Update: This company was brought in under a "time and material" contract and the costs according to documents I have was more than 2 million. According CFO Chet Beedle's business plan 2010, we spent 1.2 million in five months with them. Actually they were there for a year and the costs were out of control. Finally, according to Tracy Brown who started with the first company, then took over under contract, until she was asked to leave in 2009, she was not paid all monies due her. I am looking into that matter right now. Brown left when Tim McGlew, the current CEO arrived. The final cost for her year of service is being investigated)
Just to let you know a little bit about the company, or as Pamela Ott, called them, "the management team," I have compiled a few records which may help you understand how this team got to KVHD.
Sycamore management came to the board of directors on or around 5/4/2007 and the owner, Don Doyle, handed them a business card, he said.
The hospital skilled nursing facility was being threatened with closure, and they had no other choice as the CEO let things get to the wire, than to take on this expensive management firm. The contract was signed on 5/27/07, just before the immediate jeopardy would close the SNF.
The next blog will show you how Department of Health Services let the CEO off the hook when it is and was apparent, that the problems were with some of the top administrators.
Here is a news release about Sycamore management, the team, Ott said, would take care of all of the problems in the SNF. They would visit yearly and keep things up to date. Yeah.
In the news release, what stands out is the fact that a CEO was indicted for elder abuse and Sycamore came in when the company was near death.
Following that story is the current resume from Sycamore regarding what they accomplished here at KVHD.
CEO faces elder abuse charges, files for bankruptcy protection
By Christina Lucarotti-Stubler, Record SearchlightApril 12, 2006
The CEO of two Shasta County nursing homes who faces criminal elder abuse charges has filed bankruptcy for his corporation following a move by the state to take over management of the businesses.
Robert Roy, 64, of Millville, who was arrested in December, owns Western Care Management Corp., which does business as Rehab Specialties Inn in Anderson and Applewood Inn in Redding.
Together, the 125-bed and 143-bed nursing homes have about 180 elderly patients and 180 employees, according to documents filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Sacramento.
Management of both facilities has been taken over by the California Department of Health Services, which recently appointed Ermel Don Doyle Jr. of Sycamore Asset Management as the temporary manager, documents show.
"We're confident patients are in good hands," Department of Health Services spokeswoman Patti Roberts said of Doyle's placement.
Roberts said both nursing homes remain under investigation. She said there is no projection of how long the temporary management might continue.
Roy's arrest came after an investigation of Rehab Specialties revealed that persistent understaffing had put patients at a significant risk of injury and possibly death, state officials said at the time.
It is unclear how much money Western Care Management Corp. owes to the 94 creditors listed in the bankruptcy documents.
According to the documents, an IRS tax lien was filed against corporation in November 2003 in the amount of $226,538. Two judgment liens also have been filed, one for an unknown amount, the other for $104,584.
The trustee appointed to oversee the bankruptcy believes the businesses can be sold together if they are kept in operation, the documents said.
Roy is scheduled to appear Monday in Shasta County Superior Court for a settlement conference regarding the misdemeanor criminal charges.
And now for Sycamore's own perspective on what they did at our skilled nursing facility...
Don Doyle
EDUCATION-1987 California Coast University Santa Ana, CA Bachelor of Arts, Business Management 1980 Fanny Allen School Of Nursing Winooski, VT
CLINICAL EXPERIENCES 1984-To the Present Consultant 5/07 - present Kern Valley Healthcare District, Mountain Mesa, California (74 beds)
Assumed management of the operations of a troubled distinct part skilled nursing facility owned by the Kern Valley Healthcare District. Administered day-to-day operations of facility, including significant staff training, implementation of new policies and procedures and significant interaction with Department of Public Health. Prior to assumption of management, the facility had experienced 3 substandard surveys, with deficiency levels in multiple areas ranging in scope and severity from levels G to L, including an immediate jeopardy for medication errors, with only 10 days from revocation of Medi-cal and Medicare certification and imminent closure by the California Department of Public Health. Within 3 months, the facility was been returned to professional standards of care and received a zero deficiency survey. Daily management of operations has been returned to Healthcare District’s long term management. Sycamore currently provides contract Interim Administrator and Registered Nurses to the facility. Sycamore also provides consultation as requested
Persistance and Tenacity, requires a new chapter, a new beginning....
Showing posts with label sycamore. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sycamore. Show all posts
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
The costs were enormous: lives, careers, and possibly the hospital
Click on pix to open. Part of Sycamore Mgt. contract May 2007, below is front page of Quality Healthcare Mgt./KVHD throwing around money
After more than a decade of work at KVHD, Dr. Hoshang Pormir and Pharmacist Debbi Hayes face criminal charges in their alleged contribution to the deaths of three or possibly more KVHD skilled nursing patients from Aug. 2006 to Jan. 2007, as specified in the state documents.
However, those indictments do not reflect the real or total story of what happened during this time.
We faced tragedy here in 2006/7, when residents of the skilled nursing facility were not taken care of properly as there was not enough staff and even trained staff to handle the 70 residents.
One nurse, straight out of the Nurse’s Aid program, called it a “nightmare” when she worked at the SNF.
She started the same week as another new employee, the Director of Nursing, Gwen Hughes, who is also indicted in the deaths.
The nurse’s aid was told that Hughes was an old pro and to follow all her directions, she was in charge.
We were all told Hughes was great and would do good things for the SNF, by the ambitious ex CEO, Pam Ott. What we didn’t realize at the time was that the hospital had been tagged in its annual survey from the Feds and the state for using physical restraints.
Hughes was an expert in pharmaceutical restraints and hence the changes began.
Now, there is use of psychotropic medications in nursing facilities there is no way around it. Dementia and other brain disorders can cause violent behaviors and general mental pain, and the use of the medications is not out of order in many cases.
However, some of the medications are prescribed generally by psychiatrists, of which we have none on board at the hospital. (with all the craziness wouldn’t it be a good idea?)
But doctors can still prescribe most of the medications referred to in the indictments.
The major problem a system of checks and balances was not in place because there was no leadership at the facility. And the leader herself ended up only having a one year, city college, RN degree, and two degrees from a funny college called Kennedy/Western.
Pam Ott had some medical experience, enough to know that her team she abandoned to the SNF, while she was selling a general obligation bond, was doing some serious changing. (See Ott interviews regarding the SNF; one was on QAB with Bob Jamison. Now those are scary.)
During this time, Ott and Chief Financial Officer, Chet Beedle, asked Dr. Pormir to start a physician’s group for the ER. Dr. Pormir, who I would describe as someone who just wanted to make things better, a do-gooder, added this responsibility because of the complaints of the community on the doctor charges from an outside registry called EMCARE.
But he was also medical director of the SNF.
While everyone was going door to door selling a vacuums or general obligation bonds, the SNF was falling apart.
There were RN’s during this time calling frantically to try and staff the SNF on a daily basis. It got to the point of people going out on stress leave.
If there are not enough people to work, then it must be reported to the Department of Health Services and the hospital could potentially have to contact family and relocate patients.
Again, you cannot run a hospital without staff and staff you can trust. Funny how that works, when Ott hired Hughes, she literally walked away from the subject of the SNF. Other than to say how “wonderful” everything was. And when Dave Green hired Ott as CEO, he said the exact same thing.
Well, she knew early on things were not wonderful and things were actually getting worse. Her friends on the board, the “sticky three” backed her up and blamed these “rumors” on employees and of course, the Knights.
This hospital is self reporting, meaning the nurses write up reports of any injuries, lack of care issues, staffing problems and that goes to the Department of Health Services.
What if you just didn’t send it in? What if it is altered?
Yes, there would be witnesses to the alteration wouldn’t there. What would you do to those witnesses, threaten their jobs or fire them maybe?
In October of 2006, employees went to the board and made many complaints. The board with one exception checked out the problems. Robert and Kathryn Knight were the only two to come forward and tell the public and the government that there was a serious problem.
Kay Knight was excoriated by Pam Ott for doing this. (So, you think Pam Ott shares no blame Mr. Jamison, Mr. Armstrong, her protectors?) In fact, she demanded that Kay turn over the complaints to her.
Which she did, and was muted as the board, Beedle and Ott, began covering the tracks.
In the indictment there is an Internal Quality report, created by the very people who let this go on. And the government intends to use it. Jeez. The DA is basing its case on paperwork and missing paperwork. (Missing paperwork? Intentional or not?)
In 2007, the SNF was threatened with closure which Bob Jamison said was untrue. Attacks began from the sticky three board members that were just a smokescreen. Ott stepped down, but the toilet didn’t flush completely.
Now, Chet Beedle, the numbers guys, did some cutting to save some money, but then suddenly switched to being practically taken.
THE RESCUE:
Or was it? Did it financially take the hospital out to pay contractors to the run the SNF?
And all the fines which were incurred, did they help? You could’ve have paid dozens of nurses with this money. What were the insurance costs for the lawsuits, which probably have not all arrived yet?
It’s so ridiculous how this was handled. Don Ermel Doyle from Sycamore management heard the cries of the helpless, and the vultures began swooping down on us.
And I’m waiting to find out how the board managed to hire this company without checking with other companies. I’m sorry, that’s obvious; they called it an emergency.
They knew about the problems for eight months and it was an emergency?
And then there was some strange deal to bring in one of the employees of Sycamore as manager of the SNF.
Quality Healthcare Management took over for a princely sum too, but again, was there no forethought as to how this would further squeeze the last dollars from the hospital?
First there is no money for nurses, then plenty when the axe falls and there’s nothing else to do. Well, there was plenty that could have been done, but three board members and a CFO, and CEO, (the funny faced one who has his signature on the second contract), apparently couldn’t make a rational decision.
And these aren’t the only contracts that should be looked at either. This has become the CFO’s claim to fame. Over priced contracts and a short staffed hospital. Congratulations Chet.
So, two years ago what? Who was at fault and didn’t get indicted? All we know is this management lead to the loss of safety for patients and security for its personnel.
After more than a decade of work at KVHD, Dr. Hoshang Pormir and Pharmacist Debbi Hayes face criminal charges in their alleged contribution to the deaths of three or possibly more KVHD skilled nursing patients from Aug. 2006 to Jan. 2007, as specified in the state documents.
However, those indictments do not reflect the real or total story of what happened during this time.
And it’s quite odd that for more than a decade these two managed to do what was necessary, passing state surveys, but in six months they suddenly are judged to be the cause of the problems. Well, no, that’s not the case.
There is quite a demonstration of nonsense on the Kern Valley Sun Website, as it seems people are using false names and pleasing themselves with misinformation relative to the side of a few people still at the hospital who hold that there was never a “holocaust” and if there was it was two years ago, “get over it.” ( Nothing I haven't seen before. We did this on a blog in 2007; trust me, you people haven't gotten any better at it. )
We faced tragedy here in 2006/7, when residents of the skilled nursing facility were not taken care of properly as there was not enough staff and even trained staff to handle the 70 residents.
One nurse, straight out of the Nurse’s Aid program, called it a “nightmare” when she worked at the SNF.
She started the same week as another new employee, the Director of Nursing, Gwen Hughes, who is also indicted in the deaths.
The nurse’s aid was told that Hughes was an old pro and to follow all her directions, she was in charge.
We were all told Hughes was great and would do good things for the SNF, by the ambitious ex CEO, Pam Ott. What we didn’t realize at the time was that the hospital had been tagged in its annual survey from the Feds and the state for using physical restraints.
Hughes was an expert in pharmaceutical restraints and hence the changes began.
Now, there is use of psychotropic medications in nursing facilities there is no way around it. Dementia and other brain disorders can cause violent behaviors and general mental pain, and the use of the medications is not out of order in many cases.
However, some of the medications are prescribed generally by psychiatrists, of which we have none on board at the hospital. (with all the craziness wouldn’t it be a good idea?)
But doctors can still prescribe most of the medications referred to in the indictments.
The major problem a system of checks and balances was not in place because there was no leadership at the facility. And the leader herself ended up only having a one year, city college, RN degree, and two degrees from a funny college called Kennedy/Western.
Pam Ott had some medical experience, enough to know that her team she abandoned to the SNF, while she was selling a general obligation bond, was doing some serious changing. (See Ott interviews regarding the SNF; one was on QAB with Bob Jamison. Now those are scary.)
During this time, Ott and Chief Financial Officer, Chet Beedle, asked Dr. Pormir to start a physician’s group for the ER. Dr. Pormir, who I would describe as someone who just wanted to make things better, a do-gooder, added this responsibility because of the complaints of the community on the doctor charges from an outside registry called EMCARE.
But he was also medical director of the SNF.
While everyone was going door to door selling a vacuums or general obligation bonds, the SNF was falling apart.
There were RN’s during this time calling frantically to try and staff the SNF on a daily basis. It got to the point of people going out on stress leave.
If there are not enough people to work, then it must be reported to the Department of Health Services and the hospital could potentially have to contact family and relocate patients.
Again, you cannot run a hospital without staff and staff you can trust. Funny how that works, when Ott hired Hughes, she literally walked away from the subject of the SNF. Other than to say how “wonderful” everything was. And when Dave Green hired Ott as CEO, he said the exact same thing.
Well, she knew early on things were not wonderful and things were actually getting worse. Her friends on the board, the “sticky three” backed her up and blamed these “rumors” on employees and of course, the Knights.
This hospital is self reporting, meaning the nurses write up reports of any injuries, lack of care issues, staffing problems and that goes to the Department of Health Services.
What if you just didn’t send it in? What if it is altered?
Yes, there would be witnesses to the alteration wouldn’t there. What would you do to those witnesses, threaten their jobs or fire them maybe?
In October of 2006, employees went to the board and made many complaints. The board with one exception checked out the problems. Robert and Kathryn Knight were the only two to come forward and tell the public and the government that there was a serious problem.
Kay Knight was excoriated by Pam Ott for doing this. (So, you think Pam Ott shares no blame Mr. Jamison, Mr. Armstrong, her protectors?) In fact, she demanded that Kay turn over the complaints to her.
Which she did, and was muted as the board, Beedle and Ott, began covering the tracks.
In the indictment there is an Internal Quality report, created by the very people who let this go on. And the government intends to use it. Jeez. The DA is basing its case on paperwork and missing paperwork. (Missing paperwork? Intentional or not?)
In 2007, the SNF was threatened with closure which Bob Jamison said was untrue. Attacks began from the sticky three board members that were just a smokescreen. Ott stepped down, but the toilet didn’t flush completely.
Now, Chet Beedle, the numbers guys, did some cutting to save some money, but then suddenly switched to being practically taken.
THE RESCUE:
Or was it? Did it financially take the hospital out to pay contractors to the run the SNF?
And all the fines which were incurred, did they help? You could’ve have paid dozens of nurses with this money. What were the insurance costs for the lawsuits, which probably have not all arrived yet?
It’s so ridiculous how this was handled. Don Ermel Doyle from Sycamore management heard the cries of the helpless, and the vultures began swooping down on us.
And I’m waiting to find out how the board managed to hire this company without checking with other companies. I’m sorry, that’s obvious; they called it an emergency.
They knew about the problems for eight months and it was an emergency?
And then there was some strange deal to bring in one of the employees of Sycamore as manager of the SNF.
Quality Healthcare Management took over for a princely sum too, but again, was there no forethought as to how this would further squeeze the last dollars from the hospital?
First there is no money for nurses, then plenty when the axe falls and there’s nothing else to do. Well, there was plenty that could have been done, but three board members and a CFO, and CEO, (the funny faced one who has his signature on the second contract), apparently couldn’t make a rational decision.
And these aren’t the only contracts that should be looked at either. This has become the CFO’s claim to fame. Over priced contracts and a short staffed hospital. Congratulations Chet.
So, two years ago what? Who was at fault and didn’t get indicted? All we know is this management lead to the loss of safety for patients and security for its personnel.
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