Shock, NOT: Tenet to sell or shut hospitals and cut jobs

oramar · Mar 20, 2003

These crooks outa be in jail also.

-jt · Mar 20, 2003

Implement a new consolidated nurse agency contracting program aimed at leveraging Tenet's size to lower labor costs....>

Its not too hard to read between those lines. Not too long ago, whole hospital corporations in entire areas blindsided the nursing agencies by standing united in lowering the amounts they would pay RN agencies and some even formed their own in-house "agencies". Kill the competition & try to reduce the nurses employment options so she is forced to come back on staff, rather than the hospital making the workplace improvements that would attract RNs back to staff jobs.

Hospitals stood united and made a deal with each other not to pay above a certain rate for outside agency. Since they locked up entire areas, if the agency wanted work at any of their facilities, it would just have to put up with being held hostage like this. Agency RN pay was cut by as much as $13/hr in some cities. The agency still got close to what it was getting - the cut was passed onto the RN and taken from her salary.

The hospitals strategy was called a new "consolidated nurse agency contracting program" and all it does is lower RNs wages in an entire area - and not just for agency RN wages either. The hospitals doing this seem to be thinking that if they can make it so the RN who is working for higher wages but no benefits now with an agency suddenly cant get those higher wages either, they will come back to staff for the same low wages WITH benefits, regardless of the working conditions. The agencies will be out of business or not being used very much, and the hospitals short staffing problem will be solved the cheap way. Supposedly.

But what makes the hospitals think that we only have a choice of either agency or staff in the first place? If the staff job is unacceptable and nurses cant get what they need from working agency, theyll just quit bedside altogether and go find another way to make a living.

-jt · Mar 20, 2003

and from being caught in massive medicare insurance fraud - bilking millions of $$$ that they now have to pay back.

NICURNtobe · Mar 20, 2003

I work in one of the hospitals to be sold - No one is happy. We have fantastic benefits, are treated extremely fairly and have low turnover.

sjoe · Mar 22, 2003

"Hospitals stood united and made a deal with each other not to pay above a certain rate for outside agency."

This and other examples are simply criminal restraints of trade and unlawful business practices. Where are the state attorney's general? (Guess who helped them get elected?)

-jt · Mar 22, 2003

In some of those states, the nursing agencies were pursuing anti-trust lawsuits. Havent heard anything more about that.

pickledpepperRN · May 3, 2003

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=2670210

Tenet nurses seek union election at 7 hospitals

Thu May 1, 2003 06:45 PM ET

NEW YORK, May 1 (Reuters) - Registered nurses at seven Tenet Healthcare Corp. THC.N hospitals in the Los Angeles area will petition the federal labor board for an election for union representation,

the California Nurses Association (CNA) said on Thursday.

The National Labor Relations Board would conduct the secret ballot for 1,500 registered nurses within six weeks, said the union, which rpreseents nurses at five other Tenet hospitals and 50,000

statewide.

Tenet, the second largest U.S. hospital operator, declined to comment about the matter.

Tenet and the CNA have had a public relations battle in recent months over staffing levels and working conditions. CNA and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the largest hospital

employee union, have also been competing against one another for support of nurses.

Brotman Medical Center in Culver City, Centinela Hospital Medical Center in Inglewood, Daniel Freeman-Marina Hospital in Marina del Rey, Los Alamitos Medical Center, Mission Hospital and

Community Hospital of Huntington Park, and Suburban Medical Center in Paramount are the hospitals covered by the petitions for the elections, CNA said.

In addition to the seven hospitals CNA filed, registered nurses at more than a dozen other Tenet facilities have also been in discussions with the CNA, the union said.

pickledpepperRN · May 3, 2003

http://www.calnurse.org/cna/press/5203.html

Calif. Nurses Assn. to Challenge 'Illegal' Tenet-SEIU Deal as Attempt to

Deny Employees Choice that Could Harm Patients

The California Nurses Association (CNA) today said it will challenge the "illegal, fraudulent" deal

announced today by Tenet Healthcare and the Service Employees Intl. Union (SEIU) as an attempt

to bribe Tenet employees, deny them a choice on who should represent them, and a potential harm

to patients.

On Thursday, Registered Nurses at seven Tenet hospitals in Los Angeles and Orange County

petitioned the federal labor board for a secret ballot, federally supervised representation election to

join CNA. That process, which provides RNs at those hospitals with a genuine democratic choice

and allows other unions to participate, supersedes the Tenet-SEIU pact and will proceed.

"Free elections should be a model for Tenet RNs and all Tenet employees. In the United States

employees still get to choose their union and should not have the company choose it for them," said

CNA Executive Director Rose Ann DeMoro today.

Under the Tenet and SEIU pact, Tenet employees would be handed to SEIU throughout California,

except in Orange and San Diego counties where they would be given to the American Federation of

State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME). Tenet employees will then receive pay

increases and other contract benefits - but only if they join SEIU or AFSCME.

"It's outrageous that non-union Tenet RNs and other employees, who are far behind the economic

standards of other hospital workers, especially RNs represented by CNA in 150 facilities across

California, would be compelled to join a union anointed by Tenet to qualify for pay increases,"

DeMoro said.

"Tenet should immediately provide the pay increases and any other improvements promised in this

back room deal to its deserving employees - without conditions, and without denying their

democratic rights to freely select a union of their choice," DeMoro added.

Instead, Tenet employees would be locked into a long term agreement with the main terms decided

in advance in closed door meetings with top managements of Tenet and SEIU.

Further there are no indications that Tenet RNs, in particular, will be permitted to continue to

exercise their patient advocacy obligations and be able to freely protect their patients. In the Kaiser

Permanente deal with SEIU and AFSCME, which SEIU cites as a model in its press release, those

unions agreed to silence on hospital closures or any business decisions that compromise patient

care, and SEIU co-wrote harmful programs such as bonuses for telephone advice clerks who limit

patient referrals to physicians.

Ralph Nader today joined CNA in questioning the impact of the agreement on patients.

"Tenet is notorious for its commitment to profits regardless of the consequences for the public's well

being," said Nader. "As has already occurred with other arrangements, SEIU's back room deal

degrades the independent professional responsibility of nurses for patient care protection."

CNA said today that it will file charges with the National Labor Relations Board and is considering

other legal actions against the pact. Several provisions of the deal are illegal including:

Forcing employees to join SEIU/AFSCME as a condition for receiving pay and benefit

increases.

Bribing employees with the promise of increased pay solely based on joining SEIU/AFSCME.

Selecting for employees what union they have to join, and granting exclusive favors to that

union.

For Tenet, said DeMoro, "this appears to be a short term public relations strategy designed to drive

up their stock prices with the supposed promise of 'labor peace'. Perhaps they are guided by

illusions of hefty profit taking for top executives who have seen their stock portfolios plummet in

recent months due to numerous federal and state investigations into Tenet's billing practices and

patient care conditions."

"But it will be a failed strategy," DeMoro continued. "If Tenet is doing this for investor security,

investors should feel anything but secure."

"By signing this agreement with SEIU, Tenet is presumably hoping to buy SEIU's influence with

state and national lawmakers, just as SEIU routinely lobbies for Kaiser Permanente. They hope to

silence the voice of those legislators and investigators at the very moment that billions of dollars in

claims actions are pending.

"We are confident," said DeMoro, "that the legislators will join with us in saying that patients, the

public interest, and Tenet RNs and other employees are not for sale."

CNA is the largest, independent RN organization in the U.S. representing 50,000 RNs, including

more than 1,500 Tenet RNs at five hospitals.

In its petitions Thursday, CNA is seeking to represent another 1,500 RNs at Brotman Medical Center

in Culver City, Centinela Hospital Medical Center in Inglewood, Daniel Freeman-Marina Hospital in

Marina del Rey, Los Alamitos Medical Center, Mission Hospital and Community Hospital of

Huntington Park, and Suburban Medical Center in Paramount.

More information about CNA, Tenet, and SEIU is available on the CNA website http://www.calnurse.org

pickledpepperRN · May 3, 2003

Tenet, nurses' union reach agreement

Friday, May 2

Palm Beach Post Staff Report

WEST PALM BEACH - After years of bitter squabbling, Tenet Healthcare

Corp. has reached a national labor agreement with its major nurses' unions

that includes pay raises of up to 29 percent over the next four years.

About 609 registered nurses and 670 other employees at St. Mary's Medical

Center in West Palm Beach are covered by the deal. St. Mary's is the only

unionized hospital in Palm Beach County and the Treasure Coast.

The nurses' union at St. Mary's had filed an unfair labor practice charge

against the hospital a year ago, after the hospital imposed new wage and

benefits without its consent. The agreement settles that dispute, a Tenet

spokeswoman said.

The agreement covers workers represented by the Service Employees

International Union, which represents workers at St. Mary's, and the

American Federaton of Federal, State, County and Municipal Employees.

Tenet has been under constant attack from the nurses' unions which have

claimed the company's hospitals have too few nurses and require employees

to operate in difficult working conditions. Tenet struck the deal while under

investigation for overbilling Medicare; its stock has plunged 70 percent in the

past year.

pickledpepperRN · May 3, 2003

If you read back a couple years ago you will find posts praising my hospital/ Now it is owened by Tenet, I work registry. These articles tell part of why:

http://www.msnbc.com/news/901999.asp?0cv=BB10&cp1=1

http://www.kpmginsiders.com/display_reuters.asp?cs_id=62668

Tenet Suit Takes Aim at Dissident Shareholder

NEW YORK, April 11 (Reuters) - Tenet Healthcare

Corp. said on Friday it was suing a dissident

shareholder, alleging he made false statements that hurt the company's share

price.

Tenet, whose Medicare billing practices are under federal investigation, filed suit

late Thursday in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles against Dr. Lee Pearce and a

dissident group called the "Tenet Shareholder Committee."

-----------------------

http://www.bayarea.com/mld/cctimes/news/local/states/california/counties/contra_costa_county/5538964.htm

Posted on Wed, Apr. 02, 2003

County severs ties with Tenet

By Peter Felsenfeld

CONTRA COSTA TIMES

Alleging unfair billing practices, Contra Costa supervisors Tuesday terminated the county's contract with

beleaguered Tenet Healthcare in a move they expect will save $1 million a year.

The national hospital chain provides services to members of the county-run health plan at Doctors Medical Center

San Pablo, formerly Brookside Hospital.

County health officials told supervisors that plan participants will still be able to use the hospital and receive the

same level of care. Tenet officials contend that fewer West County members will be seen at the facility.

Contra Costa had become victim of Tenet's widely publicized billing excesses, said county health director Dr.

William Walker. He called Tenet's rates exorbitant compared to the other six hospitals that Contra Costa contracts

with.

"We will not tolerate this type of gouging," said Supervisor Federal Glover of Pittsburg. "That's exactly what this

is."

Santa Barbara-based Tenet is the subject of federal investigations nationwide over a variety of issues, including

accusations of Medicare billing abuses, unnecessary heart procedures and illegal incentives given to doctors for

referring patients to Tenet hospitals.

Gary Sloan, CEO of Doctors Medical Center, said Contra Costa officials were taking advantage of Tenet's

problems to besmirch the hospital for financial gain.

He predicted health plan officials would send some West County patients to other areas, sometimes outside the

county, for treatment, Sloan said. "I'm concerned about where our patients, many of whom are poor and cannot

afford transportation, will get their treatment."

Not so, said health plan CEO Milt Camhi. About two-thirds of the 60,000 participants in the Contra Costa Health

Plan are on Medi-Cal, he said. The county can send those patients to the center at a rate determined by the

state's Medical Assistance Commission. That amount is lower than what Tenet has been charging, Camhi said.

The county can also send non-Medi-Cal patients to the center, but the plan will be charged the full cost for

services. Continuation of the contract would have allowed the county to receive a discounted rate for those

patients.

"So we pay a little less for the Medi-Cal and a little more for the commercial clients," Camhi said. "At the end of

the day, the county comes out ahead."

The contract negotiations stalled over a Tenet policy that forces providers to pay the full price for services above

a certain dollar amount, Walker said. The controversial provision is called "stop loss."

"Stop loss is supposed to be for catastrophic cases," Walker said. "But we see a majority of our cases meeting the

threshold. That's what happens when Tenet increases their rates so dramatically."

Sloan said the hospital offered to compromise on the provision, but the county would not listen.

"It's disturbing that the county is taking this opportunity to fix its budget problems on the backs of our hospital and

our patients," he said.

Peter Felsenfeld covers Contra Costa County. Reach him at 925-977-8506 or [email protected].

pickledpepperRN · May 3, 2003

More about Tenet

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/business/20021226-9999_1b26outliers.html