DRMC is responding to questions from visitors to their "News & Views" site, so I thought I'd post them here for your reference. Regardless of your opinion about the answers given, kudos to DRMC for starting the site and answering questions in a very timely manner.
What “expansion” plans were actually planned by DRMC prior to LifePoint’s purchase? Was LifePoint following through on previously initiated projects? Is LifePoint taking credit for these projects?
Obviously, there is a big difference financially in planning an expansion and actually paying for it after the planning is completed. LifePoint is following through, as you put it, on certain projects that had been in the planning stages before the acquisition, thus far to the tune of approximately $29 million by the end of 2007. And yes, funding certain projects was part of the asset purchase agreement under which the hospital was acquired. “Taking credit” is probably in the eyes of the beholder. It seems likely those previously responsible for DRMC should “take credit” for planning the expansions and getting them put into the asset purchase agreement, and it’s equally logical that LifePoint should “take credit” for spending corporate funds to complete the work. No matter who gets or takes the credit, by the end of the year, the community is scheduled to have $29 million more in needed health care assets than it did before the acquisition took place.
Does LifePoint have a seat at the leadership council table and what will it do with the findings?
We will have a seat at the table with Mr. Jess Judy’s involvement on the leadership council as well as our new CEO when he or she is hired. Danville Regional Medical Center is committed to being a high-quality medical center that meets this community’s health care needs. We welcome the suggestions of the leadership council toward meeting that goal.
http://danvillenewsandviews.com/index.php/site/homepage/
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49 comments:
Well I posted a question to the News and Views website-Does Danville Regional plan to maintain the affiliation with DUKE and the open heart program? I received no response to my question from DRMC, however yesterday I received word from the staff at Danville Regional that a meeting had taken place and that the open heart program was going to be disolved. So I guess if I need open heart surgery I will have to go to DUKE or somewhere else. No more open heart surgery at Danville Regional Medical Center.
"Danville Regional Medical Center is committed to being a high-quality medical center that meets this community’s health care needs."
DRMC was committed, lifepoint Regional,however is NOT, more and more lies,lifepoint always lied about the heart program and continues to lie.I wonder how many jobs will be dissolved next.
The heart program has been dwindling down ever since Lifepoint took over. The program could have been a great success because Dr. McCann is an excellent surgeon and one of the nicest gentlemen you will ever meet. Unfortunately, lifepoint refuses to properly staff a seperate CVICU and step-down unit. He will be gone in 6 months. During that time Duke will evaluate the facility (staffing ratios, need of service, and Lifepoint's williness to corporate with Duke's standards of practice) and decide if they will continue the program. If I were a betting person, I feel the program will go. Sad, because we have some wonderful CVICU nurses.
Exactly, people thank we are so stupid, but, we could see the writing on the wall when they took down all of the signs that had Duke's logo on them about a year ago. We were told that Lifepoint refused to pay Duke a franchise fee to use its logo. Funny, one of my best friends is a manager of an ICU in North Carolina that has the exact same program as Danville does and he does not have to pay a fee for all the signs they have with Duke's logo on them. Is my friend not telling me the truth or is this more spin?
its sad to see dr mccann go because of his compassion not only for his pts but for the nurses also. its not a surprise but it is disheartening. he will be missed. hes not to bad on the eyes either.
My heart is absolutely broken at this decision. This program was a great asset to the hospital; Dr. McCann is a wonderful WONDERFUL physician to our hospital. Anyone that has ever come in contact with him will attest to that. He is loved by his patients and families and adored by the nurses and staff. Anyone on board to follow him to wherever he goes?
Lifepoint stock $29.55. Down another 37 cents today. Not looking good.
McCann is moving to Utah where his wife grew up and all of her family still lives. I love Dr McCann, but, not real sure I want to move to utah.
What gobbledygook about Duke. When I called Duke several months ago to see if they had a program in Danville, they said they DID NOT and referred us to Roxboro!!
So someone is lying, and I doubt it's Duke.
Several months ago the program was still existent because I work there (DRMC) and have been a part of it!!
I invite you to call Duke and ask them. Perhaps LifePoint is telling people it's Duke's program in a desperate effort to get business. LifePoint lies about many things, why not this? We weren't "just checking," we had a loved one who needed care, and of course we were terrified of going to Danville Regional. Things worked out just fine at the Duke heart place at Roxboro.
Just because you have a surgeon with a connection to Duke does NOT mean that the Duke Heart Center is operating at the Danville LifePoint hospital. Maybe that's the difference.
When this came up awhile back, I did the same thing. I called Duke and got the same answer. It makes sense to me that Lifepoint was continuing to claim the official Duke connection to drum up business, while actually it was being phased out. I too was referred to Roxboro.
Call Duke and ask them!
Yes the program is still there, however, the only real contact that Duke had with us was through Dr. McCann. They basiclly had no other say so in running of the program after Lifepoint took over.
So you say the program IS there? Your comment makes it pretty clear that the program is NOT there--just a surgeon. If Duke says their heart program is NOT there, how can Lifepoint claim it IS there?
The only contact we have with Duke is through Dr. McCann. Lifepoint will not increase nurse-to-patient ratios to be equal with Duke's standards. We have been told that the staffing grids are uniformally set at all hospitals and these are the grids that lifepoint will use. Before lifepoint, our nurses would go to Duke for additional training and classes as needed. Not anymore. I have a good friend that works at Duke in Physician Services, her job is to introduce new programs and have other hospitals partner with Duke to get these new programs up and running. She said that the only contact with Lifepoint is with Dr. McCann. Numerous attempts at meetings with Lifepoint administration do not come to fruitition. Technically, the heart program is still up and running, but, the only contact we have with Duke is when they bring a surgeon to relieve Dr. McCann to take a few days off. When Dr. McCann leaves in February there are no gaurentees that the heart program will continue.
My understanding is that the heart program will not be continued. Duke has pulled the “Plug” because there is not enough volume to maintain an adequate program. Duke not only provides coverage for the cardiac surgeon but they also have been providing the difference between what Dr. McCann earns from his surgery and what a fully qualified cardiac surgeon normally earns. In other words, Duke has been guaranteeing his salary. Obviously, they feel this is no longer in their best interest and it is probably not in Dr. McCann’s best interest or any other cardiac surgeon’s interest to try maintain a competent program in the setting of such low volume. Also, I would point out that the arrangement with Duke prior to Lifepoint involved much more than just the use of Duke’s logo. Duke also provided continuing education for the nurses and doctors and helped to maintain quality assurance programs that would help ensure the success of the program. This was in Duke’s best interest as they would not want their name associated with an inferior program. Yes, it was expensive but it was the best way to develop a top-notch heart surgery program and the program seemed to be gaining momentum prior to the arrival of Lifepoint. Naturally, Lifepoint was not willing to pay the fees charged by Duke and this is what we are left with.
Nothing more complicated that the continuing erosion of good medical services, thanks to LifePoint.
Is this surprising. Why do you people keep writing about it. No body disagrees with you. Just haul your butt down the road to a decent hospital and quit compalning.
I think most of us non-employees have already done that. You are right. I am not personally acquainted with anyone who would knowingly go to Lifepoint-DRMC.
But don't you think we all have a duty to support this blog and to raise questions and reveal facts about the horror that has come into our midst? And what about the people who lack the mobility and/or insurance to go elsewhere.
We aren't complaining, as you say. We are trying to good by letting others know what Lifepoint is doing to our community.
Why cant you call it like it is. We have been screwed. Our hospital stolen and sold. Now they got our blood. We have to go to the dam place and Im tired of hearing all this stuff from peopel who dont have to go. Weve been robbed just like a gun stuck in our chest.
Super website! Wish we had one. If you think Lifepoint is bad after two years, just wait 'til they really get their hooks into you.
...and their sharp claws. Always educate yourself about your condition and prognosis. Always ask questions, keep educating yourself for your own well-being. It's really hard to believe that some institutions will take advantage of you, but it can happen. Get copies of test reports as they're told to you-all doctors have copy machines. Then research always for your own good. Education is so important for our future.
Back to the subject at hand, what's the verdict on Ask DRMC, which is no doubt handled by Lifepoint? It appears to this observer that the answer on the Duke heart program was a clear spin and dodge--stuff our good Danville Regional folks are learning from Lifepoint.
Other opinions?
Yeah, its those claws that feel like scalpels....slice into you easy but look out a moment later.
Of course it's spin and dodge, dodge and spin. That's ALL you will ever get out of LifePoint. You got some slow-learners here, or what?
Whoah, easy now. Us low-hung fruits aint all that smart, but we learn pretty fast.
As a newcomer, I still wish someone would explain about the references to low-hanging fruit. I come from the Deep South where it is a highly derogatory racial slur. What's it got to do with Lifepoint?
Here it's being used as a business and society slur : lifepoint(small l) found 5 greedy ignorant as##s that would sell something that they didn't own and do it on the sly and a newspaper that was willing to aid them in such and thought DRMC would be an easy to grab (like low hanging fruit on a tree)asset that had no recourse but to give in to their bully tactics like at all their (and HCA the parent co.)other "hospitals".They didn't count on smart people and a highly educated staff/community nor did they count on a Non profit and a Heart surgeon who wouldn't sell their soul to the devil.Nor did they count on the Non profit teaching facilities all around that now are about 25 years ahead of DRMC.
lifepoint NEEDS TO BE GONE NOW
Perhaps Lifepoint needs to be gone NOW, but I would add that the creeps who sold us down the river should be gone, too--gone to jail!
Now they are trying to tear down the Long Mill for their personal profit.
If any of you read the Danville newspaper, you might look at the article today about what our conniving, ridiculous city manager Gwaltney is doing these days. He may not be a Bank Boy, but his ability to destroy good things makes him a candidate.
I wouldn't blow my nose on that filthy rag. They were up to their ears in letting LifePoint come in and wreck our community's best asset.
now they got the ads back from lifepoint, they quit running letters critical of the hospital, and this guy gwalty was all for it to get the tax money and to hell with the people. who brings this terrible sort of folks to this town.
On low-hanging fruits, it goes back to the reference the LifePoint CEO made during an investors' conference call. Investment groups were wondering why LifePoint bought DRMC, and the guy said into the microphone that they saw us as "low-hanging fruit." That specifically is what started all of it, as I recall. That statement alone summed up the contempt they held us in before they even got here.
One of the most revealing things about the idiots on this blog is their belief they are smarter than all the MBAs and wealthy execs who formed LifePoint and are making personal fortunes from it. You are not players. You are nothing more than the little fish swimming in front of the whale, and if the whale gets hungry, you better watch your backs.
Guess what Mr. know it all we have MBA's and PhD's and BSN's and ADN's also!!!!!
If Lifepoint were to put in new management, it could still be worth a try. Everybody makes mistakes, even though sometimes they do not understand they are doing it. It's up to all of us to keep the checks and balances. Trust is earned, along with respect. We're all in this together, and every day is a new day of decisions. We can't look at everything negatively, or positively. We just have to open our eyes.
"Once I was blind, but now I see".
since no one wants tobe employed here and those of us who have been here for what feels like an eternity howz bout "MORE MONEY"
Lfpt can put in all the mgrs they have and the results will be the same......profit, more profit and cut more expenses to get even more profit. They are not in the business of taking care of a community's health issues. They are in the business of making $$$$$.
How about a census report from DRMC for the last few days?
Has a new CEO signed on? I've been away.
I hear that Ruth McDaniel is getting a lot of credit for her work and that she may be given the job. She's seen as a team player with/by Brentwood.
Not even the joke you think it is.
Some things aren't funny. Besides, where would Ruth check her broomstick?
Maybe at Starbucks?
Come on, this is serious business.
How about a census report?
Give Ruth credit for what? Low morale and low staff. Wait a minute. isnt that a nebulous concept that cannot be measured?
I'll give her credit for saying a lot of words and still managing to say nothing at all of value, a true corporate stooge.
The fact remains that there will be medical supplies gobbled up by management in the for-profit scheme of things. Seems like a loose/loose either way to me.
I'm choosing sanity over all of it.
Ya know, sometimes people think they're doing good, and then they find out they aren't. Then it's risky trying to help, because you loose your mind and the people closest to you.
I know one thing, I've been through hell and back since I started this mess. I don't know whether to feel like an idiot or a concerned and loving person. But I do know who I am. Might end up a little confused at times, but I know what is and isn't important anymore. I also understand how things get mis-interpreted all the time.
I'm out.
Yep...you're out alright: Out of logic, out of correctly spelled words and out of sense.
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