St. Mary's Continues To Even The Playing Field
As some of you may have noticed if you've been in St. Mary's lately, St. Mary's now has a NEUROSURGEON. And, not just any Neurosurgeon. Dr. Terrence Pencek has been a neurosurgeon in Springfield for many years, and is highly respected from what friends in Springfield say.
Dr. Pencek will not be practicing alone. Another doctor will be joining Dr. Pencek this fall, and a THIRD will be starting by the end of the year! When all is said and done, St. Mary's will have three neurosurgeons, AND, soon the county's ONLY STROKE REHAB UNIT will be at St. Mary's!!
And if that wasn't enough, employees of Caterpillar are no longer forced to use only DMH for their medical care. St. Mary's has the same arrangement with CAT's insurance that DMH does. This means that the out-of-pocket for CAT employees is THE SAME FOR ST. MARY'S AS IT IS FOR DMH. The DMH Herald & Review had a full-page ad for St. Mary's in Sunday's paper, and my aunt said there's a bill board on South Franklin street that's getting the word out, too.
CHOICE. Choice of neurosurgeons. Choice of a neurology rehab unit (oh wait, Ken doesn't have one of those....darn.) Choice for CAT employees to go to the hospital of their choice.
What will Ken pull next? Will he get his Consociate buddies to make it impossible for patients to go to St. Mary's? Will he fire his primary care doctors, now that he has their patients via the hospitalists? Will he strip away even more benefits from employees? Will he continue to let the number of employees drop so they save money on payroll? Will the quality of patient care continue to decline as the number of employees goes down? What will the Department of Justice do when he pulls his next stunt?
Keep your eyes and ears open. The feds are moving in. The creative accounting will soon be revealed.
posted by Watcher2300 at 7/19/2007 11:46:00 PM
4 Comments:
Hurrah for St. Mary's for recruiting Dr. Pencek. I know from personal experience that he is an excellent neurosurgeon.
Hurrah to Caterpillar for finally giving employees and retirees a choice in healthcare here. They have waited for too many years to have a choice again and are still a huge financial force here.
A note to other insurers - your people are not happy being forced to use DMH. Please do what Cat did and give us a choice.
Poor Ken. Maybe if the feds don't get him, surely giving insured patients a choice in where to go for care and dropping the census at DMH (less money for Ken) will get his attention. Money seems to be the only thing that gets his attention.
Maybe giving patients a choice will force Ken to clean up his hospital, which is filthy. Whose bright idea was it to put hard to clean carpeting throughout the hospital? A haven for germs! Had the unfortunate experience of visiting a friend there recently and was disgusted by the dirt. Mold in the toilets, carpeting that obviously needed to be cleaned, walls and curtains that were stained and needed to be washed, and so on made me grateful that I do not have to go there.
Not to mention having my friend wait over 2 hours for a pain pill because the nurses were too busy or there were not enough of them.
A word to DMH employeed doctors - you might be wise to reconsider before you sign another contract with Ken.
I used to go to one of those doctors but left because he forced me to go to DMH. You doctors - if you want to maintain your income, give your patients a choice. You and your patients will all be happier and healthier.
Ken and Tim do not care about patients - they care only about $$$$$$$$.
Big insurers, please give your employees the same chance CAT did. There must be a reason CAT made the decision it did. Look closely at the care your employees receive, insurers.
Saw on the news last night that St. Mary's now has a brand new state of the art operating room - closest one comparable is in Indianapolis. Bravo St. Mary's. Seems like St. Mary's is determined to compete with DMH even though Ken, Tim, and fellow criminals were hoping they could just drive St. Mary's out of town and corner the market on doctors and hospital choices for us. Keep it up St. Mary's! The people of Decatur need a choice in medical care. If federal and state investigators can't nail Ken, your quiet but determined efforts to give us a choice might help us. Now, if only another big insurer like Caterpillar would add St. Mary's to its list of choices we might finally be making some progress.
Only thing Ken and his fellow criminals and government robbers seem to understand is how much money ends up in their bank accounts.
They may never see the inside of prison walls where they belong but St. Mary's but this may be the next best thing - less money in their pockets.
Keep it up St. Mary's. You have no idea how much hope you are giving us.
Doctors in decatur be put on notice. Your patients are not as stupid as you would hope. We will get new doctors who can admit patients to St. Mary's as fast as we can.
Bravo to local news media for letting us know what great things St. Mary's is doing. A year ago I didn't think any of them would have the courage to do it.
Could it be possible that Ken's empire is slowly eroding while St. Mary's truly focuses on quality care? We can only pray that this is what is happening.
It's wonderful to finally have a choice! I was happy to see the full-page ad in the Herald & Review stating that Caterpillar employees and their families (which I'm one of) can now choose St. Mary's. I hope other employers in Decatur follow Cat's lead. True competition will benefit us all.
Dr Pencek did back surgery on one of my best friends recently. He did a great job. Glad to see there is finally a choice in Decatur. Thank you Dr. Pencek and St. Mary's.
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