Committee seeks input on hospital
The group probing problems at Danville Regional Medical Center is planning public forums and a Web site.
Danville Register & Bee
Friday, March 9, 2007
DANVILLE - The Citizen’s Committee Related to the Danville Regional Medical Center hopes to have at least three public forums so residents can voice their opinions about the hospital’s quality of care.
Committee Chairman Jim Houser said he wants at least one hearing to take place in Danville, Pittsylvania County and Caswell County, N.C., because those are the three localities served by the hospital.
He said the city’s information technology department also is building a special Web site where people can share their thoughts about the hospital if they do not want to testify at a public meeting.
“(Mayor Wayne Williams) wanted for us to report what the public believes is or is not working with the hospital,” Houser said at the committee’s first official meeting Thursday night at the hospital, just two days after Williams formally introduced the group at a City Council meeting.
The seven committee members are currently working out the details, such as the time and place, for the hearings and hope to have a special meeting where hospital employees can share their feelings anonymously.
The committee also reviewed a recent batch of Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems data that gave Danville Regional an overall quality score of 3.46 on a scale of 0-4. Bill Keith, chief operating officer at Danville Regional, said this data is collected by a private contractor and used by the federal government to rank hospitals on 13 different fields.
The hospital had an overall quality score of 3.29 in August and the average LifePoint hospital had an overall quality score of 3.28. LifePoint Hospitals Inc. completed its $210 million acquisition of Danville Regional Medical Center on June 30, 2005.
Danville Regional scored above the average LifePoint score in six fields, including a nurse’s ability to explain things in a way a patient could understand and a staff member’s ability to explain the uses for new medicine.
Committee member Linda Green thanked Keith for explaining the data but said the commission needed more information to evaluate the hospital particularly when it came to emergency room wait times, the amount of patients leaving without treatment, employee satisfaction and patient-to-staff ratios.
“When I was talking about metrics (at a brief informal meeting Tuesday), I was talking about standard benchmarks we can use to compare the hospital to other hospitals,” she said, adding she wanted data specific to hospitals that are the same size as Danville Regional Medical Center and located in similar areas.
Each committee member said they had already received several calls about the hospital since the group’s formation.
The committee is asking city clerk Annette Crane to take the minutes of its meetings instead of Danville Regional CEO Art Doloresco, who volunteered for the job at the group’s Tuesday meeting.
The group also is going to hold their regular, open meetings at a Danville Municipal Building conference room instead of at the hospital. The group’s next meeting is scheduled for 5:15 p.m. Tuesday.
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18 comments:
This clearly is a step in the right direction. The members already have demonstrated strength by deciding to meet off the hospital site. And of course they rejected the ridiculous idea of letting Doloresco keep the records.
Now, they need to make courteous overtures to the original hospital board who sold DRMC to Lifepoint. They must have their help. Those men have the $210 million in their hands. In the end, it is that money that can provide us with the strength to move in the best direction if, as it appears so far, LifePoint is simply unable to perform to our standards.
This Commission must attempt to invite those men to the table.
I agree. It's about time they re-entered the fray. The are smart fellows and hopefully will be willing to help rectify the problem. I imagine by now they are as willing as anyone to see this go away.
Agreed...unlike the transients from Lifepoint, these folks are long-time residents of the community. I for one would like to think that they want to understand what has happened since the hospital was sold and what can be done to create a solution that we can all live with for years to come. It is obvious that the leadership of the community needs to talk to the rank and file employee at DRMC to learn about what is happening....not just from people who have a chip on their shoulder, but from people who have invested 10, 20, 30 years of their life working at this hospital and want to be able to proudly face their neighbors about where they work and the quality of care they are able to provide.
Mayor Williams, thanks for convening the commission. We realize LPNT is an independent company that doesn't have to bow to the wishes of the community like a community-based not-for-profit would. I hope your effort lends the discussion the credibility it needs to get all the stakeholders sitting around the same table for the best possible outcome.
Let's face it, LifePoint probably wasn't researched enough prior to the sale. It happens and I personally think we pulled the trigger too quick. $200,000,000 isn't chump change and if the hospital had continued to operate at the level we were accustomed to it WOULD have been a win win situation. Unfortunatley it didn't and the time to fix it is now, before we are dealing with another for profit company with even less interest in our community.
One point to consider before we go through a painful exercise of discussing what's wrong at the hospital with the Commission....
Does Mayor Williams have any sort of commitment from LPNT leadership that they 1) care that the city has convened this forum and 2) that they will do anything with the findings/recommendations of the Commission?
This exercise could be a great way to create a valid dialogue between the citizens and the new owners of their hospital, or it could be one more event that creates a greater gulf between the healthcare community and the people who own the hospital.
Bottom line....what are we all going to get out of this? Where will it lead us?
Having a meeting of disgruntled employees is one thing...hearing an outcry from the paying customers who can choose which hospital to spend their $$$ at is an entirely different thing.
Which one do you think the LPNT management will pay more attention to?
Only when the commercially-insured patients start spending their deductibles at Centra, Moses Cone, and Annie Penn...and DRMC is left with an entire population of Medicare/Medicaid patients who can't afford to make a choice...will LPNT realize that this is ultimately a customer issue.
Would you eat at a restaurant that you have only heard has bad service and the wait time for a table is extremly long? One that people write letters to the editor to complain about and the city has formed a citizens' commission to study?
Of course not.
So, why would you apply a different set of values to the place that you deal with when you or your family is facing a life-changing event???
Then maybe what we need is for local physicians to encourage those patients who are requesting to go to other hospitals to speak out.
I also think everyone on this blog should contact the folks appointed to the commission and encourage them to spend some time perusing this blog and following some of the links provided.
Or...maybe the local physicians should find a financial partner and create a new hospital across town. Hmmm...
Maybe they could apply for a grant from the Danville Regional Foundation for some seed money.
All interesting, but it is essential to bring the original hospital board into the discussion. These are in no way bad people--just guys who are used to doing things their way, guys who made a terrible decision. There's no way on earth any of them are pleased with what has happened. In return for their cooperation at this point, we should all be willing to forget about their mistake and move on to a solution. People who know them personally should be encouraging them right now.
I don't think the bank boys should be included unless it is established up front that one option is to get rid of LifePoint. If they are willing to recognize that as one possibility, then bring them on.
Has anyone asked Bob Ashby about this? He's their front-man; maybe he should be specifically invited.
How can anyone seriously suggest having a gang of liars and crooks involved in this? Incredible!!!!!
In case you don't know, it's because they got the Green, Man. You gotta go with the Green. Everytime.
And interestingly enough they are the ones who could best fix this. They would be the best at reversing the negotitaions they went through to get us here. They would be up to speed on the process and could work with the citizens commission to speed things up.
I read all this and see some great ideas. But I also see alot missing. How do I know you may ask I worked a DRMC for 20 years. When I herd about Lifepoint I made 6 phone calls to other Lifepoint Hospitals talked with some folks in area of work. Quickly learned this is not were I wanted to be after the take over. I'm not a community leader just someone who was unsure and wanted to learn more. If I was able to get some of the facts with just a few phone calls why couldn't the "Boys at the bank and other" do the same. By the way I would say 90% of the information I gathered came true.
I was able to get out before it all happened best move I ever made.
I think the best thing for all is let this group find all the information they can from the public. Lifepoint stay clear and out of the way. Talk with some folks that worked for DRMC before the take over and some after. Then meet with those who sold it find out what out what Lifepoint said it would do after the sale. Work all this information into a Pro/con list then bring life point to the table.
We need a bench mark of how the Hospital was mesh that with how it is.I don't mean by some report group. One thing I have learn numbers are just numbers you can make them say just about anything.
Take the pulse of the people by talking to them one on one. After all they are the ones who will choose to go some where else.
For me and many others working at DRMC before Lifepoint was not just a job it was a lifestyle dedicated
to our community all department working togather. Remember the term "never say it's not my job or I don't have time". I seem to be hearing that beging said more and more. Now it's just a job waiting for something better to come along. The lifestyle view is gone and that is a big part of the problem. Good luck group you have a long road ahead.
Some very insightful comments here, leading to a related suggestion. Perhaps some of the best people of all to speak with are people who are at hospitals that have been sold off by Lifepoint. Those people would have seen Lifepoint from acquisition right through until they were dumped. They could have some great insights about what we are facing--and be able to spot the places where Lifepoint is lying and where there is truth.
Above all, the Commission must talk to employees on a confidential basis. Those who are clinging to jobs are terrified of these bean-counters.
Current employees should be allowed to present facts to the new Committee without fear of retaliation from LFPT. I believe that opportunity will present itself. Current employees should start making lists of actual instances and examples of things that have happened at the hospital since it was sold. This will enable the Committee to compile facts quickly and precisely. Don't let emotions cloud your presentations, be prepared and calm. This may be your last chance to see some actual changes for the better, use this opportunity! Even if you do not speak at a meeting, your presence in numbers will make a statement. Even if you can't attend a meeting, your web site ( one is being set up) entries will make a statement. Be sure to tell everyone you know about this blog site, so they may read the other side of this story and maybe they can also contribute. I will help any of you in anyway that I can and I know others who have left DRMC that will also assist. Dixie Doss
Thank you, St. Dixie !
You might be making fun of Dixie, but if your sister died like mine did and she was by her side all the way you wouldn't. Then you would know that to some Dixie has been an angel. When my sister was suffering Dixie was at her side, giving care and love and encouragement to my whole family. It did not cost us either. We really think she is a saint.
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