It Takes a Gold Mine

By Robert E. Jensen
The Desert Independent

February 9, 2010

BLYTHE, Calif – Mexmart has long closed. La Florida is empty. Dekens’ Implement is bereft. Foster Freeze is “on vacation”. Businesses in Blythe are slowly withering – except for the Palo Verde Valley Healthcare District. People may be pulling back on their expendable spending, but sickness and injuries don’t go away. Of all the institutions and businesses in town, the local hospital has come a long way from 2007 when it was bleeding cash at the rate of $350,000 per month and was pleading for an operating loan from – of all places – the City of Blythe.

So what happened?

At that time, there was an economic “war” going on between the operating company – American Health Management – and the local physicians, represented by the Medical Executive Committee. There were lots of fingers pointed at both sides but the physicians had the “power of the purse” - they simply stopped admitting their patients to the hospital. With no patients, there was scant income. The Riverside County Grand Jury came to town, snooped around and made the recommendation that AHM be terminated as the hospital was on the verge of bankruptcy.

Then came the November elections with Sandra Hudson, Tim Maley and Capt. Jim Carney leading the charge for four open Director positions. Capt. Carney stated that, if elected, he would come into office with an “open mind”. Three days after coming into office as President, Capt. Carney showed AHM the door and a large severance check.

Since then, the board made the decision to hire Peter Klune, an experienced administrator in the medical field who was otherwise unoccupied at the time. From the time of his hire, the physicians have been admitting patients and performing surgeries. The ink on the hospital ledgers has been transformed from red to black. The available cash on hand for each month have regularly breached the million dollar mark. Policies have been approved. Action items have been passed. Practitioners have been credentialed. The Ob-Gyn unit is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Critical Access Accreditation has been achieved. An MD has replaced the CRNAs – who were unbillable for Medicare. CEO Klune even announced that the hospital will be receiving a “rebate” check for $2,400,000 in the coming week for past underreporting from Medicare.

Infrastructure such as new optical-fiber wiring has also been approved that will allow for new equipment, phones, computers and a replacement for the CAT scanner that CEO Klune described as “a bucket of bolts”. Such aged equipment will soon be found in the dumpster.

There have been a number of criticisms directed at the Board in the past few months as they have approved “directorships” of various departments to local physicians at the rate of $3,000 per month for 15 hours of logged activities. Eyes have also widened at the salary, potential bonus and per diem for the CEO as well. To view the CEO contract, please HERE.

 The remarks that the local doctors are “getting rich” at the expense of the hospital may be well put. However, some directorships – especially that of Infection and Disease Control – are mandated. Such positions have to be in place by law. To view the physician agreements as provided by PVHCD, please click HERE.

As for the rest – sometimes you have to “make a deal with the devil”. If the physicians are happy, they admit patients, the hospital functions and the ill or injured don’t have to make an ambulance run to Palm Desert. A Win-Win situation.

Unless, of course, you pay for your own insurance or your taxes go to Medicare.

The next regularly scheduled meeting of the Palo Verde Health Care District Board of Directors will be held on February 24, 2010 in the Hospital Conference Room, 205 N. First Street.