hospital impact

One of the first things that a "white knight" in the current healthcare environment must do is get the staff on board.

A purchase situation is tramatic to healthcare in it's own right. You lose qualified staff in the onset, just because of the anticipation factor.

You lose staff in the first 90-120 days because of the loss of comfort zones.

But, at the two year mark, you shouldn't be bleeding staff and staffing with temps unless it has gone very, very, wrong....

The continuing saga of Essent Healthcare(?) and Paris, TX.
Log to www.the-paris-site.blogspot.com

The saga continues:
Paris is a small town in what many would consider fly-over country; 25,000 and with a medical community that once served about five times that base. No longer.

One of the largest growth areas is the medical transport business: doubling, possibly tripling the previous patient load out of Paris.

At the hospital, travelers (temp staff) abound, in some cases totally staffing the floors.

In a more-or-less 300 bed combined facility, they lost 11 staff the last week in May, and more to go. This is coming up on three years, with a bleak outlook.

Possibly it's the management style, maybe the lack of unions (their only other non-union facility was sold after losing money four out of five years) makes them feel the need to act out on a less protected staff. Or just maybe the change up in the management of Essent is foretelling their future...and it's time to abandon ship for everyone. If so, it will be two in a row for Hud Connery, and that's a hard track record to shake....

Just a word to the wise: Apparently Essent Healthcare has filed a complaint with the Texas Attorney General's office against the-paris-site, and author(s) unknown.

Apparently the AG's office is investigating.

Kind of kicks liabilities up there a notch, doesn't it?

Frank

We are a national healthcare facilities developer. We think that healthcare facilities are very strategic, and have ideas that your audience might find interesting on topics such as how to select a healthcare developer without going through an expensive and time consuming process, can the developer add value to the strategic and business planning process for outpatient facilities, and is there a way to monetize assets and keep control of the businesses and physician relationships within the monetized buildings?

Apparently Medicare fraud is in the air, and PRMC is looking for a scapegoat. Billing practices from the rehabilitation unit are suspect, as well as vascular ultrasound studies billed by the hospital, but done by unregistered technologists.

Could it be that the professional fees will become a part of this, as the radiologists are locum employees of the hospital?

On the corporate front: Two acquisition attempts have been made by Essent, with two rejections. They are attempting another in NJ. Will the third time be the charm, or will Hudson Connery go down in flames again? Stay tuned to the blog....

Frank Pasquale's ideas may be good but his delivery cheapens them. He is too personal. I went to his blog about a hospital in Paris TX- but it is really about his feelings for the CEO. Must have been a romance gone bad which is better left to blogs of a different ilk than hospitals.

"Frank Pasquale's ideas may be good but his delivery cheapens them. He is too personal. I went to his blog about a hospital in Paris TX- but it is really about his feelings for the CEO. Must have been a romance gone bad which is better left to blogs of a different ilk than hospitals."

Interesting speculation, but this was the company that was being sued by a gay couple in MA for denial of healthcare benefits.

Sensationalism sells, bunky. One can write an article that is factual, to the point, and nothing left out...and no one reads it. The same article put in the perspective of the public personna generates identification. That is what generates readership.

Does it cheapen the message? Possibly, but if no one hears the message, what value does it have to cheapen?

By the way, Essent withdrew from their last attempt in Hammonton, NJ. That's three....

...and Leon, I checked out your site...a little thin on content, wouldn't you say...? One can copy headings, but generally readers expect a little commentary....

According to Millennium Research Group, medical errors are the fifth leading cause of death in the United States and account for more than 100,000 deaths each year. Per the press release below, Outcome Sciences, along with American Heart Association, announced this morning the important enhancement of the Patient Management Tool for Get With the Guidelines Program

1 - The enhancement, called Continuity of Care Records (CCR), will help foster and improve the continuity of patient care, reduce medical errors, and assure at least a minimum standard of health information transportability when a patient is referred or transferred to another provider

2 - This improved PMT™ supports the exporting of patient records in the CCR standard XML format. This XML document can be shared electronically with other electronic health record (EHR) systems. Additionally, the PMT™ will allow for the CCR to be viewed and printed in PDF format. The patient may receive this document for his/her personal files or to be shared with another clinician responsible for follow-up care.

3 - Gregg C Fonarow, M.D., National Chairman of the GWTG Steering Committee and Director of Ahmanson-UCLA Cardiomyopathy Center stated “As a result, we think this will help improve communications between the physician and patient as well as maximize the patient’s quality of care.”


If you are interested in speaking with the CEO of Outcome Sciences, Richard Gliklich please contact me at (212) 850-5734

Jessica Jeng, FD

Thought I'd leave another comment, although it might be incorporated into the lawsuit against me. Yep, I'm John Doe #1.

The same article put in the perspective of the public persona generates identification. That is what generates readership.

This made it into the lawsuit. All it says is that the difference in a reading of dry statistics and putting some emotion to the experience is what creates readership. Ask any reporter that has covered an emotionally charged event.

Essent seem to think that it is tantamount to lying.

That fits in with their charge of defamation...and they threw in a violation of HIPAA...but last I heard, HIPAA violations were prosecuted by the Federal Government, and not in a civil court--unless it was by the injured party.

The also sited leaving a link to my blog as part of the defamation suit, so I won't this time (you can use the one supplied by this site!) ComputerWorld also did a pretty good article on it.

As they say, Judge for yourself!

Jessica and Frank. Speaking of leadership....does anyone in leadership ask the nursing staff involved for any suggestions or comments regarding the reasons for your statement of "According to Millennium Research Group, medical errors are the fifth leading cause of death in the United States and account for more than 100,000 deaths each year."? Nursing staff knows why these medical errors are occuring but management doesn't seem to listen. According to Kane, (2007) having a higher ratio of registered nursing staff decreases the number of adverse events in patients as well as increasing patient safety. A decreased length of stay as well as a decreased risk of hospital-related death was directly related to an increase in the number of hours spent by registered nurses in providing direct patient care (ibid). Kane, R., (March 2007); “Nurse staffing and quality of patient care”. Evidence Report/Technology Assessment, pp1-115. PMID: 17764206. Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/results?vid=8&hid=112&sid=657d6af3-2278-4256-9516-7ebc950dcfff%40sessionmgr109 on October 5, 2007. This is an excellent article on the decline in patient care being directly related to a decrease in nursing staff available on any given unit. Most hospital administrators site as an excuse the current nursing shortage, but this is only an excuse. But as we will read, this is only an excuse since in 1997, “the California Board of Registered Nursing found that only 60% of registered nurses holding active licenses chose to work in hospital. Why are registered nurses steering clear of hospitals? The number one reason, cited by nurses in survey after survey, is unsafe staffing ratios” (Furillo, 2001). Furillo, J., (April 2001); “Ensuring Safe Nurse-to-Patient Ratios”; 174:4, pp 233-234; Western Journal of Medicine; BMJ Publishing Group, 2001; retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=pubmed&Cmd=ShowDetailView&TermToSearch=11290665&ordinalpos=1&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVAbstractPlus and http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?tool=pubmed&pubmedid=11290665 on September 18, 2007. Why are we losing our nurses within the hospital setting? Stressful work conditions, inadequate staffing, and poor morale due to nurses not being fulfilled in their current work situations.

Hey Tony, Nick and Team
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-Karl