Survey results-Selling CRMC
Shall the City of Needles sell the CRMC hospital to a non-profit entity? 48% say YES, 42% say NO
Should the City of Needles sell the CRMC hospital to a specific group? 69% say NO, 22% say YES
Should the City of Needles sell the CRMC hospital to Needles Hospital Inc? 76% say NO, 15% say YES
Should San Bernardino County be asked by the City of Needles to operate an “Urgent Care” facility in place of the CRMC hospital? 67%-YES, 33%-NO
If the City of Needles chooses to place the sale of CRMC hospital on an election ballot how should it be done?
2010 Primary in June-66%
2010 General Election in November-22%
Hold Special election-12%
List any other questions which you would like to have placed on an election ballot. 38% want some form of Council member recall on the ballot. Other responses include bringing back former employees of LifePoint to run the hospital.
The data suggest that a very high percent are dissatisfied with special interests associated with CRMC and would like to have those special interests removed.
CRMC – Be Careful relying to heavily on Medicare
The following is quoted from a Washington Post staff writer. As we look to the future of CRMC we need to be cognizant of the potential effects.
“A Senate plan to cut Medicare to pay for an overhaul of the health system would threaten the profitability of roughly one in five hospitals and nursing homes over the next decade, according to a new analysis by the government official responsible for monitoring the popular health program.
In a report Friday, Rick Foster, chief actuary for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, questioned the sustainability of many of the proposed cuts, the major source of funding in a plan to extend insurance to more than 30 million additional Americans.
The proposal to reduce payments to hospitals and other providers, to force them to adopt more efficient practices, could prove particularly problematic for institutions that serve large numbers of Medicare patients, Foster wrote. He warned that many institutions might drop Medicare, “possibly jeopardizing access to care for beneficiaries.”
Moreover, he wrote, simulations by his office suggest that 20 percent of institutional medical providers would become unprofitable within a decade.
The report echoes concerns Foster raised last month about similar cuts in the House bill, but it offers a more specific warning about the potential magnitude of disruption in the health sector.”
CRMC lives with a substantial share of it revenues coming from Medicare. Depending on the outcome of the health care legislation it could spell doom for our hospital. Contact your federal legislators and tell them to protect the viability of CRMC.
CRMC Hospital Sale Election Survey
Please complete our survey regarding the the sale of CRMC hospital to a non-profit entity. Click here.
Thanks
Needles; Past, and not as far past. by Linda Fitzpatrick
We can see that before the London Bridge in Havasu and the “Little Las Vegas’ in Laughlin there was virtually nothing in either town.
The picture of Needles is taken in the 60’s as well. What a dramatic difference in the communities. Needles enjoyed all of the tourist traffic going all points East & West because the freeway did not exist . You had to go through Needles. Cal Trans says that the traffic count in 58, 59, & 60 averaged 2,000 cars in a 24hour period during the summer months. Does this give you any idea why Needles prospered? look at all the businesses. Now we have to find a way to get the nearly 12,000 cars per day that go by Needles on the freeway into Needles. Create an entertainment value and they will come off the freeway and over from Laughlin & Lake Havasu surely the lesson is clear. Historic downtown on Route 66 is a gold mine. We live on a highway who’s name is known all over the world, a marketing dream! The public is hungry for nostalgia. What are we doing about it? The businesses that are going to be attracted to Needles are those who get it. This is not to say that manufacturing,& Green Energy businesses should not be a targeted entity. They will eventually grow the population with jobs. However they will not create the kind of traffic that Route 66 will which translates to dollars for the business community.
Linda Fitzpatrick
THINK-From one of readers
THINK
Do not speak evil of one another, brethren.
James 4:11
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Why is it so easy to point out the faults of others and gossip about them instead of encouraging them? Maybe it makes us feel better about our own shortcomings; perhaps we just enjoy hearing the “juice” about others. Whatever the reason, it is sin, yet many of us continue to do it.
One man found a way to combat this problem in his church. It was a formula he came up with that the members of the church had to apply before speaking to anyone. T.H.I.N.K.: T – is it True? H – is it Helpful? I – is it Inspiring? N – is it Necessary? K – is it Kind? If what they were about to say did not pass the above test, they were to keep their mouths shut. It worked!
Today, we need to pay attention to what we say to others. Are we gossiping and slandering or are we a source of encouragement? If we cannot honestly say we are the latter, we need to ask God to soften our heart and help us become an example of His encouraging love to those around us.
Kind words do not cost much. They never blister the tongue or lips. They make other people good-natured. They also produce their own image on men’s souls, and a beautiful image it is.
Blaise Pascal
Need More be Said. We Hope Not.
During the past couple of months we have seen numerous playbacks of so called Town Hall meetings. Much of the coverage was from the “fair and Balanced” Fox News Network, interspersed with a few reports on the other major networks.
What we witnessed were frequently confrontations between congressional district residents and their representatives in Washington DC. A rehash of the entire scenario played out like this;
Subject: Healthcare
Resident: We don’t want you meddling it matters you don’t understand.
Representative: We do understand. You need universal health care coverage.
Resident: No, you don’t understand. We don’t want you involved in health care because you will mess it up.
Representative: I don’t need to listen to that from you. Go sit in the corner during recess (congressional recess, or maybe the playground).
Result: Growing anger among the people at what is perceived as a runaway congress.
It is a sad state of public affairs when residents choose to scream. It is a sad state of public affairs when elected officials discount the collective wisdom or reason of those whom elected them.
Yet, we are not that far from a similar scene right here in Needles. The subject is local health care and residents are on the verge of screaming for elected officials to get out of it before personal agendas destroy what little we have.
The response is for some with agendas to seek out means of discrediting or silencing those residents who raise questions. It started small but is now growing. It has been repeated in too many places to be simply smoke without fire. Someone is waging a campaign of destruction against a few outspoken residents.
Our little hospital was run for a year. It was nearly run into the ground. A bailout by the newly elected council saved the hospital from closing due to inability to meet payroll. However, a new responsible hospital board was seated. The two interim CEOs of the hospital dove in and have managed to continue life support. Finances are looking better. Confidence is returning. Some of the most ardent supporters, from day one, have come to the table feeling the moves of the new council and board were wise and beneficial.
But, here we are again wallowing in conflicts over personal agendas. The old guard needs to gracefully step back and allow the people to have their voice, without fear of retaliation. There are two or three people in the City that can make that happen. We all know who they are.
Elected officials have a mandate to listen and learn from the desires and needs of those whom elect them. They ought not be selective in who they listen to, and, definitely ought not to be subversive of the public will. There is an old adage that says “two heads are better than one”. So often a majority of the public is silent on many many issues. When they choose to come together we can rely on that adage to be true.
For a year the hospital was under dictates of one person. Now, it is a cooperative effort of many; CEOs, Board, City Council, and the public. The trend before was downward. The trend now is upward.
Need more be said? We hope not.
Next Hospital Board Meeting
Thursday night’s Hospital Board meeting could be interesting. In addition to the regular financial update from the CFO/interim CEO the board’s agenda includes discussion of “alternate plans” and a presentation by Quorum Healthcare regarding services they could offer to CRMC. Quroum is a subsidiary of Community Health Systems, the company that owns WARMC in Bullhead City.
The 9/3 meeting starts at 6 pm in the City Council chambers.
That meeting will be preceded by an executive session in joint session with the City Council to discuss the lawsuit filed against CRMC by Sterling Scott Winchell. He’s the attorney relative of CRMC’s former business office director who was hired by some members of the previous Hospital Board to sue the City and safeguard both the previous CEO and business office director. When the new Hospital Board, most members of City Council and legal counsel determined that his was an unauthorized hiring, he sued for his legal fees.
A few Comments from the latest survey.
Here are a few of the many comments left by our readers during the survey. As you can see there is still a diversity of thought in Needles.
“1. The President of the United States is trying to do to much all at one time. He needs to slow down a little and re-think some issues. 2.Our California Governor is doing the best that he can with what he can do. 3.Our County Government is doing all they can so that they don’t have to lay off any employee’s. 4. Our City Council would be a great council if they could get rid of the two bone heads who sit on the council being Roy & Richie who have personal agendas. They also need to take their sore looser Rebecca and go purchase their own hospital along with other issues in the town and the three “R’s” would be out of our hair and maybe the dissention in the community would subside.”
“Reduce the size of the City Counci to only four members, plus the mayor.”
“Reduce the size of the City Counci to only four members elected by areas of the city, plus the mayor elected at-large.”
“Less government in our lives, more private sector.”
“Why do we have to go through a recall process to remove a council member when it has been shown they have a conflict of interest and have not represented the people of Needles?”
“Change the type of city government we have so the Mayor is elected and actually runs the city. Basically the Mayor would be an elected City Manager and paid appropriately. I think this would bring good people into the race. Also elect the council from 4 to 5 specific sections of the city. I believe this would be more fair representation for the citizens. Something needs stirred up. What we have been doing since city formation is not progressive enough to move the city forward.”
“After 8 yrs of Republican congress and White House destroying the middle class/working persons to benefit the richest 2% and ruining the economy for all but the richest and decimating the environment by bowing to the energy industry and ruining Americas standing in the world with thier war mongering, cowboy attitude our country and planet needs drastic changes. Liberals must exert themselves in all arenas; environment, economy, military actions,healthcare, civil rights and American as well as world politics, in order to save both our country and the planet.”
Be sure to complete the survey. We want your opinions.
We are rerunning a previous survey to see if there have been changes
Click Here to Go to Survey
CRMC Hospital Future
It is going to take Money! That is the fact. It also is going to require leadership.
If CRMC is going to survive it will require a major infusion of money.
As it stands now there is an overall debt of approximately $2,000,000 (two million dollars). About half of that is owed to vendors that supply goods and services to the hospital. The other half is obligations to recover from prior mismanagement. What that means is poor accounting and management created over half a million dollars in repayment to Medicare. Another quarter million dollars is owed for employee retirement benefits. The City warned the previous management and hospital board repeatedly about this retirement obligation, but they all chose to hire an attorney (who is now threatening to sue the hospital) to construct a false argument. If the matter had been addressed months ago the hospital would not now owe over $250,000.
The hospital does have approximately $400,000. But most of that money must be dedicated to meeting current obligations, not past those liabilities.
What this all means is that the hospital is under constant pressure of having critical services discontinued virtually at a minute’s notice. The only means of getting out from under this threat is for there to be a secure source of money to meet the demands of the outstanding debt. Repairing the problems created by the previous hospital administration is essential. There is simply not enough current income to protect the hospital against that debt.
Either the actual cash payment for services “coming in the door” must increase in the immediate future, or, an influx of debt relief must be found. There is no other answer.
There is a plan afoot to possibly put hospital employees on contract. This is more formally known as “per diem”. If this happens all benefits to these employees , except salaries, will be eliminated. This equates to another income reduction for the hospital employees, and a loss of insurance coverage for their children. Additionally, the hospital and City may not have any unemployment obligations, if jobs are lost. This sounds great, but it is not. The plan suggests that employees will be on contract, but keep their sames hours. Not only will this be a loss to the employees, but it could also be a high risk situation for the hospital and city. The risk is that if this whole picture were put before a employment judge it would not unreasonable for them to interpret this as what it is, a scam to avoid legitimate salary liabilities. Reimbursements and fines COULD follow.
There is another plan afoot to have a local group of political activists, seeking to position someone for run for mayor, seeking to buy the hospital for a single dollar. The group has no reserves or means of revenue. The group, calling itself Needles Hospital Inc, offers to accept the two million dollar liability. Again this sound great, but it is not. First, the hospital can’t be sold without a vote of the people. Who will pay for the election (possibly $25,000)? Second, the city attorney has said numerous times that the city cannot divert its liability through this type a shell game scam. Again, in court a judge is likely to say that the City has full obligation for the debt regardless of the good intentions of Needles Hospital Inc. Third, and most important, this scam does not address the FACT that money is needed right now! To accomplish this scheme will require months to put in place. Lastly, the group has no resources to rely on, which means it is nothing more than wishful thinking.
CRMC can survive. The prospects of survival are dim. We believe the focus is misdirected and irrelevant questions are being asked. The real interest should be on how to create a stable cash stream to maintain the hospital in the short-term as well as long term. This will require leadership rather than posturing.
