Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Comments That Rang Clear....10/5

A lot of folks just skim the posts--ignoring or unaware of the comments. The commentary makes this blog what it is...I'm just along for the ride, especially on this one.

...I'm not one of the so-called "John Does" mentioned in this suit (and Essent would have a hard time proving otherwise). That being said, I want to address the allegation made by Hud that this blog caused PRMC's census to drop.

Had Hud looked beyond his office (and the BS Dickie was telling him), he would have seen the decline in census stems from the policies and practices Essent has put into place. Cut staff, demoralize who's left, don't give them the right tools to do the job, blow off keeping the place clean, anger the local physician staff, and folks are going to have less-than-stellar experiences. Bad news travels very quickly, and folks will talk, whether good or bad news. Those that can, will go elsewhere rather than deal with the possibility of a bad experience.

If Dr. Slipknot-oops, I meant Lui- has departed the staff, then that's a positive step. Ditto for Pranulis in the overgrown broom closet that passes for an emergency room.

If PRMC is supposed to be the flagship of this sad company, what does this say about the rest of the hospitals? So far, it seems PRMC is the only place making money, and not that much. With the other hospitals losing money hand over fist, Essent's bottom line is written in red, as in red ink. They've been rebuffed in recent attempts at purchasing new properties, dumped off one that was drowning in red ink when it was purchased (and was hemmorhaging worse when Essent sold it), and have been scrambling for more money to stay afloat.

Allegations? Fantasy? Nope, all are facts, and can be gleaned from other sources. Perhaps some slick ambulance-chaser can demean these facts, or even shoot the messenger, but they still stand regardless.

I believe in free enterprise and capitalism as Adam Smith wrote in his excellent text, and have no problem with any company who wants to make a profit- after all, profit means more money to invest in a business (or at least it's supposed to). However, any company who sacrifices its employees and customer base to boost its so-called bottom line will not last for long, nor should last.

Most likely the big cheeses in Essent will laugh, scoff, etc. when they read this, but that's OK. I have broad shoulders, and I know I'll still be employed when Hud and his buds are trying to either rearrange deck chairs on the Titanic/Essent, or start up yet another for-profit healthcare business when Essent finally sinks. And when that happens, I as well as others who are disgusted with Essent and its thugs will have the last laugh.

As a comment it received another comment from Essent--but it was the same person that I spell-checked previously, and his current mistakes made it unreadable. Probably a Duke business major....

Anyway, this one ices the cake--public sentiment, plainly spoken, that echoes the previous:



I miss Christus and all it believed in. Since Essent took over, it's all just a big mess.

I hope all you high and mighty.. Hud, whoever you are and the rest of these jokers realize what a damn mess you've made here. I wouldn't take my worst enemy for treatment at any of your facilities just because of how I've seen you conduct yourselves.

You can't expect the remaining employees to be inspired to do their jobs. I hear the morale is so bad. And you can't provide good service with all the cuts you've made. But, I guess you really don't care. The little people don't really make you lose any sleep at night. Shame on you.
What more could I add?

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm not a current Essent employee, and I obviously am not going to tell you where I work now, so as to avoid harassment from the NashVegas thugs. I am also not a bigtime fan of Christus Health, but at least they did a better job that the current bunch of clowns, and things were better-run. Hmm, could that be because Christus is a non-profit concern, and Essent isn't? Of perhaps Christus has the better business model.......

I'd be curious to know what kind of drivel the Essent stooge wrote, even if only for a good laugh. If it's a threat to my person, all I can say is, pack lunch and dinner, you're in for a very long day.

Anonymous said...

I have only recently become aware of your blog, and am not familiar at all with the situations
in the medical institution which have been a subject of so much controversy.

I think that the Essent legal maneuvers pose a real risk to freedom of speech.

I hope you have all your ducks in a row, and that this intrusion into your identity is stopped.

I have, at times, wanted to and even felt I had a responsibilty to blow the whistle on things
I knew were wrong. I always knew, however, that if I did it, and if my identity were to become
public, then I would not only lose my job but would probably be blackballed in my industry.

It is a shame that such sentiment protects the likes of Enron crooks, while throwing the
investor, the worker, and the client to unethical and illegal acts.

Anonymous said...

Way back once upon a time, there were only two "for profit" hospitals systems: HCA & Columbia. They were frowned upon as it was felt that healthcare was not a business but a need. Yet both these systems flourished until bad management sent them down. I worked for an HCA hospital. We had regular patient care/customer service meetings. In one of them we learned that if you went to a restaurant, for example, and had a great experience. You will tell ten people about it. If you had a bad experience you will tell 25 people. Word of mouth advertising is the best advertising there is for two reasons: it's free and people believe it.
Christus made plenty of mistakes but patient care wasn't one of them. They cared about the patient and people knew that and talked about it. Essent losing business was their own fault. People will talk and I don't mean employees. I hear people talking about their hospital stays in Wal Mart, restaurants and the laundramat. Other people hear and talk about them too. It's not HIPAA being violated; it's just plain old human gossip.

But to violate our civil rights for a case that is bogus to begin with? NO WAY!

Anonymous said...

8:30 AM,

Good points, but lest we forget the CEO of Essent used to be an HCA executive- most likely one of the members of the "bad management" camp.

Anonymous said...

8:30,
There have been a lot of other healthcare corporations, but it seems their inbreeding has put them all in the same lot. When HCA/Columbia took the hit for Medicare fraud, how many others were also prosecuted?

Look at the executive resumes and you'll find that most have danced between several companies, picking up all the bad habits.

If one is on a path, the others aren't far behind.

Anonymous said...

It sounds like Essent is a shitty company who likes to harass people for exercising their freedom of speech rights. I don't think Essent is a shitty company because of these blog posts I think Essent is a shitty company because of the way they've acted in court recently. They should be ashamed of themselves.

Anonymous said...

You need to let the Electronic Frontier Foundation know of this.

Anonymous said...

I've lived in rural Idaho and Nevada towns for most of my life and can easily relate to the frequent poor hospitals in these areas. These hospitals are especially bad when run by out of town companies for a profit. It seems that the only way to keep health care up to an acceptable level at these facilities is to have plenty of community involvement.

I applaud your efforts to keep your community involved and communicate.

If Essent gave a wet slap about patient care or the health of the community in which it does business, they wouldn't be trying to shut you up. They could easily have spun this into something along the lines of trying to plug a HIPAA violation or something. At least that would have given them the appearance of caring. Instead, with this court action, they come across as if they're the little brother who's been poking you all day and now is running to mom because you beat him up.

Essent needs to grow up and Paris needs a community hospital.

Anonymous said...

I wish you all luck. This case has the potential to cause a massive blow to our online freedom of speech.

I appreciate you and this blog. They would be wrong to pursue this case.

Good Luck.

Anonymous said...

I guess I'm a little confused on some points...

First off, when did Corporations get 'character'?? Isn't that what libel/slander/defamation are all about?? If a corporation isn't doing a good job, and someone points it out, then that person should be commended, not dragged thorugh the muck of a courtroom. Sure, if I'm some person, trying to do some good in this world, and a newsie says that I had, I don't know, something bad in my past (that was not true), then take them to court...But if I go to McDonalds and consistently get poor service, attitude from it's employees and/or sick, then it should be my duty to make it known to everyone I can...The Internet is an exceptional communication device, and doesn't discriminate against anyone (sex, religion, preference, yadda yadda)...

Secondly, how can we have faith in our ISP's when they won't even attempt to block access (and maybe even help??) to our personal info??? I guess we shouldn't trust them anyway, knowing that their claims of faster, better, etc. are most always ummm...exagerated...anyway...If they can mislead us in that, I guess it follows that they can mislead us in other ways...

Third (or is it thirdly??), why didn't the judge simply throw this out? From what I've read, it's fairly obvious that they're not really trying to get John Does 1-10, but current employees trying to make things right. If you have that much trouble with your staff, maybe you should take a long hard look at your business model again. I just wonder if maybe $omething changed hands... I'm not $aying what, mind you, but dollars to doughnuts, there was some type of collusion...

Lastly...(And FINALLY!! :) ) Has anyone in the court system thought to look at a)The overall holdings of PRMC, to see if maybe something else is going on (read: Maybe Enron is happening again)???
b)The overall census of the state? I mean, maybe we're just all a bit healthier, and the trend towards health care is looking up? (OK...I've now identified myself as being squarely in the Optimists camp, but I'll deal!!)...

In closing (heh...Thought lastly was it, didn't you!!)...It's probably still way too early to find out exactly how this will play out, but I'll be interested to hear more, as things progress...

I would like to wish all the John Does luck in fighting the machine!!!

Anonymous said...

Its complete bullshit what the Hospital is doing to you. Get real dude, next time use a Proxy, that is if you don't want your ass sued off.

F__k that damn hospital. I'll post what ever the f__k I want, freedom of speech. Go f__k your self if you think otherwise.

I hope that freedom of speech on the internet hasn't ended yet. Other wise I'm hozed.
Publish Reject

Anonymous said...

Frank- I'd be interested to read what the response was by the Essent stooge to the blogpost that started this thread. I need a good laugh.

Seriously, please, post it.....and no, I'm not from Essent (thank God).

Anonymous said...

Whatever happened to the Whistleblower's Act?