Jason Sandford
Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.
Mission Hospitals and its board of directors has established a special committee to assess relations between the hospital and its physicians.
In a forthright letter dated Aug. 3 and signed by Mission Hospitals CEO Joe Damore, hospital board president George Renfro and fellow board members including K. Ray Bailey, Janice Brumit and John F.A.V. Cecil, the board notes that despite the hospital’s high performance ratings in terms of service, “rumblings of physician concerns have been unmistakable. We apologize for perhaps being too slow to respond.”
The issue apparently came to a head with the resignation of Dr. Mike Buechler from the hospital’s staff, according to the letter. The board received extensive feedback: “The commonality of all the comments was a sense of sadness and loss, as Mike has put much blood, sweat and tears into making the Trauma Service at Mission a center of excellence,” according to the letter.
The special board committee is due to report back to the Mission board by Sept. 15, according to the letter, and is being led by Bob Moore, former general counsel at the Mayo Clinic. Dr. Dale Fell was designated as the liaison to “assist employed physicians with any concerns or issues until Mission Medical Associates is operational by Oct. 1.,” according to the letter.
The letter goes on to state that the hospital will proceed with the implemention of Mission Medical Associates during the month of August.
“There is much to be done and the administration agrees that, in the future, we will only pursue partnering with physician groups where there is a mutual strategic advantage to do so and where the physician group is in agreement.”
I’m still reporting this story, so I apologize for not fully understanding all the issues involved. I’m working on getting specifics about the problems with the relationship between the hospital and doctors.
I don’t know what Mission Medical Associates is, and that appears to be a critical element here. I don’t know the details of Dr. Buechler’s resignation. So bear with me.
I’m putting this out there, knowing full well that other media outlets will begin taking notice of this story. My aim is to simply help the community understand what’s going on at one of our region’s most prestigious institutions (and one of our biggest employers.)
If you can help me understand what’s going on, feel free to leave a comment here or e-mail me at [email protected]
Click here to read the letter from Mission Hospitals board, as well as a cover letter provided to me by the source of the document.
This is in response to comment by "Can’t Believe"
As we have pointed out there are NUMEROUS areas that have been "RE-ALIGNED" and the board needs to investigate these areas. And it is not just the nursing areas, there are several ancillary areas UNDER KS that have been butchered and now the environmental and food services areas! Someone needs to stop HR from being allowed to demote or re-align any other area. Maria Rolloff is causing serious damage to this hospital in the loss or re-alignment of great talent. It is NOT going to help if the "blue ribbon panel" only speaks to the current administration and physicians! You need to speak with the "underlyings!" The mid level management that can produce the documentation which will make your jaws drop!
As I watch what’s happening at Mission it scare’s me to think this is going on.No one has said anything about the rn’s on A-Med who have been told that they will have to reapply for there jobs.Some of those R.N.s have been here forever!!!!! This isn’t fair.And Joe thinks he’s made us a top 100 HOSPITAL……I think not!!What about you?As I read in a another comment WHERE IS THE UNION????KEEP MB AND GET RID OF DARMORE AND ASHTON!!!!
in response to the letter from "Mission Hospital Board", . . . " we apologize for PERHAPS being slow to respond" . . . . Obviously, this response is solely due to the leak to the media!! The serious and intolerable conduct of this Administration which not only includes Joe Damore, but also Kathy Guyette, has been reported and made known to administration for a looong time. Please, don’t add insult to injury by making such a preposterous remark. Do the right thing and leave!
You have done a great job investigating this story. I have no idea how you got a copy of this letter, but its impact is huge – the signees include many of the most respected and influential physicians in the community (not to mention the biggest moneymakers for the hospital system). Asheville medicine is acknowledged far and wide for its excellence. This is largely due to the quality and efforts of the medical staff (easy to attract top docs to this area!), along with the benign cooperation of previous administrators, resulting in a patient-oriented, efficient, kind, and friendly medical environment. The new sheriff (medical administration) in town takes a purely business (not patient!)-oriented approach, finding reasons to let valued, capable, and even beloved hospital empoyees go (they are higher paid due to seniority), and threatening long term excellent but recalcitrant physicians with replacement by warm bodies from foreign lands. It will be interesting to see how the hospital board handles this (and where they seek their own medical care in the future).
A.V.,
You say "…other media outlets will begin taking notice of this story.". I believe that these media outlets receive a lot of ad income from the hospital system. I expect them to tread very lightly about these issues.
Hostility toward private practice physicians has been obvious and known for over 18 months. It was commonly stated in departmental meetings that these "damned doctors" would be replaced by physicians that were employees of Mission.
Dismayed
Excellent points from sideline observer! As one who has watched this from the inside, when Joe came into town in 2004 with guns blazing, I have come to the conclusion that the board approves of this behavior. He was abrasive and threatening from the beginning and lied whenever it suited his purposes. I have to wonder what the board’s motives are. The fact that Joe signed the recent letter to the doctors implies that this is only lip service. I say to Joe Damore, "Delta is ready when you are," and be sure to take Brian with you.
For those who have not yet read the posting just entered on 8/17 "More on Mission’s Integration of Doctors", I suggest you do so to understand how long this has been going on. Please then scroll back to the top of that article and read all 65 entries that were posted in response to the November article. It is done by clicking on the word "here" in the line "The thread is here."
After having done so, the obvious (at least to me) questions are (1) Why wasn’t action taken by the Board to investigate the basis of claims now proven to be true? (2) Where was the AC-T, and why have they ignored this story? Is it because of pressure from Missions or one of the very prominent board members who knew about JD’s history? (3) Where is the l;eadership in Asheville that, having read the insinuations, did not ask for an investigation? (4) Why are Damore/Aston still allowed in the building?
Time for board action. The Board blew it in November. How long are you going to sit on it this time?
Great job by the site provider of tying this all together!
As while you’re investigating problems at Asheville institutions, did you note the following comment on Mountain Express?
"As a Phillips Hall employee, I can state that Ponder and Riley, as co-dictators, are running the university into the ground."