Purpose statement
Since it has been nearly nine months since starting this blog, I thought it would be helpful to some of our new and loyal readers to re-iterate the purpose.
We have and will focus on numerous topics that affect our lives including personal choices, morality, education, routine health care issues and of course the issues related to the Hospital. Some topics will be humorous, others fun and lighthearted, and still others very serious. Each is given from my perspective and with my opinion and some will agree while others will not.
I have major concerns about the current structure and political issues related to our hospital and our healthcare. I was appointed to the Board and served four years until my term expired in January of this year. I was an outspoken critic of the current administration and was very open about the direction I felt Floyd needed to go. I was not reappointed in part because of the controversy I stirred up. I made it very clear to the Board and the CEO that I believed the Hospital would begin to decline if the current CEO remained after the new addition was built.
As the only physician on the Board, I had a perspective and insight that no other Board member had. My replacement on the board by a non-physician has left the Board without an inside perspective and has allowed the CEO to continue to filter the information the Board receives. The medical staff as well as the current Board and the Floyd County Medical Society have all sent letters to the County Commissioners requesting physicians be placed back on the Board. It has been 6 months and the Commissioners have not yet responded; in part because it would it appear as if they made a mistake.
The new addition was a huge financial undertaking and in order for it to succeed, I believed and still believe we would need to partner with physicians in a multitude of areas in order to continue generating the revenue required to meet financial assumptions. It was my fiduciary responsibility to point out the areas of concern. I also believe that most physicians do not trust this administration and will have a hard time partnering for the future success of Floyd.
I accepted the fact that I was in the minority of individuals willing to express the true concerns but I continued to vote on what I felt was best for patient care, the hospital and its employees. I was the sole dissenting vote when it came to giving a raise to the CEO. I was the dissenting vote on funding the legal battle against the private hospital that eventually cost Floyd around a quarter of a million dollars. I continued to address the low patient satisfaction, employee satisfaction, and physician satisfaction numbers from the surveys. I continually brought up the relationship issues that have been so devastated by this administration.
I made predictions that we would continue to lose loyal physicians in partnership arrangements because of the severe lack of trust in the CEO. These were made very openly in Board meetings and other venues. Several of these are identified in previous blogs and many have already come true and there will be more to come.
I never wanted the change in leadership to be a battle and I was very open about wanting a smooth transition of the CEO to begin the new era in the Floyd Memorial history.
Unfortunately, I was in the minority and we could not obtain the majority of votes on this issue. We had and continue to have some Board members who are very nice people, but unwilling to address some of the real issues in a proactive manner.
The Board did approve the budget every year but was very concerned about the budget for 2006. The CEO and CFO lowered the acceptable margin for the first time in all the years I served. We asked how conservative the numbers were and were assured by these individuals that they felt they could be met.
Now at the last staff meeting, the CEO announced we were not even reaching this lowered goal and would need to make additional cuts. The truthfulness of his comments at our staff meeting has already been addressed. The Board meets tonight and will surely talk in length about the financial numbers. Beginning Wednesday or Thursday, I anticipate the CEO will begin sharing the information with the employees.
The one or two critics who continually condemn me and this blog rationalize and make excuses for the performance of this CEO and administration. They continue to comment about the past and how every other hospital is also struggling and how we shouldn't blame this CEO. Yet they are very insecure about discussing the issues and they continue to search for my sources and are committed to finding the leaks. They continue to do this while hiding behind the veil of anonymity. It has been suggested that these anonymous critics are either in administration or represent administration. We’ll let the readers decide.
I chose to allow anonymous comments because I believe that getting the information out and allowing all sides to be heard is beneficial. I could just as easily, with the click of a button, choose to not allow comments. This would have prevented the personal attacks by these one or two individuals, but I think the readers have benefited from hearing the verbal diatribes.
On our present course, we are quickly reaching a point in the finances that more drastic actions may need to be taken. Our bond rating could be affected and if the financial numbers would get to a certain low level, the hospital management could be taken over. These are serious issues that the Board needs to discuss in depth.
No matter what the critics verbalize, I had always hoped that the transition in leadership could be made on mutual agreement, but at the current rate of decline, it may eventually need to be made out of necessity. We cannot continue to lose critical physician relationships and the revenue these relationships bring to the hospital. I’ve stated these things very clearly for more than four years and many of the things I predicted are already occurring.
Complacency, conflict avoidance, and ignoring the obvious will continue to wreck the morale of our most important assets; our employees and our physicians. The employees have always been what make this hospital successful. Administrators will come and go, but physicians and employees are the foundation of this great institution. My goal is to see it stays that way!
We have and will focus on numerous topics that affect our lives including personal choices, morality, education, routine health care issues and of course the issues related to the Hospital. Some topics will be humorous, others fun and lighthearted, and still others very serious. Each is given from my perspective and with my opinion and some will agree while others will not.
I have major concerns about the current structure and political issues related to our hospital and our healthcare. I was appointed to the Board and served four years until my term expired in January of this year. I was an outspoken critic of the current administration and was very open about the direction I felt Floyd needed to go. I was not reappointed in part because of the controversy I stirred up. I made it very clear to the Board and the CEO that I believed the Hospital would begin to decline if the current CEO remained after the new addition was built.
As the only physician on the Board, I had a perspective and insight that no other Board member had. My replacement on the board by a non-physician has left the Board without an inside perspective and has allowed the CEO to continue to filter the information the Board receives. The medical staff as well as the current Board and the Floyd County Medical Society have all sent letters to the County Commissioners requesting physicians be placed back on the Board. It has been 6 months and the Commissioners have not yet responded; in part because it would it appear as if they made a mistake.
The new addition was a huge financial undertaking and in order for it to succeed, I believed and still believe we would need to partner with physicians in a multitude of areas in order to continue generating the revenue required to meet financial assumptions. It was my fiduciary responsibility to point out the areas of concern. I also believe that most physicians do not trust this administration and will have a hard time partnering for the future success of Floyd.
I accepted the fact that I was in the minority of individuals willing to express the true concerns but I continued to vote on what I felt was best for patient care, the hospital and its employees. I was the sole dissenting vote when it came to giving a raise to the CEO. I was the dissenting vote on funding the legal battle against the private hospital that eventually cost Floyd around a quarter of a million dollars. I continued to address the low patient satisfaction, employee satisfaction, and physician satisfaction numbers from the surveys. I continually brought up the relationship issues that have been so devastated by this administration.
I made predictions that we would continue to lose loyal physicians in partnership arrangements because of the severe lack of trust in the CEO. These were made very openly in Board meetings and other venues. Several of these are identified in previous blogs and many have already come true and there will be more to come.
I never wanted the change in leadership to be a battle and I was very open about wanting a smooth transition of the CEO to begin the new era in the Floyd Memorial history.
Unfortunately, I was in the minority and we could not obtain the majority of votes on this issue. We had and continue to have some Board members who are very nice people, but unwilling to address some of the real issues in a proactive manner.
The Board did approve the budget every year but was very concerned about the budget for 2006. The CEO and CFO lowered the acceptable margin for the first time in all the years I served. We asked how conservative the numbers were and were assured by these individuals that they felt they could be met.
Now at the last staff meeting, the CEO announced we were not even reaching this lowered goal and would need to make additional cuts. The truthfulness of his comments at our staff meeting has already been addressed. The Board meets tonight and will surely talk in length about the financial numbers. Beginning Wednesday or Thursday, I anticipate the CEO will begin sharing the information with the employees.
The one or two critics who continually condemn me and this blog rationalize and make excuses for the performance of this CEO and administration. They continue to comment about the past and how every other hospital is also struggling and how we shouldn't blame this CEO. Yet they are very insecure about discussing the issues and they continue to search for my sources and are committed to finding the leaks. They continue to do this while hiding behind the veil of anonymity. It has been suggested that these anonymous critics are either in administration or represent administration. We’ll let the readers decide.
I chose to allow anonymous comments because I believe that getting the information out and allowing all sides to be heard is beneficial. I could just as easily, with the click of a button, choose to not allow comments. This would have prevented the personal attacks by these one or two individuals, but I think the readers have benefited from hearing the verbal diatribes.
On our present course, we are quickly reaching a point in the finances that more drastic actions may need to be taken. Our bond rating could be affected and if the financial numbers would get to a certain low level, the hospital management could be taken over. These are serious issues that the Board needs to discuss in depth.
No matter what the critics verbalize, I had always hoped that the transition in leadership could be made on mutual agreement, but at the current rate of decline, it may eventually need to be made out of necessity. We cannot continue to lose critical physician relationships and the revenue these relationships bring to the hospital. I’ve stated these things very clearly for more than four years and many of the things I predicted are already occurring.
Complacency, conflict avoidance, and ignoring the obvious will continue to wreck the morale of our most important assets; our employees and our physicians. The employees have always been what make this hospital successful. Administrators will come and go, but physicians and employees are the foundation of this great institution. My goal is to see it stays that way!
Labels: Obama
posted by Anonymous at 6:15 AM
9 Comments:
I was the sole dissenting vote"
That, and your failure to gain reappointment, says a lot about the persuasivenss of your positions and the effectiveness of your personal style when working in a group environment.
For the benefit of the readers, I never sought the original appointment. The County Commissioners asked me to take the position because they were extremely frustrated and needed someone to address the problems with the administration.
Political and personal reasons from Commissioner Freiberger, as discussed previously, prevented the reappointment. This was another error on his part and can be seen by what is currently happening.
In our society, the majority may rule, but they are not necessarily right.
Time will prove me correct.
We are still waiting for you to tell the readers who you are.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
I am not an employee, board member or part of government. I am a long time user of hospital services and someone who believes it is one of the things in our community about which we can be proud.
I have learned about you from this blog. It is my impression that you have let your ego and your dislike for the CEO cloud your judgment. You had four years on the "inside" and you were not effective in getting your agenda accomplished. You can talk all you want about the effectiveness of the CEO in managing relationships, but from here, it looks like he has done a much better job than you. He is still in place and you are on the outside.
When you pursue a treatment regimen that doesn't work out, how long do you stay with it before you decide to try something else?
The facts are clear and becoming clearer to more people regarding the administration.
Your identity still remains unclear and I along with the readers doubt your honesty. If you have no connection, there would be no reason to hide your attacks behind anonymity.
I served my 4 years on the board just as many others have done. I am not the first to not be reappointed and won't be the last. That's what happens in political positions.
You are entitled to your opinions, but what are they based on. If you have no working knowlege from the inside, I'd say you are extremely opinionated. But it adds to the discussions and therefore has some value.
Opinions, ideas, facts (or interpretations thereof), statistics, etc. posted here and on other internet forums such as this stand or fall in each readers' eyes based upon their own merit. I believe that the tone and content of many of the replies on here come from sources with some kind of connection to FMH, although frequently claiming otherwise. I believe the goings-on of local politics at times receives too little public scrutiny which is why I come here and read these exchanges.
HB,
Even though we have locked horns several times, I do appreciate your blog. I have learned much from it. You also have my respect--whatever that may be worth.
What else I get from your blog is some satifaction. Many times I think that I am the most hardheaded person around. I can come to this blog and realize, if HB & DT are at it, that my placing is 3rd at best!
Dr. Dan,
I appreciate your honesty and while you share your opinion with others, I appreciate that you let others make their own decisions as to the state the hospital is in. The anonymous reader that will not reveal themselves to us is a very close minded individual that obviously has no connection to any of the employees in the hospital or is obtunded to the fact that both internal and external customers are not happy. Sounds like someone in administration to me!
I agree with; that other physicians should definitely be on the board and not just one at a time. It might even be a good idea to have a seasoned registered nurse on the board as well.
Having physicians in surrounding areas would be great assests to become members of this facility. I believe it is the only way to have the ability to grow in the coorperate world.
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