Comments on what’s going on at Mission Hospitals continue to roll in. I found this one to be helpful in trying to understand what’s going on:
As an employee who’s worked closely with both physicians and mezzanine-level staff for a few years now, I believe I can fairly represent the “third party” opinion that many hospital employees have.
Please remember that the vast majority of hospital employees are not the embattled non-employed physicians and administration discussed here…they’re WNC natives who actually do care about our region!
If you read nothing else, read this: Mission continues to provide great quality of care, no matter what hospital (in any region) we’re compared to. Outcomes are excellent and will continue to be so, because of the great staff we enjoy.
You may have read that recently Carolinas Healthcare has moved into our region by making a joint operating agreement with Haywood regional medical center, after Haywood lost their Joint Commission accreditation. This has opened the door for several associated practices to leverage the situation (or threaten to) to leave for “greener pastures” in the region.
You may have read that the entire OB/GYN practice at McDowell Hospital gave 2 months notice and left for Carolinas. click here
Despite the publicity, this recent situation is just another in a long line of disputes that have been going on between administration and physicians. In 99 percent of the cases, I believe that it’s physicians threatening lower outcomes or reduced referrals to negotiate better deals with hospital administration.
The two sides of the argument are basically that administration lacks control (contracting, cost, referral, etc) over physicians offices that they don’t own, while physicians feel they have no control over the administrative direction of the hospital, since they are subject to Joe Damore’s regulations.
I do not believe that either group is completely right, or working for the best interest of Western NC. However, I do believe that the hospital administration is the least guilty of the parties. In my experience, the most vocal of these physicians have displayed “have it my way” attitudes, with idealistic goals and a generally selfish attitude. Of course, this is not true across the board but the most vocal (and often least informed) physicians are the most publicized.
The administration of the hospital has taken a “batten down the hatches” approach to the current economic situation. In order to control costs, they have begun to negotiate acquisitions with many practices that already operate 100 percent inside the hospital in order to control costs.
Non-employed referring physicians have balked at these agreements because they threaten the lucrative nature of their existing agreements. By the wayside, the rest of the hospital’s employees have lost benefits and salary increases this year. The general consensus is that we’re lucky to maintain our jobs this year, while physicians bemoan the lack of progress.
Personally I am appalled at the selfishness of local physicians. Make no mistake, many of these practices are here to make money off of you…not to take care of you! In the end, I encourage everyone reading this to bow out of this argument of corporate steering versus private interest. It’s not beneficial to any of us, nor is it in the interest of our community.
mama sue….please don’t add posts that just aren’t true. Mission currently has less RN travelers than we have had in about 8 yrs. and our RN turnover rate is below State and National average. Nurses are way too busy and focused on taking care of the patients to get caught up in all this garbage. Staff satisfaction results were very positive on our unit and pt satisfaction runs between 95%-99% positive every month. We are not the exception but rather the norm. Sure we have always had RNs move to and FROM the VA or physicains offices. That is one of the great things about a nursing career……. you do have flexibility and. opportunities to move to a variety of settings and still be a nurse. I have rehired several nurses who have left for a while then returned to Mission. Unfortunately for those who are just graduating from Nursing school and looking to begin their career at Mission, we have very few openings due to our low turnover rate.
I was recently hospitalized and I have never seen the morale of the nurses so low. Many nurses are leaving for the V.A. and they love it there. MMH is replacing them with traveling nurses that cost more and have no relationship to WNC. In some cases they do not no what they are doing. I had that unfortunate experience.
To all who are bashing the "greedy" physicians, may I please enlighten you since you have not done your homework and are clearly commenting only on a visceral level? If physicians are employed by a hospital, they will actually INCREASE their incomes. The same service billed through the hospital rather than a physician’s office reimburses about 15% more, which the doctor and the hospital would divide up. I have my ideas about the reasons for this perverse incentive, but you would have to ask CMS (Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services) for their reasoning.
Thus, the only reason for the physicians not to work for the hospital is because of the loss of autonomy. If you trusted your administration, perhaps you could circumvent this concern, but not with the current administration which has truly behaved in the fashion outlined in all of these posts. They have earned ZERO trust. Physicians have seen how they treat employed staff and doctors and how they have bungled deals with regional hospitals. The groups negotiaiting with them presently are forced to do so because of enormous overhead or threats of competition, not because they desire to partner with these incompetent thugs. They are the only large groups not to sign the letter to the Board because of the obvious fear of dirty retaliation tactics from this administration.
Can any of you fault a physician their income for the training and service provided, esp in light of the executive salaries of administration? Who has invested over 25-35 years (on average) in education with the attendant loans; works over 60 hr weeks, nights, weekends; risks a potential lottery judgement lawsuit daily to care for you; and yes, cares for you with all the worry of have they done their best for you, missed anything, given you that shoulder to cry on, and suffered with you in the loss of a beloved patient. The emotional strain is great and often their families bear the brunt of it. Please give them the respect they deserve, just like our troops. They go to battle every day for you.
The view from the mezzanine is not the same as front row seats for the current performance of "Damore’s Demons". We are all hoping for the final curtain of this tragedy. If you have indeed had a four year season pass, then you too may be part of the cast.
Good work from Mission’s HR and community relations department. There are major problems with the U.S. healthcare system – how convenient for MH’s "speakers" to capitalize on that for the news while not addressing ANY of the true problems. There should be discussions and fairness in any contract negotiation in ANY business – what is missing at Mission is MERIT – it hasn’t existed on the MEZZ for the past 3-4 years- it’s ruled by fear and INTIMIDATION especially against WOMEN! Pay attention!
This commentary appeared to possess some credibility with its claim of third-party impartiality until its author completely destroyed it with the following: "Personally I am appalled at the selfishness of local physicians. Make no mistake, many of these practices are here to make money off of you…not to take care of you!"
"Appalled at the slefishness of local physicians"!?! Did Joe write your comments or just review them before posting? No doubt many of our doctors are very wealthy, but they are not trying to take control of WNC’s entire health care system by dictating contracts to the City, demanding a seat on the the board at the Chamber of Commerce, withholding money from local charities (ABCCM), and threatening local business leaders, regional hosptials, and physician pratices. I fail to see how anyone can defend the behavior of Joe Damore and Brian Aston. The liars and bullies in charge of the Mission Monopoly are holding us hostage and the pillars of our community on the hospital board have looked the other way for too long.