Tuesday, March 13, 2007

...priceless....3/25

One thing about the internet: It just keeps on giving. For example take Andy Knizley. Asked to resign (fired, terminated with great prejudice, gone, liquidated) by Hud, who put it in an interview that he had no immediate prospects. He's had several searches that have lead back to companies in healthcare. And they've looked long and hard. ...and that will be there for a long time in archives, which will be pulled up by any prospective employer.

Soran got out with barely a scratch, but his parking lot monitor replacement should be coming into numerous sights (and sites.) "The new CEO Steve Roach (previously the CFO) is a 33 year old bean counter who spends his time photographing employees as they drive up to the back door to punch in." Not terribly impressive on a background search....

David Kreye has had enough said about him in this blog that it would be safe to characterize him as the type that would pull the wings off flies.

Anna Jean O'Neil, an Essent golden child, and mobile mouthpiece for Hud is also gone. Haven't hung that much on her...but some things did cross my email that I haven't been able to verify yet. Time will tell...and tell...and tell....

There are enough people that work for Hud and absolutely despise him, that I could hold out as long as he did with Crossroads...and we do remember Bill Hepburn: ... said Essent stuck $38.5M into improvements there. SSM has on their site that they've dumped several million into it as well. How can a hospital that new (the physical plant was what, less than 13years old when Essent bought it?) need that much capital investment and lose that much...(in four out of five years)....and still have the same CEO at corporate? Amazing, truely amazing. Apparently what they say around Nashville is true...just not able to be published...



  • Starting your own corporation---$80M
  • Buying a mis-managed not-for-profit---$110M
  • Watching it trickle down the drain because of a free blogsite---Priceless!

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

Everyone is being so quiet. Kinda erie, don't you think?

I went to the ER the other day. (I wasn't the pt. by the way). The ER techs were gone. I'll bet they didn't get another nurse to take up any slack. I know they were busy.

Anonymous said...

They didn't, and we were!

Anonymous said...

See that's the thing with you bloggers. You just don't understand the true facts. Everyone in Paris SHOULD be grateful to ESSENT. ESSENT saved St. Joseph's and Paris, Tx. If they didn't come along and buy the hospital, it would have closed. Then where would you be?

If you truly understood the FACTS, you would understand that ESSENT rescued St. Joseph's and Paris, Tx. Instead of criticizing, you should be praising ESSENT.

Ahh, but here's the rub: Essent wasn't the only bidder!

As such, I've worked in other for-profits, and been there when a not-for-profit was taken over...it wasn't the bloodbath that this one has been.

Essent either hasn't gotten a good handle on the process, or just didn't have the resources to carry it through.

Larger organizations have more resources at their disposal, can take the time (attrition more than dismissals), and are interested in the long haul (and getting the staff invested in the process), rather than the quarterly figures.

Essent has been micro-managing from Nashville, and flying off in different directions--unsettling to the staff, and a red flag to patients.

One would even say that they've created their own scenario for a takeover model: Pumping in the money for the floor remodels, but cutting staff and maintenance. This has lowered the patient census, and therefore the bottom line. They were generally looking for a facility that had over-committed to capital investments and was in financial trouble, picking up the results at bargain-basement prices.

Now they've created one.

They just didn't realize the extent of the capital they needed to commit. Hud probably should fire his evaluation team from this one.... Oh yeah, he did.....frank

fac_p said...

Guess Dick is back at Carraway, or someone else is playing on the internet far too long. 2hrs 36min logged to the blog? Now there is an expense at a CEO's salary...guess it's just one of the perks....
dick-carraway.pdf

Oh well, smoke break is over....

...frank

Anonymous said...

The true facts are that the hospital doesn't seem to give a damn about pt. care.

I think the rest of us bloggers are just trying to figure out what's worse--no hospital--or cutting us so thin that the mistakes may kill more people than it saves.

Anonymous said...

ESSENT saved St. Joseph's and Paris, Tx. If they didn't come along and buy the hospital, it would have closed. Then where would you be?

EH?!?!? Do my eyes decieve me? Nope, unbelievable as it is, its there for all to peruse.

See, that's the problem, the E$$ent mindset of flinging poo at the wall and hoping it sticks just don't cut it my friend. And it appears as though you've fallen prey to the automoton training. If you're going to write idiotic comments like this, post the facts as well to back up your particular brand of poo, OOPS, appears Frank beat ya to it! Get a grip yutz!

Anonymous said...

What's really scarey is working here and having to use this for healthcare. We know what goes on here!

The person off the street has heard rumors, but we've seen it with our own beady eyes. Even if we were to quit, we're still tied to this place since relatives and friends are at its mercy.

No matter what we do to make it better, Essent shoots it in the foot. We work harder to make up for shortages (Oops, mustn't say shortage!) and they lay off more. We work overtime to cover, and they flex us so not to pay the OT.

Where it ends is my taking a hike. I can get a job elsewhere, and if they're willing to pay a $10,000 bonus, so much the better. I just hope they offer an attitude rehab class at orientation!

Not rehab, norming....frank

Anonymous said...

I like that word norming.

I've been gone for 2 years, and I'm still not quite there. I saw a look on another guy the other day who is about to quit.

It's a look of trying to make management happy, while still doing the right thing for the employees. You can't do it--and for people who really care--who really want to make a difference--it eats you up, body and soul.

To those of you that have been a part of this big ole disfunctional family--hats off to surviving. As far as norming goes--I wouldn't count on it.

I don't think anyone is quite the same after leaving this situation.

Anonymous said...

"If you truly understood the FACTS, you would understand that ESSENT rescued St. Joseph's and Paris, Tx. Instead of criticizing, you should be praising ESSENT."

Some kind of rescue: Please, throw me an anchor!!!!

Sorry, I'll take the other guy.

"Essent has been micro-managing from Nashville, and flying off in different directions--unsettling to the staff, and a red flag to patients."

Unsettling??? We're waiting for the next shoe, or bomb to drop. And red flag isn't exactly what I'd call it, it's a BRIDGE OUT sign in front of a cliff!!!

When are people going to understand that Hud and Dickie are half of the four horsemen of the apocalypse! Death and Pestilence are here, we're holding a table for Famine and War!

Anonymous said...

Starting your own corporation---$80M
Buying a mis-managed not-for-profit---$110M
Turning it into a mis-managed for-profit---Pricy!

Anonymous said...

Oh, I'm so glad I made the 11:36 comment! Wow, it really stirred things up!

I really feel that that's the way E$$ent feels that they saved us! Bullcrap on that. They were not the only bidder. Now THEY can't seem to make a go of it to their satisfaction and they want to blame everyone else. The doctors, the nurses, the greedy radiologists. They are not smart enough to figure out that they are not smart enough.

Anonymous said...

In regards to the 11:36 blog. Grateful to Essent, are you kidding me? Have you not ever viewed other healthcare organizations to see how they actually should be run? It is embarassing to say that I have even worked at this place. The patients aren't taken care of, is this a place where you'd want to drop good old granny off to get taken care of? Bathed, cleaned, fed, those are things that are supposed to be done everyday!! I've seen patients who can't feed themselves with their breakfast trays still sitting in front of them at lunch! And the Essent bean counters just walk around with their thumbs up their butts not giving 2 craps, oh but as long as they pay a downpayment before their services it's all good! They got their money from the patients, who cares about how they get treated after that? Well, I DO! Trust me, go up the road to Dallas for your care. I did, and it was well worth it.

Anonymous said...

I have a new name for Hud & Co: BLTs. No, not the sandwich! BLT stands for Bottom Line Thinking. BLTing is as bad as Linear Thinking. Back in the 50's & 60's linear thinking caused a lot of chaos with this bit: Blacks march. Communists march. Therefore, ALL blacks are communists. Obviously, linear thinking is often wrong. Bottom Line Thinking is ALWAYS wrong.
BLT at work:
We must increase profits! How can we do that?
*Cut back on equipment repairs and purchase no new equipment. Ignore fact that patients will be adversely affected by this.
*Cut back on staff. Ignore fact that patients will be adversely affected by this.
*Cut back on supplies or purchase low quality items. Ignore fact that patients will be adversely affected by this.
*Lay off staff. Employees are just overpaid overhead! Ignore fact that patients will be adversely affected by this.
*Get poor quality benefits for those bothersome employees.
*Openly scorn the community. "PRMC does not need the city of Paris to make a profit." (AndyBoy)
*What not enough staff now? Get temps, bother the expense. We can figure a way to make it a tax write off! Besides we don't have to pay them benefits!
BLT at work. Oh yeah!

Now here is some savvy thinking: Hospitals are a service industry. Any service industry knows that without customers your bottom line is gonna be in red. If you go to a restaurant and the service is bad and the food tastes awful you won't go back. They've done studies on this. If a person goes to a business and has a positive experience, he will tell 10 people. (Hey that new restaurant is great!) But if he has a negative experience he will tell 25 people! (Don't eat there! It's awful!) Word of mouth advertising is the best you can get for two reasons: One, it's free! Secondly, people are going to believe a friend or neighbor who tells them about a business more than they would a commercial for that business! And here's a secret that the BLT's seem to be oblivious to: your employees are your best PR! They're what starts the word of mouth going! It's the great waitress and awesome cook that make a restaurant great--not the owner!
Patients remember the nurse or tech or clerk who took the time to help them and make them comfortable. It's kinda hard to do that when you're short staffed and half your equipment doesn't work.
You know, Huddy, sometimes you have to spend money to make money. And that doesn't mean on some paint and ratty carpet. It means on employees and equipment.

Anonymous said...

E$$ent is no savior.Hud's whole businesas model is based on taking over not for profit ,poorly performing hospitals like ours and , by cutting services and cutting staff he can make them show a profit. Then, by putting together several of these "rescued" institutions into a hospital "system" , he can do an IPO and recoup the venture capitalists money.Later , he will sell the package to HCA,Tenet etc. , and walk away with preofit in both transactions.The person who thinks E$$ent came here to save us dosnt know the sordid game these used car salesmen play; nowhere in the plan does Hud give a sh@#t about Paris, or the people who live here. The only sin of the Sisters was that they got too old and too few to look after the wonderful institution they founded to deliver medical care to the least among us ,as well as the wealthy .Sister Mary Eustice would be appalled at what has happened to what Fr Dubuis and their order founded. We could have done pretty much the same things that E$$ent has done (except with half the firings and none of the hatefulness)and made this hospital profitable. Monty just had his penis where his brain should have been, and the sisters hired a mafia boss to run things for them; thats the story, traject though it is.The hope for the future is to get rid of these parasites and build a locally controled hospital which is FOR PATIENTS ,not FOR PROFIT!

Anonymous said...

While we're reminiscing about the sisters and Father Dubuis, please remember that somewhere L.P. McCuitsion is twirling dervishes in his grave at the travesty that has befallen his creation. For once, both sides are in agreement.......

If anything, the Christus folks should be the ones held to account for their choice of successor.

I would like to think the poster that wants us to be grateful to Essent for what they've done is being sarcastic- if he/she/it isn't, then we have a Hud-kisser in the midst.

fac_p said...

Another 'priceless' thought:
Christus is still checking in, Santa Rosa, as well as the NY office. Probably automatic when anyone mentions Christus in a post.

Hermann Health, Frankford Hospital, ETMC, all the Essent locations, and a new one: The Boston Globe.... Wonder if they can light a fire under Hud?

This has all the elements of a feature series: Healthcare Gone Wrong: No health and they don't care.... I see three parts, "The Places, The People, and The Corporation."