According to the Nashville Post, W. Hudson Connery has been forced out of Essent. The former CFO Michael Browder has been named to take his place.
The irony is, he might make out better by that happening than by captaining it into the rocks. If there is a corporate buyout of his stock, it might save his nest egg.
It doesn't mean it's over, folks. Maybe just starting....frank
NashvillePost.com has learned that Essent Healthcare founder and 30-year industry veteran Hud Connery has been forced to step down as CEO by the company’s board of directors.
According to NashvillePost.com sources, the hospital operator’s CFO Mike Browder has been tapped to serve as the acting CEO and, they claim, is a candidate for to take the helm of the company permanently.
The board, led by investors from Thoma Cressey, has not announced the change, even to the Essent’s staff, as the shift, apparently, is not an amicable one. Allegedly, Connery and the board are currently at odds over a severance package and that his options in the company could total several million dollars.
Sources went on to claim that the board and a number of Essent’s investors would like to sell company.
Connery launched Essent in 1999. The company’s first hospital was purchased in April of 2000. Prior to that he was the leader of the now defunct Arcon Healthcare. That company, which was based on a “hospitals without beds'' concept filed for chapter 11 in 1998.
I'm going to add as needed to the original post (one has to be flexible....) just for continuity of the thought. The latest:
[Update, 2:26 p.m. Monday:]
Following the posting of this article on Friday, David Jarrard, a spokesman for Essent, sent an email to NashvillePost.com confirming the departure.
Jarrard disputed NashvillePost.com’s characterization of the shift saying, “the transition is not unfriendly.”
In the e-mail, Jarrard also said that “Connery has no options with Essent,” and “Essent staff were informed of the transition earlier [last] week.” While repeated attempts to contact Jarrard seeking clarification have so far gone unanswered, NashvillePost.com was informed that Connery does in fact have a sizable equity interest in the company, though the use of the word "options" was technically incorrect. Further, NashvillePost.com has been told that despite some staff’s having been informed, as of Friday afternoon the vast majority of Essent’s employees were unaware of the move.
According to Jarrard, discussions of a possible sale have been tabled for the time being noting that “every Essent hospital is profitable and growing in their markets."
Last thing first: Merrimack Hospital is sitting at $-1,498,033 for last period listed, according to American Hospital Directory (AHD.com).
Southwest Regional Medical Center -- $-212,615, and with a net of $860,296, Nashoba Valley Medical Center (57 beds) is over twice as profitable as this (PRMC) hospital (228 beds listed, what happened to the other 100 or so?).
Not "unfriendly"??? What, we haven't dug out the squirrel guns yet? The board has back-doored at least two offers that fell through and finally pitched Hud out. They aren't selling because there are no buyers. What kind of value does that ascribe to Essent??? You do the math:
Zero!
No wonder Hud wants to take his money and run.....
15 comments:
My oh my, whatever will Dickie do now? His closest companion/confidante/hatchet man out on the bricks........personally, I don't hold much faith in the board doing any better post-Hud.
Lessee now......left HCA, started & ruined Arcon, headed up & almost wrecked Essent........ a track record to be proud of, Huddie.
I pity the fools that have anything to do with your next cockeyed venture.
Uh, Matt.......ya got any openings in your little investment firm for a person who can turn chicken salad into chicken s---? SOunds like just your kind of guy.
I, like Frank, don't believe it's over, whatever "over" is supposed to be. But, just maybe, the people who are controlling the purse strings for E$$ent, have their minds and wallets on the same page.
Let's hope, with this change, E$$ent makes an effort to make PRMC a real hospital instead of a cash cow.
Let's hope they begin to realize long term employees with real skills are an asset and not a liability; CP being the exception.
This will not be any consolation to those wrongly fired, but, it could be a start.
Let's hope. This community needs a good hospital.
The last life raft has left the Titanic, so NOW they get rid of HUDNUT. TOO little, TOO late!
They need to put the hospital on the sale block and make it an attractive enough price that someone with real healthcare business sense will grab it and make it a glorious success. It is strange to me it took the corporate powers that be this long to see through the "FERTILIZER" being spread by Hudnut. If the big bosses came to Paris unannounced they might have caught a glimpse of the real PRMC as bad as Hudnut has destroyed what it has taken so many people so long to build up.
The people of Paris and Lamar County should bring suit against Hudnut for impersonating a Healthcare Administrator. That ought to be a trial for the ages. With the feelings of people in the area toward him what they are, he should probably leave between the suns.
Hudnut, go crawl under another rock and stay there this time with all the other darkness dwellers, because the light of day is too strong for you.
Let's see, when corporations turn over their CEOs, there is generally a turnover of management down to the division level, because they've been implementing policy. So what level is 'safe'? And where does Dick hide? Anyone interested in a Porsche...cheap?
And is Dux going to add this to his little website and press on, or will he survive?
And if he goes, will the new hospital CEO take aim at once to replace the old....
Will Hud sue Essent? He sued HCA, lost, filed the appeal, lost.
The board finally admitted that they shopped out the company for bids, but still not saying there were no takers.
Losing steam? You be the judge.
I knew he left HCA, but I wasn't aware of the circumstances. Was he sent packing, or did he leave ahead of the axe?
I knew he left HCA, but I wasn't aware of the circumstances. Was he sent packing, or did he leave ahead of the axe?
Healthtrust was a way of getting rid of the HCA misfits from the beginning. It weeded out some, and provided a sink or swim incentive.
They really didn't want Hud back, and his lawsuit against them (which he lost) solidified their opinion....frank
Paris, Texas, this is the corporation that took over your local hospital. Founded by an executive with a track record of failure, who now has been forced out by the board of his latest debacle. Does this make you Essent tail-kissers happy now? You backed the wrong horse in this race- it's pulling up lame.
Enjoy it, Paris- enjoy it, and taste the bitter fruit of a bad sale. And thank Christus for visiting this plague upon your community, while you're at it.
As for you Essent tail-kissers and apologists, how's that egg on your face feel? If I didn't still have friends and former colleagues I care about working at PRMC, I'd laugh my tail off at you.
Let us all hope that the company will drop this frivalous lawsuit and get back to the business of building the hospital back up. It sure makes more sense to me to invest the money, spent in court, on the rebuilding of quility health care for this area. If they need to sell, sell,sell.
Who knows, the company might feel that they have to hold the line to protect all the other healthcare organizations from a similar fate....Naahhh
Reading the comments by Jarrad, it also sounds like Essent has moved to another state as well- the state of Denial.
Either that, or they need to lay off drinking the bong water.
Newspeak, Essent-style....
You know- from the book 1984...
Madness is wisdom
Weakness is strength
etc. ect. etc.
so it would seem from the Essent folks.
I AM NEW IN THE "HOOD" SO I HAVE NO "FIRST HAND" OF WHAT HAS HAPPENED IN PARIS OVER THE LAST 7 OR SO YEARS. IT SEEMS TO ME IT HAS BEEN A DOWNHILL SPIRAL OF POLITICS VS MONEY FOR A WHILE. THERE IS "ON PAPER" NO LOGICAL REASON WHY THIS TOWN IS NOT A SMALL, FRIENDLY, QUALITY OF CARE, MECCA FOR THIS AREA TO PROVIDE EXCELLCENT MEDICAL CARE. THE PEOPLE I HAVE WORKED WITH BEFORE AND NOW CARE ABOUT THE QUALITY OF CARE THEY PROVIDE TO THERE NEIGHBORS.
I THINK THE PEOPLE OF PARIS SHOULD THINK ABOUT A COUNTY HOSPITAL. STEP UP AND RUN IT THE WAY YOU THINK IT SHOULD BE. CAREING FOR YOUR PEOPLE.
Interesting reading, employees at NVMC, Essent's hospital in Ayer, were told Mr. Connery left to spend more quality time at home. Up here Essent seems fixated on buildings not the quality of the people and health systems in them.
The new medical office building on the campus of Nashoba Valley Medical Center(built by Essent) has a total of 4 suites. This building is full of state of the art Diagnostic Imaging equipment. The orthopedic office has xray services(PACS)staffed with their own technologist.The cardiologist office has an ultrasound machine and rumor has it a treadmill is on the way. This building is approximately 500 feet from the hospital.How could Essent and CEO Steve Roach have let this happen? Are the physicians so unhappy with the services at NVMC that they had to set up shop on their own? There will be a significant amount of cash lost due to these services being taken away from NVMC which translates into more RED INK for Essent.
IF, and this is a BIG IF, E$$ent is intelligent, they will freeze any money owed huddie pooh, pending the full investigation into his apparent sticky fingered adventures. This has been a fiasco from the moment the name of Paris, TX, was breathed by E$$ent.
What has happened to the term
ACCOUNTABILITY, is it not in their dictionary?
When you come into a setting like this then you are accountable to the staff, making sure the hospital stays in business and they have jobs to support their families.
You are accountable to the population of the city, county, and state regions where you are operating - in that, each and every man, woman and child is provided the BEST healthcare they can receive.
At present PRMC is little more than a poor relation first aid station, - here is a bandage and an aspirin, go home. If it were the thriving entity it once was, then this blog would not exist.
This is one time the status quo was better with McCuistion and St. Joseph as separate businesses and the the population of Paris was far better cared for in all respects. You had a choice, it wasn't mega hospital-mart. As we all are seeing the big box stores are slowing down and more individual stores are springing back up. Same goes for mega hospitals, give me a smaller community hospital any day, if and only if I need more intense care than I can receive at home do you send me to a big box hospital.
Why couldn't the North campus be used for a Senior Community/Assisted Living set up to help care for the needs of the aging population of the area. It could be used for a behavioral health center for adolescents and adults with a floor for drug and alcohol dependency issues. It could be used for a weight loss hospital, heaven help, this area of the country is not getting any skinnier. That building is sitting like a spectre of what can happen if incompetent bean-counters get their tight fisted mitts into something that only needed a little updating.
This is like replacing a car to fix a flat tire and replace a fuse. If Paris is not careful and a sale takes place, history could repeat itself. If that were the case, lock the doors and throw away the key, you didn't get any kisses, roses or KY this time either.
Post a Comment