LANCASTER – Antelope Valley Hospital officials are hosting information sessions for employees, volunteers, physicians and members of the community this Friday to address the health care facility’s recently announced layoffs.
The hospital’s outside public relations firm, Kevin/Ross Public Relations, confirmed that Antelope Valley Hospital CEO Dennis M. Knox will hold an informational meeting Friday to update employees on the hospital’s recent termination notices.
“I’m sure that one of the topics will be the resizing of the organization,” Carol Stevenson, vice president of Kevin/Ross Public Relations, told The AV Times, while noting that Knox periodically holds these employee meetings to inform personnel about hospital-related news.
A flyer circulated among hospital staff invites employees to join both Knox and the “Executive Management Team for an informative hospital update and Q&A session.” The informational sessions are scheduled to take place in the auditorium of the Community Resource Center on Friday, Sept. 19, at 44151 15th Street West in Lancaster.
Hospital administrators are planning four sessions with employees at the following times: 7:30-8:30 a.m., 12:00-1:00 p.m., 3:00-4:00 p.m., and 5:00-6:00 p.m. The hospital flyer states that “members of the community are invited to attend the 5 p.m. session.” [View the flyer here.]
Nearly 100 employees at Antelope Valley Hospital were given notice last week in what administrators are portraying as a cost-saving measure for the health care facility.
Employees received a termination letter on Sept. 9, warning the layoff will affect a total of 105 employees. The letter informs its recipients that their final workday will be Oct. 10, and that they will continue to receive regular pay and benefits up to Nov. 10, the effective date of their termination. [View the termination notice here.]
Hospital employees can also look forward to upcoming events hosted by their union representatives.
Informational picket planned for Sept. 24
Vladimir Dominguez, SEIU-UHW (United Healthcare Workers West) administrator, said his union is responding to the announced layoffs by planning an informational picket for Wednesday, Sept. 24, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Antelope Valley Hospital.
In a flyer currently being distributed to hospital employees, Dominguez explains that patient care will not be impacted during the informational picketing event, and that SEIU-UHW members will picket in their off time during their lunch or breaks.
“A picket is not a strike,” the flyer states. “No one will be refusing to go to work, and we will explain to patients why we are there.”
The SEIU-UHW also reacted with a formal notification to hospital officials to bargain over reduction in force for all non-nursing healthcare workers affected by the announced layoffs. [View it here.]
The Sept. 11 letter from Dominguez states that the “layoffs commencing Oct. 10, 2014 … will affect at least 74 bargaining unit members; and since the Union was not officially notified until the very day the layoff letters were received by the intended recipients (Sept. 10), the Union hereby notifies you that you must, under the MOU and the law, cease and desist with the layoffs until which time the Hospital can have meetings and discussions with the Union to bargain over the proposed layoffs.”
Stating that the SEIU-UHW does not believe the layoffs are necessary, the union is making itself “available to bargain over the layoff and all the affected bargaining unit members on Sept. 18 and 19, 2014 at any time.”
Dominguez confirmed in an email to The AV Times that the union is prepared to meet with hospital administrators on Thursday, Sept. 18 at 1 p.m. at the Foundation office, located at 1206 W. Avenue J, Suite 202.
The California Nurses Association also responded to news of the layoffs last week with a pamphlet saying that “contrary to what they are telling all of you, CNA had no notice the hospital intended to lay off any nurses,” while explaining that the nurses’ union was told Sept. 10 of the hospital’s intention to lay off registered nurses. [View it here.]
The CNA stated in the pamphlet that they have sent administration officials a “Demand to Bargain” along with a “Notice to Cease and Desist Change in Working Conditions.”
Union representatives are concerned that the administration’s resizing decision in essential service areas, such as Respiratory, Phlebotomy, EKG and Monitor Techs, will jeopardize quality of patient care.
Hospital administrators have indicated they are cutting jobs because of the hospital’s financial troubles – mostly from having been shorted about $6 million in anticipated government reimbursements for services it provided nonpaying hospital patients, according to recent publicly disclosed statements by officials.
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Previous related story: Quality of patient care questioned after AV Hospital announces personnel cuts
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unknown says
You say it does not effect patient care, but you laid everyone off in the wound care center, so where do we all go now? There are many patients going there and you lay off the best nurse there. REALLY!!!!! I SEE THIS AS A BIG MISTAKE.
Bill says
Illegals aren’t helping the matter, cSnt speak English no insurance and they expect us to cater to them.
Kimberly says
BILL!! seriously. I bet you wouldn’t say that when you or a family member are hurt and an illegal comes to you help! you are a sad person. its always an illegal who will do the job that no one else will. they will give up normal hours of sleep just to make that your family is taken care of at a hospital or clinic just so people like you can continue asking the goverment for social security and welfare. get a life or better yet get a job and go back to where you came from.!!and for the record I’m a white girl born to two honkies who grew up in Austin, TX
Bill says
It’s not that Americans won’t do the job, it’s that they won’t do it for the low pay. And for your information, my wife is hispanic and she also believes if you have to break laws to have a better life, u don’t deserve a better life. I can’t break laws to make a better life.
Greg says
I was a farm laborer as a teen. Before he hired me the boss made sure I knew I was white and would be working with spanish speakers. I got the same pay and loved the work, great beginning job.
You COULD break the laws to make a better life, you choose not to which is very admirable.
William says
I know what you mean about the low pay. The republicans have waged a long term war on unions and keeping the minimum wage stagnant than it shouldn’t come as a surprise when ‘Americans’ don’t want to do those jobs. Now, they want to build a big fence along the border with a moat with alligators to solve a problem they helped create. Bless their souls.
When I was a teenager in the early 60s, my friends in high school worked at gas stations, the cement plant (a real dirty job. You needed a separate car for that as it got so dirty), fast food joints, the boardwalk, and other jobs that people don’t want to do now.
If picking lettuce paid $35 a hour, you can be sure that migrant workers would be out of jobs as Americans would be fighting for them, forming unions and getting great benefits and pensions, y’know, like elected officials get.
Oh, well.
Kevin says
I witnessed a security officer trying to attack a visitor at the hospital while 2 others tried to stop him. If anyone needs to be laid off its that officer, out if control and unprofessional . You would hope they take those things in to account during layoffs. People like that need to go, not people who work hard and doesn’t get in trouble .
ceci says
Well one of the officers that try to stop this idiot shift spervisor that cause that incident, got laid off , that officer got hurt by this visitior lift him up in the air and what does the security officer direct does laugh at him and the idiot officer is stll has his job .
Mike says
20 people fighting in the parking lot, someone trashing the nurses station screaming at them. 12 stand byes at once, they start riots and not enough security to begin with. I could go on and on how unsafe the hospital is and it will be worse . If you’re getting attacked you better hope other staff besides security will help. I was also laid off because of medical issues. Kind of odd and illegal!
Mike says
They laid off 15 security officer so one man cold keep his job what a joke why have a director of security if he won’t figth for his officers, to him he don’t care about the safety of staff, visitor and patient only his position what a joke .
M says
I was laid off because I filed a workers comp claim. People with right ups and bad attendance still have jobs. You do your job get hurt and have surgery because of it and this is what you get.
JJAVH says
The board should know CEO Knox has lost all control of the organization. Consultants & attorneys are making key decisions @ huge billing rates as the hospital is sliding off a financial cliff. Kickbacks. Numerous unqualified directors, managers promoted to key positions to protect the fake executives – Leisher being the worst. This hospital will soon be state run if something drastic isnt done.
DM says
Maybe AV Hosp was in trouble pre-ObamaCare, but ObamaCare was/is the last nail in the coffin.
With all the renovations, AVH should have built an Urgent Care facility right next to the ER – that would be an easy way to divert all those who use the ER for non-emergencies.
Anonymous says
Agreed!!
ANONYMOUS says
I’M SO SICK OF PEOPLE BLAMING OBAMA. YOU MUST BE WHITE!! ALL HE’S TRYING TO DO IS HELP. THE UNITED STATES IS A WEALTHY NATION AND WHAT’S WRONG WITH HELPING YOUR FELLOW MAN. PEOPLE NEED TO STOP BEING SO DAMN SELFISH. IF YOU WANT TO COMPLAIN ABOUT SOMETHING. LET’S TALK ABOUT THESE DAMN FOREIGNERS WHO HAVE NEVER WORKED A DAY IN THIS COUNTRY BUT COME RIGHT OVER AND GET MEDI-CAL, FOOD STAMPS AND MEDICARE FOR THEIR CHILDREN AND ELDERLY PARENTS WHO HAVE NOT PAID INTO SOCIAL SECURITY. DUMMY IF MORE HAVE HEALTH INSURANCE, THAT’S MORE BUSINESS FOR OUR INDUSTRY.
boscoe says
Seriously? You play the race card cause folks don’t like your hero Obama? Did you get out much as a child? Kept locked up much? Did it ever cross your mind that people have the right to think what they wish, say what they wish, and dislike what they wish? In your feeble little racist mind we must be white to disagree,,,bravo my racist friend.
William says
@boscoe
You wrote>
“Did it ever cross your mind that people have the right to think what they wish, say what they wish, and dislike what they wish?”
and, then you complained about what ANONYMOUS thought, wrote and/or disliked.
That’s rich. Do you get that?
bird says
William—Please stop complaining about what boscoe commented on. He also has the right to say what he wishes.
Nancy P says
Bird, maybe you should stop complaining about what William is complaining about and stick to actual comments on the subject. People blaming Obama for all the problems at AVH is funny. That’s like blaming Obama for the mess George Bush left for him!
Personal experience from emergency room to a week stay, that place blows. I feel sorry for the few employees who are doing their jobs while others are busy trying to figure out how to fake a slip and fall for workman’s comp.
Really!? says
You assuming that just because someone doesn’t agree with the policies of Obama that they must be “white” is so absurd and ridiculous…and worse of all…racist! He hasn’t helped anyone except himself and his elite, rich, liberal, progressive “white” friends in Washington such as Billary, Reid, Pelosi, etc. This President has done nothing but divide this country in half and created more strife than we will all know what to do with after he leaves office…from his scandals to his hate speech! Now on to my favorite part…what you claim as only foreigners being the ones who abuse the welfare system…let me tell you the abuse sees no color or country origin when the California Advantage Card is used at the local box stores to purchase such high-end items such as Michael Kors Bags, Celebrity Perfume or how about some nice Holiday Decorations…all courtesy of the cash portion of your EBT card…thanks to the hard-working, tax-paying American. Next time get your facts straight and quit being a part of the problem in this country with your race baiting and assumptions…there are just as many LEGAL residents abusing this system!
William says
@Really?
President Obama has been called a Marxist, communist, ‘food stamp president’, un-American, anti-American, tyrant, czar, Hitler, Bin Laden, Stalin, racist, fascist, Hitler (again. In fact, he’s been called Hitler and Chamberlain because the right is crazy) and Stalin and so on.
Can you give a quote of some ‘hate speech’ that President Obama has uttered, Really!??
The day of President Obama’s inauguration, Mitch McConnell and other republicans met secretly to plan on making him a 1 term president and would obstruct everything they could to make his presidency a failure. And, then then went about doing just that. Of course, they failed.
Republicans in Congress have voted AGAINST bills they authored or amended simply because the President signed on to them and you say HE is the divisive one. Is there something wrong with your thinking abilities, Really!?? You’ve got that backward.
Can you explain how it IS President Obama that is the divisive one in this country given that GOP plan from the get go?
Before he did a single thing as President, the republicans were determined to undermine him even if it hurt the country. They shut down government and got our credit rating lowered by their shenanigans.
Isn’t it amazing that the Dow keeps hitting new highs, that the unemployment rate has trended downward since he took office, that job creation has occured month after month for 6 years compared to 750,000 jobs a month being lost at the time he took office?
There have been tax cuts, low inflation and gas prices have been fairly stable. They were over $4 a gallon in the summer of 2008. Remember? There was talk of using the oil reserves at that time and/or suspending the stockpiling due to the high oil prices. But, of course you’ve forgotten all that.
GM and Chrysler are doing fine given they almost disappeared in 2008-9. The housing market has recovered slowly. DADT gone. Soldiers aren’t dying every week in Iraq. Mortgage interest rates are still historically low.
Of course, the republicans expected him to turn the economy into a boom in his first 100 days oblivious to the fact that this was the worst recession and near depression in 80 years. You can’t compare this to other recessions and recoveries when manufacturing jobs have been outsourced, even whole industries. There hasn’t been a typical business cycle recession since Reagan screwed this economy. Every recession has been due to fraud, schemes, lax regulations, etc. but there hasn’t been another recession since President Obama turned the economy around.
Don’t forget now, the stock market crashed in 1987 AND 2008, both during republican administrations.
Is everything perfect now, Really!?? Was it ever? Even crime stats are down from the 90s.
I don’t understand how you guys can ignore all the improvements compared to 2008-9 unless you have a very short attention span. How can you ignore the most inept, unproductive House of Representives in our lifetimes? Not only unproductive but deliberately undermining everything the President attempts. They have trouble herding the tea partiers in the House. Boehner is the worst Speaker of the House EVER.
74% of republicans enrolled in Obamacare LIKE IT. But, true to form, they will probably vote for GOP candidates who will try for the ~51st time to repeal it. What’s with them?
You will likely vote for 1 of the 2 republican candidates for the House in November who will likely vote again to repeal Obamacare.
If you want to see how well tea party republican ideology works, take a gander at Kansas. 100 moderate republicans are endorsing Sam Brownback’s opponent, Democrat Paul Davis, because Brownback and his tax cuts for the rich have screwed Kansas’s economy but good.
Oh, well.
bird says
William—Your long winded comment is completely deceptive! A biased view is never the truth!
Really!? says
In response to William…
From Jan. ’09 to July ’12 a total of 194,000 jobs were created while 14.7 million people were added to the food stamp rolls…so yes Obama has earned his ‘food stamp president’ title very well. I think the one label you forgot is ‘Progressive Liberal’.
During one of his campaign events in Nevada 2008 Mr. Obama told his audience…”I need you to go out and talk to your friends and talk to your neighbors. I want you to talk to ’em whether they are independent or whether they are Republican. I want you to argue with them and get in their face.” Well that’s what I consider as an example of ‘hate speech’…daring anyone that begs to differ!
What opposing political parties don’t get together with a plan to make sure the newly elected person is only a one-term president!?…if the tables were switched are you saying that good ole Mr. Reid and Ms. Pelosi wouldn’t be ‘secretly’ planning to oust their opponent!? Really!?
Yes…Republicans have been voting against bills that are plagued with tax increases and out of control expenditures that the Democrats just can’t put a cap on! How much more can this current administration tax and spend until we are no more!? We are on schedule to top over $22 trillion in debt…when is enough…enough!?
Obama and his cronies in Washington have been the divisive ones from their ‘secret’ attacks on Christian groups through IRS audits to the ‘secret’ surveillance of American citizens through the NSA. Scandal after scandal…cover up after cover up…this is the most divisive and destructive administration we have ever witnessed in the White House!
And now to your long and never-ending spin on the great economy you seem to think we have under Obama….As of May 2014…People under the age of 35 have seen a decrease in home ownership from 43.6% down to 36.2%. Unemployment is up from 9.1% to 15.5% for people 18-29 years old. 97% of the net job creation is for part-time workers and median family incomes are down.
Under Obama over 1.6 million more Americans are collecting some sort of disability insurance and over 9.5 million workers have dropped out of the labor force altogether…hence the unverifiable real unemployment rates!
‘GM and Chrysler are doing fine’…I HOPE SO…after their 60 billion dollar bailout from tax-payers! While Chrysler has repaid most of their debt…GM still owes more from the 54.6 billion they recovered back in October 2013…and the U.S. Government still retains more than 30% of shares…where is the cut from the profits on this deal for the American tax-payer since it was their money that funded the bailouts!?
This last 4th of July (2014) it was reported by AAA that the Independence day holiday registered as being the highest price in gasoline costs since 2008 at $3.66 a gallon which had surpassed the price per gallon for the holiday from each of the five previous years with Hawaii, Alaska, California and Washington State still paying above $4 a gallon.
Last but not least the United States just made the Top 10 List of the highest report crime countries in 2014…coming in at #1 …I’m sure those 415 murders in Chicago last year didn’t help!?
Oh well!
William says
@Really!?
Are you the same guy that wanted to bet me $100 that Mitt Romney would win the 2012 election, around the same time this year as that year?
BTW. How did that election turn out?
William says
@Really!?
You wanna see some really filthy rotten republican politics?
Check out what the Kansas Secretary of State, Kris Kobach, is doing to ‘fix’ the election for the senator there.
-The Democrat dropped out of the race and filed a letter with the SOS stating that.
-Kobach didn’t like that.
-It went to the Kansas Supreme Court which voted unanimously to let the Democratic take his name off the ballot.
-Koback didn’t like that.
-Kobach wants to extend the deadline to force the Democrats to put another name on the ballot which they don’t have to and won’t and after Kobach told the Supreme Court that the deadline was a firm deadline. Now, he wants to change it.
-He has to mail ballots overseas to the military personnel by a certain date so he’s adding a disclaimer letter say that since it’s in litigation, they can mail back the enclosed ballot but may get another ballot with a Democrat’s name on it and that will supercede the original ballot. All that is improper if not illegal.
-He lied and said the Justice Department said he could do that and the JD denies it.
-Now, Kobach is trying to move election day to November 12.
Pretty sleazy, isn’t it? But, he’s a republican. So, it’s OK.
Oh, and Kansas is an economic mess with a $300+ million debt since tea partier Governor Sam Brownback cut taxes on the wealthy to ‘stimulate the economy’.
Now. 100 moderate republicans are endorsing his opponent, Democrat Paul Davis.
Oh, again, the Independent running for the Senate is ahead in the polls and that’s why Kobach wants to force a Democrat to split the votes so the republican can win.
That’s GOP politics for you.
Then, there are the sleazes, Rick Perry in Texas, Chris Christie in New Jersey, Rick Scott in Florida, Scott Walker in Wisconsin. Then, there’s Rand Paul and Ted Cruz, dear God.
You guys have rich bench of sleazy characters to work with. No wonder y’all are afraid of Hillary.
You got 2 more years of President Obama and he’s not running for anything again, so waste yer breath on him if you like.
Really!? says
Differences challenge assumptions ;)
Willima says
@Really!?
Well, are you the one who wanted to bet. His name was ‘really’ too?
He vanished after the 2012 election and then you show up before this coming one. What a coincidence.
BTW Do you work for the phone company cause you’re pretty good handling the ‘cherry picker’.
And, why do you think 14.7 million people were added to the food stamp rolls after the WORST RECESSION IN 80 YEARS, Fox ‘news’ viewer?
“People under the age of 35 have seen a decrease in home ownership from 43.6% down to 36.2%.” Again, after the GREAT BUSH RECESSION, and the collapse of the housing market, why do you think that people under 35 own fewer homes than before?
Yeah, because those 2 measures are how we generally look to see how the economy is improving after the GREATEST RECESSION IN 80 YEARS.
You must be a lineman for the county. Get back to work.
Really not the Really!? you know of! says
Let us not seek the Republican answer or the Democratic answer, but the right answer. Let us not seek to fix the blame for the past. Let us accept our own responsibility for the future.
John F. Kennedy
Just Saying says
Antelope Valley Community Clinic has free Urgent Care for the poor, on 10th St W. just South of Ave I, and the wait time is actually a lot shorter then AVH. The free clinic itself is further South in the shopping center behind Texas Cattle Company, but appointments are needed there. Treatment ranges from free, to sliding scale, based on income. I hear there is a similar place in Palmdale behind the Tacos Vallarta. With Obamacare we may see more of these and hopefully AVH will learn to hold off remodeling to when they can afford it.
Heart says
Janis
In you’re next life maybe you’ll be one of those people your talking about. Then you’ll know how it feels. God don’t like ugly and your not perfect!
Colin D. Baird says
Exploding The F Bomb At AVHMC
By: Colin D. Baird
Dennis Knox, CEO of AVHMC, has hit a rough patch. With an employment culture in free fall, patients waiting longer than ever as production fails to meet customer demand, and years of declining Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s), you’d think Knox, would have already learned something about the public hospital’s failing culture, and the need for root cause analysis and continuous improvement.
Instead, the causes of inefficiencies at AVHMC remain largely invisible to him. While reduced labor costs are clearly his aim-an always easy target of the highly paid American turnaround executive, identifying the root causes behind increased labor costs are not. Let’s be clear, in any production system, costs come from causes, costs are not causes. Causes should be our aim, not costs.
Reducing production capacity does not create higher throughput rates, reduce operating expenses, improve quality, improve patient flow, nor get to the causes of loss. It instead creates greater loss as employee’s rush around completing additional production tasks once completed by their now un-employed colleagues.
Remember the last time you had to sit in the ER, or worse yet, hallway, waiting… Mr. Knox, it’s time to understand and identify your own team’s failures so the leadership transformation can begin.
Virginia Mason Medical Center (VMMC) is a model hospital that currently uses failure analysis and continuous improvement to improve on time delivery, quality, and operating expenses. In 2002, like AVHMC, VMMC’s KPI’s were approaching Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) status. Rather than accept the death of their 80 year old delivery system, the CEO and board chose explorative surgery to evaluate the root causes of production failures. They then transformed leadership, began removing the metastatic diseases of waste, and simultaneously improved the culture with the employee’s full support.
At VMMC, ‘failure analysis’ increased productivity 93 percent in targeted areas. Nurse walking distance was reduced 750 miles daily, and the resulting 250 hours used for patient care. Inventory costs were slashed $2 million through supply chain reduction and standardization. A new $11M wing, was not built since VMMC used space more efficiently. Remarkably, in one year, without the need for layoffs, labor costs were reduced $500,000. Nurse to patient time increased from 35 to more than 90 percent.
Knox publicly states he needs employee’s operational help, turns to them for their input in August, and then lays them off in September? This is intellectual dishonesty.
He and his misguided, misinformed, consultants are spreading the American malignancy of employee disengagement faster than any progressive disease. Knox and his team of improvement ‘experts’ are destroying the very fabric of the culture they are paid to improve.
The causes behind AVHMC’s increased labor costs remain rooted in the deep failures of the production system. Failures that can still be identified, and rooted out, but simply allowing AVHMC’s labor crisis to head the direction Knox recommends, could very well be our only public hospital’s last Did Not Resuscitate.
Happier nurses, happier patients, shorter lead times, and greater profitability. This is what the AV needs, not what Mr. Knox is offering.
Politics says
Great Letter Mr. Colin
Remember that the Hospital Board of Directors hired Mr. Knox. I learned a little about him on Google and his last Hospital he ran.( oops RAN TO THE GROUND)
Everyone needs go to the Board Meeting 9-24-2014 @ 5pm
REMEMBER : Its Election year for the Board of Directors….
The Hospital is a Community Hospital WE the Community need to make changes to the BOARD.
Anonymous says
Excellent letter Mr. Collin,
Just like the statement about Mr. Knox some of the consultants hired have poor performance issues with past employers.
This hospital will never change if they don’t stop wasting money on consultants for every issue that arises or for their political gain due to who they know or by association.
William says
@Politics
Was his last contract bought out?
Is he looking to have his current one bought out so he can move on?
Isn’t that the game these guys play?
Anonymous says
There is lots of talk about the union, but non-union workers are also being laid off. I have heard that most of Security was let to today. This really concerns me because of the amount of violence in our society. Sure, lack of nurses impact care but there is also support staff being lost that also contributes towards a safe and quality environment. I hope to see this talked about as this progresses. Everyone plays a part in the organization – including those who have lost their jobs but aren’t in direct patient care.
Lu says
Healthcare workers are victims of violent assault at a rate four times that of the general population, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Employees expect hospitals and health systems to have policies and procedures in place that help ensure their safety, and the most talented healthcare workers will often flock to organizations that provide the safest environment.
To help keep a hospital campus safer and keep the top employees working there, hospitals need to realize the importance of the Safety & Security Department . AVH Security do way more than just sit around and “observe and report” like some security guard in front of a grocery store!
In other words the loyal staff that the hospital already let go. The hospital might as well say good bye to rest of their staff and patient care is GONE…..
Employee says
No more safety in this hospital for staff and patient or visitor who cares The CEO don’t care The security director don’t care so who cares About safety is all about saving money that’s what the CEO said
AV Resident says
I think the culprit of this situation is the Administrative Side of the Hospital when they made poor decisions regarding loans and “balloon payments”. Those poor decisions and obviously unqualified ill advice (perhaps to benefit a few), are the cause of this situation, and it is unethical and immoral to “pass the buck” to the hard working people of this hospital. If the Administration of the Hospital failed, the they should find “administrative ways” to solve this issue.
anonymous says
Funny how they can do a complete overhaul to the hospital, but have to lay people off this fall. I am sorry but, the quality of service at AV Hospital is very poor and I can just imagine how much worse it is going to be now that they are laying people off. I feel sorry for the people that are being laid off. It is hard to find and get a job! To blame the patients is in poor taste, how about we back it up a little bit and blame Obama or perhaps the newly renovated hospital!
don says
Blame Obama for a hospital that is mismanaged?? really? jerk
Anonymous says
Is name calling really necessary? freedom of speech and right to my own opinion!oh wait not these days…. You get called names how mature! “Non-paying” patients are in relation to “Obama care”
William says
You mean patients were all ‘paying’ their way before Obamacare. You do realize that one of the provisions of the ACA was having more Americans buying health insurance. It is called a ‘mandate’ that people who complained about Obamacare ‘complained about’ when they weren’t complaining about patients who freeloaded, playing both sides in their typical hypocritical way.
Up to 17,000 Americans will die this year because red state governors have refused to expand Medicaid according to a Harvard/City University of New York study. Rural hospitals in some states are closing because of republican legislators and governor and not because of Obamacare.
BTW. Almost a dozen hospitals closed in the Los Angeles area closed before Obamacare.
The shoe don called you really fitted you well. Wear it. Wear the pair. I’m sure the ‘spare’ shoe will come in handy in reply to your future comments.
Sheesh. AV Hospital has had problems for the last 25 years that I’ve lived in this area, long before Obamacare.
anotherdummy says
Medicare reimbursements have been reduced pretty significantly under the Affordable Care Act without reducing the benefits to Medicare recipients. This directly leads to reduced payments to the Hospital for services. That, in addition to having HEAPS of new regulations, reporting requirements, billing standards, and bureaucratic hoops to jump through have increased costs by the hospital (for the time being) while reducing income.
Along with all of that, hospitals are also being required to implement electronic medical records (which is WAY more complex than a simple software/hardware install). This initiative alone is costing tens of millions of dollars to deploy CMS certified systems, and that doesn’t even breach the cost of evaluating and modifying workflows, training users, and supporting the new systems.
So, you are absolutely correct that the hospital has always had problems. And of course we can’t point the finger only at “Obamacare”. It can’t be denied, though, that the ACA is affecting hospitals. Over time, though, hospitals will adjust, indigent patients will decrease (hopefully), and it will level out.
People are way to quick to want to blame a single factor for any problem (usually illegal immigrants or “Obamacare”) they tend to lose objectivity.
anonymous says
That’s funny William because up until now you sided with all of my comments :)
Have a great day!
ceci says
It was all the renovations, Was it necessary to spend $150,000 for each palm tree , that is correct thats how much each palmtree cost .
COME ON ALREADY says
You guys need to all Google REVENUE BONDS. That’s what was used for the palm trees and renovations you are all going on about. Revenue bonds are used to improve facilities and add new services so that the company can make more… what? yes, REVENUE. The money CAN NOT be used for salaries, so PLEASE STOP saying that they shouldn’t have used all that money to renovate the hospital and then turn around to lay people off. It’s two separate piles of money, people. LEARN.
COME ON ALREADY says
You guys need to all Google REVENUE BONDS. That’s what was used for the palm trees and renovations you are all going on about. Revenue bonds are used to improve facilities and add new services so that the company can make more… what? yes, REVENUE. The money CAN NOT be used for salaries, so PLEASE STOP saying that they shouldn’t have used all that money to renovate the hospital and then turn around to lay people off. It’s two separate piles of money, people. LEARN.
IRay says
Ha! Like that matters in Lancaster? Our mayor bought a building in a redevelopment zone while he was mayor and head of the redevelopment zone board. It’s illegal. Did that stop him? Nope. There are laws, there are rules, and then there is Lancaster.
Sophia says
Janis,
There’s no need to blame patients… Pray that YOU will never be in those patients shoes. You have no reason to judge ANYONE. And if you are one of the staff that’s being let go, pray that you find a job soon or YOU will eventually end up being one of those non-paying patients yourself.
Don says
Praying will do NOTHING!
Godless Heathen says
Amen brother! The sky isn’t listening to any of us.
janis says
To those non paying hospital patients…
thank you
Richard says
Thanks to “Tax Cuts For The Rich”, One third of the money that WAS checks coming into the Treasury, became a one third cut in funds distributed back to the states. Next came the layoffs of state and federal workers due to the reduction in already budgeted payrolls. Very little tax money was actually saved because of continuing leases in the empty buildings they worked in. Then slowdowns in spending because of the rise in unemployment from the laid-off workers and the places they used to shop. Welcome to the crash of the middle class, and the flood of uninsured victims. Yeah, lets blame them.