Oh, it started in 2006, the trouble. The state, Department of Health Services, tagged KVHD pretty hard early in the year.
They call them tags and these tags refer to certain codes which the hospital would have to comply with.
Documents starting in Feb. 2006 lead us right down the road to August, when a new Director of Nursing would be hired, and the practices at the facility changed dramatically.
But DHS also made an interesting note, asking then CEO, Pam Ott, if she had a Nursing Home Administrator's license.
If you look on the second page of the document, you see that Ott responds to this claim after referring it to the board counsel. Because the skilled nursing facility is not distinct from the hospital, a hospital administrator can run both.
But Ott puts the burden on the Cheif nursing officer, which was Sharon Brucker at the time, (still with the hospital in some other capacity, unknown) as to who is responsible.
The second tag calls for the hospital to have a full time Director of Nursing. In March Ott tells the state it has complied. However, the DON, Lucy Miller, was there in that position for only 3 weeks or so. Then in Aug., Gwen Hughes took over the position of DON. Less then two weeks later employees were running to Ott, Brucker, alerting of impending trouble.
Ott then said in this letter, "I do have many years of experience as an Administrator of a distinct part long term care facility as a division of healthcare district healthcare systems."
All right, I do have to put up the rest of Ott's resume, escpecially since I just read it again, and realized it wasn't the resume she necessarily came to the job with here, as it was updated with KVHD on it. (I wonder if human resources or any of the sticky three board members gave her a "letter of recommendation?" Or even a personal reference? Put a good word in for her? I'd like to know.)
Well, here's a letter, not of recommendation, but the famous, "cry for help" from the SNF employees letter, given over to a board member they hoped would help, in the first week of January, 2007.
The letter which included staffing records indicating shortages, and the names of three medicines, was passed along, but the board member took much heat, as the CEO knew this meant the trouble was leaking out of her control.
Maybe this should have been the letter our former CEO took with her. The employees were acting like hostages when this was written.
And why didn't the state look a little closer at Ott when they tried to tag them with the license issue? You see it could have been anyone who may have saved the day, by looking closer, and listening. And the state is no less culpable if they are to be oversight, then there should be some over them too.
Here's the whole resume, excluding the excerpt in the post below:
PAMELA OTT, RN, MHA
Bakersfield, CA 93312
e-mail:: @netscape.net
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Kern Valley Healthcare District – Lake Isabella, CA January 2003-Present
Chief Executive Officer
Areas of Responsibility:
Administer, organize, and guide all activities of the Acute Care Hospital (a Critical Access Hospital), 74 Bed Skilled Nursing Center, Retail Pharmacy, and Rural Health & Specialty Clinics. Assure strength in the fiscal viability of the organization and provide vision for the continuation and enhancement of quality healthcare services for the Kern Valley Community.
Areas of Accomplishment:
· Successfully prepared staff and organization for a Critical Access Hospital Certification which was obtained November, 2003; (who hasn't taken credit for this raise your hand?)
· Improved financial performance of the organization. Budget has grown from $34 million to $55 million over the past four years:
· Restructuring the Utilization Review process reducing contractual write off by 12% (currently at 56%) and reduced length of stay of inpatients by 1.5 patient days;
· Enhanced the utilization of Swing Bed admissions by 50%;
· Reducing utilization of contracted Registry Nursing by 75% (Reducing staff who disagreed with you, or knew what you were up to, by 100%)
· Implementing a flex staffing program throughout the organization;
· Negotiated new physician contracts for services reducing costs by 40%;
· Enhancing community perception of hospital and clinic services (Yeah, we sure got some good press and public relations out of you)increasing the utilization of Rural Health Clinic by 100% and increased inpatient admissions by 25%.
· Developing new outpatient services such as cardiology, respiratory therapy/pulmonary testing, and specialty clinics.
· Improved employee retention rate from 10% to 2% for the past 3 years. (Okay, now that's as funny as it gets. I have several blank pages which were supposed to be the recruitment and retention committee. The employees quit. I guess that doesn't sound quite as good on a resume.)
· Recruited three physicians and one mid-level provider for the Rural Health Clinic;
· Developed an effective Hospitalist program for unassigned hospital admissions;
· Recruited specialty Physicians including General Surgeon, Gynecologist, and Opthamology.
(Aren't resumes fun to read? Escpecially, when you know her education credentials were never checked, you know the rest of her claims will be accepted as nonfiction too.)
Delano Regional Medical Center – Delano, CA November 2001-December 2002
Director of Acute Care Services
Areas of Responsibility:
Provide leadership and mentoring for a staff of 240 RN’s, LVN’s, Unit Representatives and CNA’s. The areas of responsibility that I directed were Surgery, Obstetrics, Outpatient Surgery, GI Laboratory, Critical Care, Telemetry Step-down, Medical/Surgical, Barriatric Surgical, and Emergency Departments. Job responsibilities included hiring, discipline, and discharge of staff. Also included was full responsibility for staffing, budget, policy setting, meeting and exceeding all JCAHO standards, staff development, assuring continuous quality improvement, and maintaining effective multidisciplinary relationships. During my employment at DRMC, I accomplished the following:
· Reduced the RN vacancy rate from 61% to 28% through recruitment efforts; (or as you called it at KVHD, "placating the pack of wolves.")
· Designed and implemented a preceptorship program for new graduate and re-entry RN’s;
· Brought standards up to and at times exceeded JCAHO standards including, with the assistance of a multidisciplinary team, developed a Medication Error Reduction program, Pain Management program, Reduction of Restraint Utilization Program, and updated EMTALA standards for the Emergency Department;
Worked with the Directors of the entire healthcare team to create a seamless caring environment.
Ocean Beach Healthcare District – Ilwaco, Washington April 1993-April 2001
Chief Executive Officer/Superintendent of Public Health Care Services District #3 of Pacific county
Chief Executive/Superintendent for an acute care hospital, outpatient surgical services, cardiac rehabilitation, 2 rural health care clinics, urgent care clinic, assisted living center, and trauma certified emergency medical system. During tenure, accomplishments include:
· Enhanced fiscal stability of the Health Care District by over 2 million dollars;
· Successfully guided the organization in the award of a 9.75million dollar tax levy for the purpose of hospital expansion;
(oh, you mean you measure M'd them?)
· Implementation and maintenance of an effective Continuous Quality Improvement Program;
· Recruited and retained 15 multi-specialty medical staff members into the community;
· Developed a solid partnership between the Health Care Services District and the local health care providers;
· Implemented a new information management system in order to accommodate the new HIPPA regulations;
· Implemented and maintain an effective customer relations program; and· Prepared the organization and community for Critical Access Hospital Designation.
Chief Operations Officer/DNS April 1993- August 1996
Began working for Ocean Beach Hospital in the capacity of COO/DNS. The responsibilities during the three year period included overall management of Critical Care, Surgery, Medical/Surgical Acute Care, Emergency Services, Pharmacy, Laboratory, Respiratory Therapy, Medical Records, Infection Control, Inservice Education, Discharge Planning, Utilization Review, Risk Management, Diagnostic Imaging, Dietary, Housekeeping, Purchasing and Central Services. During the time of assuming the COO responsibilities, The following objectives were accomplished:
· Developed a Surgical Services Department;
· Designed and implemented a Critical Care Unit, including teaching a critical care core curriculum for nursing staff;
· Initiated an acuity system throughout the organization with the result of enhancing efficiencies and reducing FTE’s;
· Obtained a Level IV trauma Certification;
· Coordinated an inter-community healthcare provider consortium; and Maintained a balanced budget.
Rideout Memorial Hospital, Marysville, California October 1989-April 1993
Department Director, Critical Care Services
Provided leadership to 84 employees in the Critical Care Services Department. Responsibilities included Budgeting, education, internship, policy & procedure development and implementation, staffing, performance appraisal and quality improvement. Maintained JACHO compliance at all times. (Wow stud. Why not at KVHD?)
Evergreen Cardiac Rehabilitation, Grass Valley, California August 1987-October 1989
Partner/Owner/Cardiac Rehabilitation Coordinator
Maintained a very successful Medicare Certified Cardiac Rehabilitation Center.
Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital, Grass Valley, California February 1981-August 1987
Specialty Care Units Coordinator
Established, developed, and provided leadership to Cardiac and Intensive Care Units, Telemeter Step-down Unit, Pediatrics Department and the Surgical Intensive Care Unit. Established policies and procedures, Quality Assurance Programs. Provided critical care education and internship programs, and maintained the departmental budgets. Maintained JACHO compliance without deficiencies. (No Deficiencies, I'd hire you, I'm sold. I'm sure the KVHD hospital, unlike some of the employees you fired who are now deemed not rehirable, never put a blemish on your record.)
Escondido Cardiology, Escondido, California June 1978-December 1980
Cardiac Specialist
Worked with cardiology group providing Cardiac Rehabilitation, Holter Monitoring, Stress Testing, Pacemaker Clinic and Echocardiography.
Palomar Memorial Hospital, Escondido, California March, 1974-June 1978
Charge Nurse for Medical, Surgical and Cardiac Intensive Care Units
Provided leadership and mentoring for all aspects of critical care for the organization. Designed new Cardiac Program including Cardiac Catheterization Lab. Taught all aspects of critical care specialties to nursing staff.
Los Robles Hospital, Thousand Oaks, California July, 1972-February 1974
Charge Nurse for a Cardiac Surgical Intensive Care Unit
Managerial accountability for all aspects of patient care within the CSCU.
(I wonder what her taxes look like?)
You know the story, I've been repeating myself, turning it over and over, for you to look at, and it doesn't change. But when you look at the details it makes much sense.
But here's the question of the day: If Pam Ott left the hospital KVHD in May 2007, avoiding the civil lawsuit onslaught, why didn't things get better in the SNF or overall?
And the answer is:
