BRMC: What do you think?

For those of you who are into blogging, I would like to refer the readers and those keeping up with the Broadlands Regional Medical Center to an online poll conducted by an individual resident of Northern Virginia.  Please participate by clicking the following link at HoodaThunk? and show your opposition to BRMC.

Remember, the fight against BRMC is not over.  Voice your opinion in any and every way possible.  The Board of Supervisors will make it's final decision on BRMC January 14th.  Don't let your voice be left out!  Contact them by e-mail at BOS@Loudoun.gov and send letters to Loudoun County Board of Supervisors @ 1 Harrison St, S.E. 5th floor, P.O. Box 7000 Mailstop #1 Leesburg, VA 20177-7000.   You can even comment over the phone at 703-777-0115.

Will history repeat itself?

The San Jose Medical center has previously been a topic of discussion on the Stop BRMC blogs.  You may wonder what a closed medical center in California has to do with our situation here in Loudoun County.  The answer is simple, these incidents represent the concerns and ethics of HCA as a corporation and a participant in the community.  

San Jose is still trying to recover from how HCA has left the community.  Not only has HCA closed down the medical center leaving downtown without healthcare access, but HCA has also shown no intentions of helping to alleviate these problems.  In fact, they are adding to problems through a lack of willingness to provide healthcare to a majority of the San Jose community. 

Just think about what would happen if HCA were to become a staple in Loudoun County.  If they are allowed to build at the Dulles Greenway site, they will be competing for patients and profits.  What happens if they decide the Dulles Greenway location is not good for "profitability" like HCA's Santa Clara location?  Will they decide to shut down BRMC as well?  Or worse, what if they shut down the current hospitals in the area monopolizing healthcare in Loudoun.  HCA pushing for the Dulles Greenway site, with it's proximity to the other hospitals in Loudoun, could be a sign of these intentions.

If BRMC remains in Loudoun, what is the likely hood they will care for the community?  The answer is good, if you're insured!  It's no wonder BRMC is trying to move into a higher income neighborhood instead of the Route 50 corridor where the community would be most positively affected by a hospital.  In San Jose, the city council has already been a victim of HCA's unwillingness to provide care to the uninsured or those with Medi-Cal.  

Will history repeat itself?  Only if you let it!  Voice your opposition  and tell the Board of Supervisors to vote no on BRMC!

Will HCA bring Jobs to Loudoun?

DOUBTFUL!

One of the dominant reasons people have for supporting BRMC in Broadlands has been the Doctors and jobs presumed to accompany the development of a Hospital.  This just isn't the case. 

HCA has been working on a merger with Baptist Health Care and their West Florida Campus. 

This is an excerpt from a question and answer article regarding the proposed merger.  The interviewer asks, 

"Q: You have said that the consolidation will result in eliminating 320 jobs, mostly through attrition.  What is the worst-case scenario number in terms of layoffs, and what is the projected payroll of those cuts?"

His Answer was:

"A: Our hope is to be able to handle about two-thirds of the reduction through attrition and placing people in other roles.

The 320 jobs amount to about $20 million in payroll and benefits out of a combined payroll and benefits of $310 million between Baptist and West Florid.  By 2011, it will be back above where it is now.  

We're also actually bringing some jobs back to the market.

For, example, West Florida did all of their billing office functions out of Jacksonville.  Their IT employees-- and those are high-paying tech jobs-- have been outsourced out of the market.

Much of their marketing work was performed out of the market, whereas we will use local vendors.  That was an organizational strategy of HCA, to consolidate services into regional centers.

We're taking a $200 million business and brining it back to local ownership."

If this is HCA's organizational strategy, what kind of strategies can we expect to see at Broadlands Regional Medical Center?   You be the judge.

Full Article @ http://www.pnj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080629/news01/806290328

Certificate of Public Need Extension

A lot of the argument for and against Broadlands Regional Medical Center has been the expressed need for another full scale hospital in Loudoun County. As you may or may not know, HCA was recently given an extension to their certificate of public need (COPN) for the development of Broadlands Regional Medical (BRMC) by State Health Commissioner, Karen Remley. 

However, on the date the COPN was reissued, the Health Systems Agency of Northern Virginia (HSA) also evaluated the COPN for the development of BRMC and provided a multitude of evidence against BRMC's COPN extension. I feel that the HSA's letter of recommendation to Remley is very important in the development of BRMC and that it is an integrual part of this debate. I hope that HSA's letter, written by Executive Director Dean Montgomery, can help to further illustrate a need to Stop BRMC.

http://cdn.washingtonpost.com/podcast/proddev/loudoun/documents/nvch_broadlands0519.doc

Update on San Jose Medical Center:

HCA- Profits over people.

HCA owns two hospitals, in a region the size of San Jose (the 3rd largest City in California- 10th largest in the whole entire US!) , two miles apart from one another, and in the end is forced to shut one of them down. Then, at the other hospital, the one they left open, HCA immediately refuses to accept Medi-Cal for most services - leaving the elderly and under-issured with little options in healthcare!

Yet- they want to come to Loudoun County, not near the size and scope of San Jose, and build a hospital only five miles from an existing healthcare facility- and they think that both of them are going to survice financially? HELLO? Does anyone else out there see the problem here?

From the article:

"The crusty old buildings of the former downtown San Jose Medical Center are doomed to be an eyesore on Santa Clara Street until local politicians stop punishing the health-care giant [HCA] that owns it for being a bad corporate citizen. Hospital operator HCA abruptly closed the center in 2004, leaving the downtown community without an emergency room. The closest hospital, HCA-owned Regional Medical Center, is two miles away and recently stopped accepting Medi-Cal for most services, making it less than ideal for senior citizens and other [less-insured] residents. That put extra strain on the county's Valley Medical Center.

Valley Medical Center, is what some in the business refer to as a 'safety net facility'- meaning they're there no matter what, and no matter who, needs healthcare.

Role Reversal

I found this nice little tid-bit from July 2007. Talk about role reversal.


Let's see. Martin Memorial Hospitals wants to build a facility 8 miles from Lawnwood Hospital and 11 miles from St. Lucie Medical. Naturally, both hospitals are opposing Martin Memorial's plans.


So who owns St. Lucie and Lawnwood, along with a lawsuit challenging Martin Memorial's CON? Why its our friends from Nashville -- HCA! How ironic.

Read these quotes from the HCA hospital's CEO Gary Cantreall:

"They are duplicating emergency services that are already provided in that area to divert patients who could be receiving full medical services at St. Lucie Medical or Lawnwood," Cantrell said.

and ...

"This is a clear example that Martin Memorial is not focusing on the needs of the St. Lucie County community, but rather its own interests," he said.

Hmmm, sounds like some folks at HCA would actually agree that Broadland is the WRONG location. Guess they're trying to have their cake and eat it too -- typical of large Wall Street corporations.

Maybe HCA needs to reserve a few of its psych-beds for some of their decision makers- they seem to be suffering from a case of dissociative identity disorder. One day they engage in predatory behavior, then the next day they oppose? Weird.

Something else in this article sounds real familiar too; HCA filing another lawsuit in court.


"Martin Memorial’s [non-profit] certificate of need to build a new hospital in western St. Lucie County has been appealed by St. Lucie Medical Center [for-profit HCA] and Lawnwood Regional Medical Center [for-profit HCA]."


"St. Lucie and Lawnwood Regional medical centers, owned by HCA Inc., filed the appeal on July 19."

HCA = Quality Health Care?

Not hardly. Take a look at this article here, where a brand-new $250 million dollar HCA hospital finishes 'dead-last in eight of 10 categories'.

Ouch.

Note; Saint Luke's Health System, is a faith-based, non-profit, health system.

Saint Luke's Health System, the area's second-largest hospital operator, passed a new patient-satisfaction test with flying colors, while market leader HCA Midwest Health System came away with a black eye.

A review of inpatient survey data posted March 28 on the federal government's Hospital Compare Web site revealed that two of Saint Luke's five Kansas City-area hospitals grabbed the top rankings in nine of 10 categories that recently discharged patients were surveyed on between October 2006 and June.

Four of HCA Midwest's six area hospitals, meanwhile, accounted for all 10 last-place scores, with two of them tying for last in one category.

A total of 19 metro-area hospitals participated in the first round of the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) survey, which eventually will be mandatory for all U.S. adult acute-care hospitals. One of them, HCA's new $250 million Centerpoint Medical Center in Independence, finished 19th -- or dead last -- in eight of the 10 categories. The Saint Luke's Cancer Institute, meanwhile, finished No. 1 in eight categories.