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Measure G - Valley Health System

by Steve
9/28/2007 10:47:00 PM

Measure G is the voter initiative to decide if Valley Health System should sell its hospitals to Select Healthcare of Del Mar.

Now that the vote is set for November 6, signs are being posted all across the district boundaries, particularly in Hemet where the situation with Hemet Valley Medical Center appears bleak.

Today, the Valley Chronicle reports that Valley Health System board Chairman Patrick Searl warned voters that if they DON'T approve Measure G, the emergency room at Hemet Valley may have to shut down due to dwindling finances...

http://www.thevalleychronicle.com/..../01ner.txt

The same article goes on to report that the Hemet City Council voted unanimously to support Measure G.

The Press Enterprise reported today that a group called "Hospital Defense League" has filed a lawsuit to block the sale. They're concern is that Dr. Kali P. Chaudhuri, the guy who runs the company that manages the three district hospitals, is working behind the scenes with Select Healthcare to become its future owner...

http://www.pe.com/....Local_H_measure28.3daecd4.html

A lot of people are, in fact, in agreement with the Hospital Defense League, and is the basis of their opposition to Measure G. They go on to explain that Chaudhuri's company is what created the big financial mess that the three hospitals are in, and that Chaudhuri is the mastermind behind the sale.

Interestingly, Valley Health System itself, is a 50% owner in the same company that Chaudhuri operates. While I'm not putting any support in Chaudhuri, I still find it hard to point all the blame on him. I feel that Valley Health System is also to blame for the mess these hospitals are in.

I want to also direct your attention to some very insightful comments posted on an earlier article of ours, which highlights the situation with Chaudhuri....

http://www.menifee247.com/....center-goes-to.htm#comments
Chaudhuri orchestrated the Valley Health System’s Board to sell the three district hospitals to Select Healthcare that has no track record of operating hospitals. Board of Directors, Darren Magness is Chaudhuri’s henchman and Dr. William Cherry is a full time employee of Dr. Chaudhuri’s related company.
As for each of you voters reading this, I hope I've presented some arguments in favor of, and against Measure G. There seems to be two major issues going on...

  • The three hospitals are NOW providing service at an unacceptable level. Conditions are already bad. Valley Health System failed to operate these hospitals profitably. You can blame this on Chaudhuri's poor management, but I think Valley Health System itself is also to blame, being the 50% owner of Chaudhuri's company.


  • The sale of these hospitals may very well end up becoming owned by Chaudhuri. Since none of us really know if that's true, it's just speculation. But for the sake of argument, let assume it's true. If the sale were to fail, then what's the alternative? Valley Health System cannot operate these hospitals, and many voters like myself are not willing to pay for bonds that will allow fiscal irresponsibility to fester.

For the future, if Chaudhuri were to become the owner of Menifee Valley Medical Center, and if Chaudhuri were to continue running it into the ground, then it simply opens up an opportunity for other companies to build competing hospitals.

The demand for quality healthcare already has Menifee residents flocking to Inland Valley Medical Center. That sends a signal to other companies that there is a demand to exploit. No matter what becomes of Chaudhuri, the approval of Measure G lets all healthcare companies know that Southwest County wants better service.

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5 Comments:

  • You should be aware about Hemet Medical Hosptial/Emergency have worse problems because they are very poor service to hearing impaired people and refuse to provide the interpreter for hearing impaired people even refuse to pay the interpreter. Its very important to require to provide the interpreter for equal access effective communication and medical issues under Americans with Disabilites Act under the law.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at September 29, 2007 12:58 AM  

  • Just want to point out that the "Hospital Defense League" has its own blog where you can get all the details to their opposition for Measure G...

    http://hospitaldefenseleague.com/

    By Blogger Steve, at September 29, 2007 9:37 AM  

  • There will be competition for Hemet Medical will have a lot of competition as Loma Linda based Hospital will be up and running in 2 years in Murrieta/Menifee border

    http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2007/05/30/news/californian/4_02_215_29_07.txthttp://www.nctimes.com/articles/2007/05/30/news/californian/4_02_215_29_07.txt

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at September 30, 2007 7:46 PM  

  • If Measure G passes then the hospitals become privately owned and subject to market forces. The owners then become the stakeholders in Select Healthcare, not the state/county. Since a privately owned organization needs to remain fiscally viable to stay in business it is in their best option to make the hospitals competitive with others in the area, regardless of whether Chaudhuri is involved or not. And if the stakeholders of Select don't like him then they have more flexibility than Valley Health System to give him the boot.

    If Chaudhuri is involved and continues to drive the hospitals into the ground we won't be any worse off than we currently are. That should allow someone like Southwest Healthcare (owners of Inland Valley and Rancho Springs) to come in and buy them for a song, upgrade them and make them viable.

    Either way, I think it will end up benefiting the public. It might not be tomorrow, but it should significantly improve before too long.

    By Anonymous Dave, at October 01, 2007 11:41 AM  

  • Select Healthcare of Del Mar was the low bid for the hospital. Kaiser Permanente was the high bid and for obvious reasons the bid was declined and the low bid was awarded. Kaiser would be the best new owner with the capital and the experience to transform the present hell hole into the gem of the community.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at October 02, 2007 9:17 PM  

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