HCCA/TRMC: “This is just more of the same crazy talk.”

There was absolutely no secret loan.  This is just more of the same crazy talk.  In fact, the terms of the loan were announced in an open public meeting.  It is not unusual for one district hospital to assist another public healthcare district.  In fact, long before HCCA ever came on the scene, Tulare had entered into similar transactions with other public healthcare districts (although with nowhere near the same positive results.)

The loan did not require Board approval.  We only bring to the Board matters that are of a material nature or for which Board approval is expressly required.  Neither situation applied here.  In addition to helping the Southern Inyo District, this transaction benefitted the Tulare District.  It allowed the Tulare District to earn substantially more than it could by simply depositing the money with a bank or financial institution.  Moreover, there was no risk to the Tulare District because the loan was fully guaranteed by HCCA (and the Tulare District owed substantial sums to HCCA against which any unpaid guaranteed amounts could be offset).  The loan has been now fully repaid to the Tulare District with interest.

The more important question that we would raise to you is, why are we discussing this instead of the critical issues that have faced and continue to face the Tulare hospital for years –  critical issues that instead of being addressed and reconciled, are constantly avoided by a constant stream of manufactured “crises”?  The issues that we as a community need to be discussing include:

  1. Why is any praise being heaped upon former TRMC physicians who were members of a rogue Medical Executive Committee (MEC), who openly boycotted the hospital and who openly stated their goal of seeing the hospital close.  Why is this small group of physicians who controlled the old MEC and remained in power effectively by terrorizing the other physicians so anxious to come back to TRMC when they don’t even refer their patients to TRMC, have not done so in about 5 years now, and then abandoned the hospital when they were removed from control by the hardworking doctors of Tulare’s hospital?  What has been paid or promised to these old MEC physicians by Kaweah hospital, where they have been sending their patients for these nearly 5 years?
  1. By contrast, why has a company that saved the hospital from bankruptcy, is keeping it fully and completely in public hands, turning a loss of over $1M per month into now 33 continuous monthly profits, and having saved over 500 local jobs, being castigated?  Is the community so filled with hatred that it wants to destroy any good that comes its way?  The risks of managing our public hospital – decrepit and in financial ruins – were enormous, and ultimately the amount paid to the management company pales by comparison to how much money the hospital made and saved.  Not to mention that we still have a hospital.  Could it be that the same people who were responsible for the financial catastrophes of the past now want to reap for themselves the benefits of what the new management company has created for the public, which, if history repeats itself, will result in the hospital going down the same road to financial ruin as before?
  1. And in speaking of history repeating itself, why do we as a community allow constant manufactured turmoil (over decades) driven by elements with their own selfish economic interests to continue to unfairly harm our community by repeated misinformation and outright lies?

Sadly, the same tactic of feeding misinformation to the media continues as it has for the past 15 years.  But now, the community has spoken.  And we hear them loud and clear.  They want the ugly of the past two decades laid bare before them before we can move forward with a future for our hospital.  But they have been misguided as to why the problems of the past arose and who was in fact responsible.  The good guys have been turned into the bad guys.  We look to this journal to see through this latest ruse and assist the public to learn the truth.  So, we will soon be releasing to the public extensive documented details of the on-goings here over the past two decades.  We will soon see who are the true guardians of Tulare’s public hospital.

12 thoughts on “HCCA/TRMC: “This is just more of the same crazy talk.”

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  1. So the plan for HCCA to lay it all out there for the public to see? Sounds desperate and a deliberate attempt to muddy the waters. Please let’s get it out there. BUT, let’s make sure it’s ALL out there and not just what you pick worthy of sharing. Don’t forget the 2012 audit, the attorney fees, pending malpractice suits, the payments to the doctor who sits on the board and all the documents that your lawyers say don’t exist. I will gladly take the good, bad and ugly, but it better be transparent and complete.

  2. As a past board member I would love to see released documents. Since there is only one person still directing the place for the last 20 years this will be interesting. This same board member has sat on building and finance for numerous years. Eventually the problem with deceit it is hard to keep up with the story.

    Wasn’t it in 2013 that the financials for previous years were changed and supposedly the story was no cash reserves ever existed? This was completely untrue. Why did Laura Gadke state this past year that an $18 million check was put into the bank account in 2008 and spent? How does she know that and if so why didn’t she question it years earlier? That means that a lot of money has been spent with no completed tower to show for it.

    If HCCA is paid monthly and it appears they have been why does the District owe them a “substantial sum”.

    Do you realize how many Chiefs of Staff from the MEC have been attacked and/or taken out since 2001? How many Director of Nurses turned over. These issues aren’t from past board members, they reside with current members of the board.

    Tulare regional will never be successful until this has been resolved and resolution begins with Dr. Kumar leaving the board.

  3. Boy, I sure hope Ms. Johnson has some evidence to back up the allegation the doctors of the MEC were taking bribes from Kaweah Delta. That is a very serious statement, actionable if untrue, I believe.

  4. We at HCCA/TRMC are very proud of the exceptional care that our hard working nurses, staff, and physicians provide patients every day. I challenge any local hospital to surpass the clinical excellence that is practiced at our hospital and the caring, compassionate, and attentive, care that is provided. All the negative ratings that are unfairly thrown at our public hospital have substantial errors in methodology that are well documented. Even beyond that, they reflect data from a period BEFORE our hospital was saved. We will soon see where the next ratings stand. I urge each and every one of you to give your local hospital a chance and then see for yourself what kind of care you get here

    • “Clinical excellence”. My father was just there in March of 2016 and thanks to this “clinical excellence”, he is now PARALYZED from the neck down. Had he simply been given an antibiotic instead of being sent home with pain meds and a muscle relaxer, he wouldn’t be in his current state. What is more concerning to me is you know this to be true Dr. Benzeevi. Your statement couldn’t possibly be any further from the truth and you know this.

    • Benzeevi, call a Saturday morning coffee meeting at Black Bear diner or Apple Annies in that back room and talk to the people….not at us.
      You need to be transparent with all the records.
      By the way, where is the 2016 Audit that was due October 31st?

  5. Like the answer to every request for public documents I have done, it will be the same for audit ” No such documents exsist.” It is such a joke. Maybe they can’t do audit, no money to pay employees or vendors.

  6. I don’t think anyone questions the dedication and hard work and exceptional care the employees perform each and everyday. But let’s not avoid the issue of the failed leadership and support given them by a greedy and corrupt leadership that puts profits (i.e.management fees, etc.) before quality of care. And let’s not forget that this same leadership, or lack thereof, that has not run the hospital since 2014, so I am not sure how much longer you can place blame on the past management. YOU own this now.

  7. this article is obviously opinion of Dr Benzeevi……
    #1…..so you’re saying since 2012 the MEC has been bad Drs…..well that is when you got your board members seated, I’m sure Rosalinda did everything you instructed her to do….even staying out of a meeting that she was entitled to attend because you thought it didn’t concern her.
    #2…..In NO board meeting was there ever any discussion of a loan to Inyo hospital…..it there was please provide the documentation. Anyone can show a profit if they aren’t paying their bills. Seems as though the change of auditors in the middle of an audit is a huge RED FLAG,
    #3……since you love history…..which one of your board members has been there from the entire time of all the ‘mess’? Dr Kumar…….You know this is true and we’ve seen the previous board minutes where he is praising Bouluki for bringing in 2 million one month.

    Your argument isn’t holding much water…you’re like a sinking ship that keeps springing a leak….fix one, spring another.
    And since this is your first hospital to manage, you really don’t know what you’re doing.

    I can hardly wait until Sherrie Bells deposition comes out.
    We already know Carlton Jones testimony was full of lies. There are community members that will tell exactly what he told them as he also told me the same…..I have it in writing.

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