KVHD campaign flier: the community caused our problems

Therefore you owe us a GOB

Kern Valley Healthcare District CEO, Tim McGlew, gave out materials outlining the property tax measure "G" during the Hospital Foundation annual fundraiser, "The Peddler's fair" last week. I have copied the flier in total, and have provided responses to each of the points. My comments are in red.


WE NEED YOUR HELP!

· Our emergency room is overcrowded, has privacy and human dignity issues, does not facilitate proper workflow for optimum patient care and must be seismically updated prior to the year 2030.

(The ER is not an emergency. Most hospital's have curtains and are set up in a similar fashion.)

· After 20 years of paying the principal and interest on the existing revenue bonds, KVHD no longer has the reserves or the projections to continue to pay the remaining $12.7 million in principal.

(What is the true reason they cannot pay? The bonds sold in 1986, also known as the "old debt" only became a factor when the construction project was not finished therefore it could not produce the revenue to pay the debt. From that point on a combination of regulations from the state insurer Cal Mtg., a symbiotic relationship as co-signers for our credit starved hospital, the lack of assistance from our local representatives in trying to obtain help out of a "no win" situation, and the mismanagement in spending, planning, along with higher than normal salaries at the top level of administration.)

FACTS;

· Since its organization in 1964, KVHD has not received an increase in taxes from the property owners in the Kern River " Valley.

(The hospital could have incrementally enjoyed tax increases that were commensurate with the economics of the valley. It is not like the community would come to the hospital and ask, "am I paying you enough taxes?" No, that was their job, so they can only blame themselves. By increasing the support system financially over the last forty years, the hospital may have been able to avert its current, urgent request for help.)

· The patients of KVHD have enjoyed the use of a major renovation in facilities since 1991 without having to support that renovation through taxes.

(I'm quite surprised to find this guilt inducing point, but I guess I will answer it. There are many who did not enjoy the "major renovation" which was mostly the nursing center where the current elder abuse case emanated from. Maybe had the hospital built the whole center, and it was able to surpass minimum staffing standards, they could say that, but I think that is a mistake to blame the community. With a number of civil cases waiting in the wings, I find it hard to even respond to this type of propaganda. Reminder, the elder abuse case resumes in the Kern County Superior court Oct. 15, 2010.)

· The 1991 renovation had to be downsized due to the revised seismic requirements from the Northridge Earthquake, impeding it from generating the projected profits.

(First off, the Northridge earthquake took place in 1994, and it was not the "main" problem which caused the KVHD "major expansion" to become minor. There were problems with contractors, no oversight from OSHPD or the board, and this was before 1991. They were in default in 1988 and tried to get the community to bail them out with the first GOB or sign of weakness. The project was originally 13 million, but in 1989, the hospital worth little more than one million dollars, sold another nine million in bonds and still could not finish. But Cal Mtg. allowed and insured this overpriced and under finished project.)

· The 1991 bonds were replaced in 2003 to take advantage of lower interest rates saving some $2 million in interest.

(The cost of the refinance was considerable and even though the state of California had its worst credit rating, they had to go ahead as bonds can only be called at certain periods of time. They weren't taking advantage of anything, they were forced to have to lower the interest rates on the bondholders so they could survive the major mistakes and this was the only time they could do it.)

· The KVHD emergency room must treat all patients regardless of their ability to pay.

(The hospital CFO, Chet Beedle has told several stories regarding this issue over the past year. First, patients were not being cooperative and filling out "charity care" forms so the hospital could bill for the services. Next, when a couple people at the board meetings complained they were being billed three years back for amounts as low as $8, I asked why the billing was so backlogged. I also commented that the cost to find someone three years ago owing less than ten bucks will only cost more. The final answer to the billing problems, Chet said he was trying to help the community by not billing. Would a prudent person do that? It's all on video, so there's no saying I didn't say that.)

· In the past three years, bad debts at KVHD have increased from $1.9 'million to $3.5 million per year.

(See previous answer regarding billing practices.)

• KVHD has one of the lowest tax bases of health care district hospitals in the State of California.

(Again, blaming the community for not paying enough taxes is only implicating the administrators and board for not doing their jobs. See explanation above.)

· The current annual property tax base of $230,000 for KVHD would not pay one two-week payroll.

(But happily it would pay for a year's salary for the CEO.)

· The mortgage loan Insurance guarantee division of the State of California (Cal-Mortgage) holds a deed of trust on all of the past, present and future assets of KVHD.

(I'm going to hold off on answering this now, as there is something you will all know soon about this sordid relationship...)

· Should KVHD not be able to meet its annual principal and interest payments to the existing revenue bondholders, Cal- Mortgage can perfect their deed of trust and sell or close the KVHD facilities. , Licensing will not allow there to be an emergency room without a hospital.

(KVHD has not met it's obligations and Cal Mtg. allowed them to drain the reserves, change the debt ratio qualifications, and basically has never in the 24 years ever tried to "take" the hospital. I suppose you can guess why...because it's not worth the amount owed. It's in their best interest to keep the hospital open and to collect their premiums than to take a run down building. However, they do have the ability to fire the administrators and replace them with "different" people. That is the concern of the high priced administrators right now.)

· Ambulances cannot stop at urgent care centers, so without an emergency room, all illnesses or injuries of an emergent nature would have to be transported directly to Bakersfield.

(I guess they added this to dissuade those who would like an urgent care available and don't care so much about the rest of the hospital. The flier is correct ambulances would have to transport to Bakersfield if there were no ER. But we have an ER already. What we don't have is an urgent care. We were supposed to have had an urgent care, the hospital was supposed to rent space from Sienna Wellness clinic owned by Dr. Robert Gross DO, hospitalist, board member. It's obviously an issue that continues to be overlooked as the question has been asked repeatedly over the last few years as people would like to avoid the higher costs of going to an ER.)

· The KVHD Board has placed Measure G on the November ballot requesting a general obligation bond measure for $22.7 million to address these issues.

(Money can't address issues, competent and compassionate administrators and board members can though. Don't mistake the bond measure as a "sure fix" as there is very little understanding as to what this will actually do except be an extremely expensive stop gap measure. And considering the need for a second bond measure, we still will be paying for the 1986 mistake, Measure G, and then another bond to complete what?)

YOU CAN HELP BY VOTING YES FOR MEASURE G ON THE NOVEMBER OR ABSENTEE BALLOT!

Final thoughts: There are answers other than a "bail out" from the community who seems to be blamed for the problems at the hospital in this campaign leaflet. No where on this flier does it say anything about the recent raise for the CEO, the past failures and how they could be avoided, or even the DETAILS of how this money is to be used. If they can't create an informative flier with solutions rather than excuses and blame, they how can we in all conscience allow them to govern this healthcare district?