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<b><font color="ff0000">Hospital Watch</font></b> <BR> <BR>Compare the Western Health Institute to Adventist Health System/West and note how things have changed. Hospitals have become commodities to buy and sell depending on profitability, or so it seems. Adventist hospitals care about their image and mission. They always have. But, there has been a major shift. <BR> <BR>The purpose of this thread is to present SDA hospital news and to examine that news from the viewpoint of the Adventist health message and mission. <BR><font color="ffffff"><font size="-2">.</font></font>
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<b><font color="ff0000">Who runs Kingsburg Hospital Oct. 1?</font></b> <BR> <BR>By Doug Hoagland <BR><a href="mailto:dhoagland@selmaenterprise.com">dhoagland@selmaenterprise.com</a><blockquote>Who will provide key medical services at Kingsburg District Hospital when Adventist Health pulls out after Sept. 30? Kingsburg hospital officials had no firm answer as of Sept. 28. Tulare Regional Medical Center would seem the logical provider since the Kingsburg hospital board voted on Sept. 16 to enter into a partnership with Tulare Regional. However, board member Bruce Salazar -- who has been helping negotiate a final deal with Tulare Regional -- said he couldn't say for sure that Tulare personnel would step in after today to provide dietary, radiology, lab and physical therapy services. "I can't give you a firm answer until [Sept. 29]," Salazar said. <BR> <BR>He and other Kingsburg hospital officials were scheduled to meet on the afternoon of Sept. 29 with Tulare Regional officials to try to reach a final deal. There have been other meetings on the deal since the board picked Tulare Regional two weeks ago. <BR> <BR>The hospital board also scheduled a public meeting for 5 p.m. on Sept. 29 to discuss the situation. Details of both meetings weren't available before press time. <BR> <BR>Salazar said that Tulare Regional isn't resisting a final deal, but that several issues remain to be resolved. Those issues include what the Kingsburg hospital will pay Tulare Regional for services. <BR> <BR><b><font color="0000ff">Does the Kingsburg board have a backup plan should Tulare Regional not make its staff available on Oct. 1? <font color="ff0000">"We'd ask Adventist to continue," Salazar said.</font></font></b> <BR> <BR>No one from Kingsburg had talked to Adventist about this as of Sept. 28, Salazar said. However, he added, <b><font color="ff0000">"I don't see why they wouldn't. I'm sure they don't want to leave the hospital in a lurch."</font></b> <BR> <BR><b><font color="0000ff">Adventist sees it differently, said spokeswoman Christine Pickering. She said Adventist gave the Kingsburg hospital board 60 days notice on Aug. 1 that it would not continue services after Sept. 30 if it weren't selected to operate the hospital.</font></b> <BR> <BR><b><font color="0000ff">"We are not planning to stay after Sept. 30," Pickering said. "We gave them adequate notice."</font></b> <BR> <BR><b><font color="0000ff">Adventist staff has been providing dietary, lab and other key services for months; essentially running the 35-bed hospital as the board sought a more permanent solution to its financial troubles.</font></b> <BR> <BR>One Kingsburg hospital official warned several weeks ago that a rough transition might occur if Adventist weren't selected. That official, outgoing chief executive officer Doug Skubitz, said it could be "a mess" at the hospital on Oct. 1 if Tulare Regional personnel aren't in place. <BR> <BR>"You have to have services," he said. "Someone would call the state and it would send the patients out." <BR> <BR>Before the Sept. 16 board vote, Skubitz publicly urged the board to pick Adventist, which was rival bidder to Tulare Regional to run the hospital. <BR> <BR>Skubitz's final day at the hospital was scheduled to be Sept. 30. He said he has accepted a job with Adventist Health in Hanford. <BR> <BR><a href="http://www.kingsburgrecorder.com/articles/2009/09/30/news/doc4ac3ad7f182fe202888572.prt" target=_top>http://www.kingsburgrecorder.com/articles/2009/09/ 30/news/doc4ac3ad7f182fe202888572.prt</a> <BR> <BR></blockquote><b>Comments/Questions</b><blockquote>1. Did Adventist Health take on the temporary management of Kingsburg as a community service? or as a potential new hospital to manage? or both? <BR> <BR>2. Are the goals of the Adventist health mission and those of other hospitals so similar that it is merely a matter of acquisition? <BR> <BR>3. What goes on in the corporate office of Adventist Health institutions? Would the Whites and Kellogg have something to offer? <BR> <BR>4. Should we expect Adventist Health to help by staying on a few days after September 30 in an emergency situation? Can we expect an Adventist institution to behave in a "Christian" manner?</blockquote> <BR><font color="ffffff"><font size="-2">.</font></font>
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Don, Kingsburg is only less than 20 miles south of my home in Fresno. There have been full-page ads about the Adventist's operating many of the valley hospitals very near. <BR> <BR>I really don't know much about the situation, although my son's classmate is employed by Adventist Health Weste and has spent much time in the southern SDA hospitals and he visits here often. They operate a number of hospitals near me, but the official secular, as well as SDA press is pretty mum. I did read the Fresno Bee report mentione Christine Pickering. <BR> <BR>I am very interested in anyone finds out more about the situation. <BR> <BR>Judging from information on Adventist Health Sunbelt, where the CEOs are making up to $1 million a year, more than both the CEOs of John Hopkins and Mayo's combined, they are pushing the "non-profit" status and have earned lots of bad P.R.
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