Test: Action Alert: Physicians fired to maximize profits
Ali Thebert
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April 28, 2010 Dear PNHP members and friends, I’m writing to call your attention to an extremely significant event in the Cleveland area. Dr. George Randt and his colleague are board-certified internists who have had a contractual relationship with St. John Medical Center covering some 2,500 patients for several years. These two doctors have excellent records with the hospital, high patient satisfaction and retention rates, and have never had an unfavorable review. Both were awarded bonuses in 2009, and Dr. Randt's contract was renewed in January of this year. This past month they were notified by the president of their hospital, Mr. Cliff Coker, that their contracts were being terminated due to lack of productivity and their having incurred excessive overhead expense. In other words, they weren't sufficiently profit-driven. At a previous staff meeting, the staff physicians were told by the CFO to admit just "one more Medicare patient a month" to improve hospital revenues. If you can, please join us in a rally at St. John Medical Center, 29000 Center Ridge Road, Westlake, Ohio, this Sunday, May 2, at 1:00 p.m. to call for the reinstatement of these two physicians and for the elimination of policies which are justified solely on the basis of maximizing the profits of a health care system. Speakers at the rally include PNHP's congressional fellow, Dr. Margaret Flowers, and Dr. Carol Paris. (See the press release below for more information.) Call Mr. Cliff Coker today and demand that these physicians be reinstated to their position. His office number is (440) 827-5008. He can also be reached by e-mailing cliff...@csauh.com. We welcome you to share your views that patients should come before profits with the newspapers in the area by writing a letter to the editor to the The Plain Dealer or Sun News. Dismissing these physicians without cause, merely to maximize hospital revenues, is the embodiment of the derangement of our system of health care finance. This was done without any semblance of due process. The livelihood and status of skilled professionals are being sacrificed to assure profitability; this is rapidly becoming the norm within our profit-driven system. As a result, it poses the gravest threat to professionalism and patient primacy. These issues would be greatly alleviated under a single-payer health financing system that places value on health outcomes, continuity of care, and quality. Please join us in calling for the reinstatement of Dr. Randt, a longtime PNHP member, and his colleague and an end to health care practices that place the goals of profitability over the care of patients.Health care for all,
Patients,
physicians and health care activists to protest St. John Medical
Center's plans to eliminate primary care practices Cuts would leave 2,500 patients without their trusted primary care physician Contacts: WESTLAKE - Patients, health care
professionals, and area residents will gather across the street from
St. John Medical Center next Sunday to protest the sudden closure of
two primary care practices that have served the community for over two
decades. Two primary care physicians,
including George Randt, M.D., were told on April 1 by the president of
St. John Medical Center, Cliff Coker, that their employment contracts
with Cuyahoga Physicians Network at the St. John West Shore Hospital
were being terminated and that they will be laid off effective April 30
because they were not productive enough. The decision made by St. John
Medical Center to sever the relationship between approximately 2,500
patients and their primary care physicians will have unforeseen
consequences for both patient and physician alike, and may have
negative consequences due to the loss of the patients' established
medical homes. Many of the affected patients have been cared for by the
same physician for over 20 years. "Several months ago, at a staff
meeting, the CFO of St. John's told all of the physicians attending
that the hospital could make a profit if the physicians would admit
just one more Medicare patient a month," said Randt, who left the
meeting questioning the moral justification and legal propriety of this
request. Randt said many of his patients
have signed petitions, written letters and made phone calls to St.
John's executive officers demanding a reversal of the decision with no
response. Dr. Margaret Flowers,
congressional fellow for the Physicians for a National Health Program,
a group that favors a single-payer, Medicare-for-All health system,
will speak at the May 2 event. Referring to the proposed layoffs, she
said, "This is what happens under our current fractured, money-driven
system of health care financing. Doctors are required to see increasing
numbers of patients and spend less time with them. " The most common way hospital
executives measure physician productivity is the number of patients
they see each hour, Flowers said, although some executives have been
known to criticize doctors for not ordering a sufficient number of
tests, even though such tests may not be medically warranted. Flowers is one of the speakers
attending the rally. Her colleague Dr. Carol Paris will be in
attendance too. Invitations have also gone out to all of the patients
who will be losing their medical home, as well as citizens throughout
the area and legislators. "What St. John's board is doing
is unacceptable," said Drew Smith of the Mobilize Ohio Movement, the
group that is planning the rally. "To leave 2,500 patients medically
homeless because some don't believe that primary care is profitable
enough goes against everything in the hospital's mission statement.
It's a terrible blow to the physician-patient relationship. These
primary care practices should be reinstated immediately." Smith added: "If we had a
single, comprehensive health plan for everyone, which spent more money
on providing care and less on administrative overhead, we wouldn't be
facing this kind of situation." The Mobilize Ohio Movement
supports House Bill 159 (The Health Care for All Ohioans Act), which
would establish a single-payer, Medicare-style health plan for all
residents of Ohio from birth to death, with no out-of-pocket expenses,
and would strive to ensure that every patient has a primary care
physician. St. John sent a letter out to all of the patients of the primary care practices dated April 19 stating their personal physicians would no longer be able to see them as of the end of the month. The letter failed to mention that the hospital was closing the practices for financial reasons. For more information: |
29 E Madison Suite 602, Chicago, IL 60602
Phone (312) 782-6006 | Fax: (312) 782-6007
www.pnhp.org | in...@pnhp.org
© PNHP 2010
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