(Update: Last year Beedle was asked if he knew what the projections were for the future. Now, I posted the projections and here we are now talking about the default, the misinformation, and Beedle's relationship with Cal Mtg.)
Our Kern Valley Healthcare District, CFO, Chet Beedle has told us many things as to the financial status of the hospital, the direction he thinks it needs to move in, and what the "secret" is to making money: volume.
I could have told you volume is the winner in every game for a nickel, but we let our financial manager prattle on each month about it for a salary that goes along with a free lodging, benefits and retirement. How nice for him.
But how not nice for the people who happen to be at the bottom half of the echelon, say those taking cuts in salary and benefits in the pharmacy. They are getting reamed because we don't know how to run a profitable or breaking even, pharmacy.
I don't want to hear anymore excuses about this matter, it's simply ridiculous.
We probably will never make hay out of the pharmacy, but that is not the point, I realized after mulling the situation over these past few days. The point is for a public healthcare district to serve its community.
We well may have to take a constant loss from the pharmacy and make it up somewhere else, just to make sure that the local, rural, community can be served.
Again, I will mention that the William Casey report from the year 2000 was used as an analytical tool to justify severing the pharmacy from its public.
Sad, very sad, Chet, that you would use that report in any fashion. But at least you did it overtly where I could see it. The CEO didn't know anything about it, but I do.
The math
So, again we have financial problems from a number of areas, but the biggest is not the THREE HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS from the lazy charity patients who won't fill out the forms and apply for programs which will bring in money for the hospital: But the SEVENTEEN MILLION DOLLARS we owe on the bond.
And the TWO MILLION a year we pay on that, without including the payments to the mandatory reserve account.
Well there.
Even losing SIX HUNDRED THOUSAND from both the pharmacy and the bad debt, still comes under the TWO MILLION we pay on the bonds.
Taking that SIX HUNDRED THOUSAND and then adding the losses we have in the surgery department rounded off to ONE MILLION, still comes under what we have to pay on the revenue bonds.
What stood out to me
The first thing I thought when it was reported at last month's meeting that the CEO and CFO were going to do "face to face" departmental evaluations, was that the CFO, said they hadn't done this before.
He did say, that Controller, Barbara Figeuroa, would send out reports and calculators to them, but they didn't meet.
What kind of management, doesn't meet with it's department managers to go over financial/fiscal issues, such as projecting future needs, the state budget, new technology that maybe used to bring in volume, how much money needs to be spent to do things correctly, etc.: that's pretty basic.
Thus those statements are alarming.
Who knows better what their budget should look like than the department managers? I guess, Chet and Barbara, considering the way things have been run.
Human resources: the key to success
(I'll need another nickel for this title)
Through the doors walks a highly qualified Registered nurse, who has training in all sorts of new technologies, as well as years of experience, and he or she happens to be a pick of the litter. The person wanted to get away from the city life, and happened upon our small community.
If you're not trained in seeing what would be considered "highly qualified" employees, who can do their job, but also bring an added dimension with other training or personal qualities, you're going to lose this person at the front door of human resources.
You have to have a highly qualified human resources manager who has an understanding what the hospital needs, where the hospital is going (that actually falls under the category of talking to your department managers more often) and how to do your background research and interpret it.
I've seen some terrific employees come and go over the last four years, and it has been a complete waste of talent along with money.
I could name names, but obviously I'm not going to do that.
I will say that I understand the problems with the front door. I've heard people talk about it. I've been told about rude comments, harsh enforcement of policies, as well as, what I view as defamatory practices against certain employees.
You want a good staff? Then start with a good HR manager who knows how to bring in quality and lead by `example.
When problems fester, especially the ones regarding personality clashes, they can become a serious problem for an organization. If there is no one in HR who can handle such matters, then employees won't report the problems.
What happens when employees don't get satisfaction or some communication about the problems, you're going to have a person working at your hospital who deep down doesn't care about you or your business.
If the hospital is creating that kind of staff issue, that becomes a real problem, as it spoils the whole soup.
Again, back to the HR manager, who doesn't work well with people or understand what the needs of the employer are, then welcome the new employees aboard the Titanic, because unless this manager has skills, we're always going to be missing the mark.
(I had a business where I was ripped off by employees, lying about qualifications, and a couple even came to the job intoxicated. These were all terminated employees. But then there was the employees who wanted to be to work on time and leave on time, not much personality, but hard workers who got the job done. Maybe I wouldn't want them as friends, but I could count on their abilities to work hard and care about the quality of the work they do.)
Finally....what to do about this?
There are always opportunities for improvement, "The room for improvement is the largest room in the world," and we need to stay positive and get another look at the books.
And as I said, the pharmacy needs to stay open and function, which it can do. It's been proven in the past.
The employees need to get a break at the pharmacy about cutting their hours...maybe they have been nice about it, that doesn't mean I'm going to be.
I want to see Mr. Beedle take a pay cut and then explain why his small paycut could offset the employee hours.
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