nurses having a "pity party" huh. Well you must not have ever worked as a nurse or even an assistant. Do you really think that nurses are just sitting behing the nurses desk eating cake while the patients are suffering. Give me a break. Go follow a DRMC nurse on a typical day and you will see that you are dead wrong. I am totally offended that you would say such a thing. The nurses at DRMC are top notch professionals who are struggling every day to provide the best care that they can under the most undesireable circumstances. People who know nothing about being a nurse should never make assumptions that their job is easy. Being a nurse not only takes caring and compassion but high tech skills. Caring for 8-14 patients as the nurses at DRMC are caring for is what most nurses would consider inhumane. Not for the nurses but for the patients. Nurses do not consider themselves when complaining about staffing ratios. They are considering the safety of the patients that they are caring for. So next time you want to make assumptions that nurses are just sitting behind a desk doing nothing perhaps you should take the time to go and see what a nurse really does while he/she is at work. You would be shocked at what you found.
To "Former DRMC Employee"
I worked for the same Director. The administration at the time thought it was cute and funny. That would be the same director that said that the nurses in "Dumbville" were lazy and over paid for thier abilities. I know it made me feel all warm and tingly inside . . . You know . . . that feeling you get just before you vomit. Maybe it will do you good to know that when that director left that they were promoted. The same department they were over here . . . well now they are over the same department for all of the Lifepoint Hospitals. I'm sure she got the Golden Hatchet award upon returning to Brentwood. If not, I hope they at least replaced the broom she flew in here on. You would be amazed to know the things swept under the rug under her rein.
From FWDixon:
Art Doloresco, the DRMC CEO that Lifepoint claims is dedicated to seeing the current catastrophe through, has been through the wringer in the hospital business. What remains unclear is whether he is a Lifepoint employee, or just a hired gun sent in to clean up messes that are having a negative effect on the bottom line.
A key concern on the part of some Council members was whether anyone at Lifepoint can be trusted. Seems doubtful, but what is crystal clear from a little Internet surfing is Doloresco's consistently
brutal managerial past, his performance as a Dr. Kevorkian for the Orlando
hospital, and his current position as an interim guru (as opposed to
"committed" to our community).
Here's what some quick research shows about Doloresco:
In October 1997 Art Doloresco appeared as president of NewCare Hospital
Corp., the entity which took charge of Princeton Hospital in Orlando,
Florida. It was a takeover after which the previous board chairman stated
that the board was "hoodwinked." A news story stated, "An unexpected deal
transferring management of financially troubled Princeton Hospital has
purged the nonprofit's governing board, left physicians bewildered and
paved the way for salary cuts and layoffs." Princeton's salaries, wages
and benefits had been at 70 percent of the hospital's net revenue, but
NewCare wanted to see that percentage more in the 35 percent to 50 percent
range, Doloresco said. (See
href="http://www.bizjournals.com/orlando/stories/1997/10/20/story1.html">Oc
tober and
href="http://www.bizjournals.com/orlando/stories/1997/12/01/story1.html">De
cember articles; various controversial twists in the story have a
familiar ring.)
In January 1998, the same paper reported: "In the latest of a series of
shake-ups, Princeton Hospital CEO Randy Phillips has been fired, the
hospital's chief financial officer has accepted a job on an unidentified
island and a Tennessee turnaround specialist has been brought in . . . ."
Continuing: "We needed a change in leadership and direction to create
passion for the renaissance of the hospital," said Art Doloresco. The
href="http://www.bizjournals.com/orlando/stories/1998/01/12/story1.html">ar
ticle adds that NewCare's plans for saving Princeton included layoffs,
cutting salaries and allowing the hospital's only magnetic resonance
imaging scanner (MRI) to be repossessed.
In 1999, the hospital was closed by the Orange County Health Department.
(See
href="http://www.hhnmag.com/hhnmag_app/jsp/articledisplay.jsp?dcrpath=HHNMA
G/PubsNewsArticle/data/2006July/0607HHN_FEA_2006NovaAwards&domain=HHNMA
G">reference, in mid-article
Well after reading the letters written by other doctors and members of the community it is easy to see how Lifepoint has brainwashed our area. Those letters bashed Dr. Sharp by denying that the quality of care has decreased at DRMC and saying that Dr. Sharp did not know what he was talking about. The other doctors read his comments as if he were talking about physicians being the reason that the level of care had decreased. How many doctors have you seen at the bedside passing meds or cleaning up soiled patients. Ummm. None. Dr. Sharp was obviously reffering to the fact that NURSING services had been cut and crippled by Lifepoint. NURSES are the key component to quality of care. NURES are the frontrunners of care and are always taken for granted. HELLO, without NURSES you have no hospital. Oh how the other doctors have got it so wrong. To bash another doctor for telling the truth. Those other doctors bashing Dr. Sharp should be ashamed. They are so blind. Go back and read the article from Dr. Sharp and you will see that he says nothing about physician services at DRMC, but is referring to NURSING services. Way to go guys. You have let Lifepoint get the upper hand once again. Thanks for sticking up for community. You guys are great.
Nov 30, 2005, Lifepoint CEO said to the investor community: "What we look at is from an operations perspective is man hours per adjusted admission, and they run about 85 to 85.2 in the
LifePoint Hospitals. That same number runs about 92 in Province. What it was at Danville was 150. So as you can see, there's a
high amount of FTE's there from an operational perspective.
Should they be at 85, the answer to you is no, they should probably be in about 100 to 104. So we are working on that from a
staffing perspective." Do the arithmetic: a cut of 400 FTE's by his own estimate. (http://library.corporate-ir.net/library/88/880/88004/items/176257/LPNT-Transcript-2005-11-30T15-00.pdf)
FW Dixon says:
Please pardon. The links in my previous post were too long for the blog
format. Here are shortened links to the four referenced articles, about
Art Doloresco's ill-fated involvement with the Orlando hospital. I hope
the links are usable this time.
http://tinyurl.com/3xr7kf
http://tinyurl.com/39mxdp
http://tinyurl.com/2rkwf8
http://tinyurl.com/nqstl (scroll to Collaboration)
Talk about deja-vu. This is from the links provided above. This happened 10 years ago. Sounds pretty familiar huh.
Art Doloresco, president of NewCare Hospital Corp., says he understands why the local board is hurt and reacting with anger, and he doesn't blame them. "But the harsh reality is that they didn't get what they wanted," he says. "They're just going to have to get over it."
"At Princeton, everyone has just been working toward how to pay the payables," Doloresco says. "We're going to try to get their minds off that and onto how to make the hospital work."
So far, NewCare's plans for saving Princeton have included layoffs, cutting salaries and allowing the hospital's only magnetic resonance imaging scanner (MRI) to be repossessed.
Kinda scary.
Interesting about the man hours...could the type of care provided make a difference? If the patients that one hospital treats requires alot of hands on care and another sends these patients to another hospital, wouldn't the numbers of the first hospital appear larger than the numbers for the second even if they treated the same number of patients?? I guess Lifepoint wants the "easy" patients and send the ones that require more time to Duke or VA Baptist. I guess they think it makes their bottom line look good. But I have always been told you gotta spend money to make more money. I guess Lifepoint never learned that lesson.
Actually Dr. Sharp DID make several comments about local physicians....Oncologists and Surgeons specifically...which is why there has been such an outpouring of letters on the subject. He implied through his comments that the physicians were substandard in addition to Lifepoint.....read the article again!!! And the responses from those physicians also praised the hard work of the nursing staff at Lifepoint for doing the best with what they had, did not criticize them from what I have seen. So I don't think Lifepoint won anything, but I think maybe more people are more aware about the situation in the hospital now thanks to Dr. Sharp starting it all with his comments.
Post a Comment