Letter from Prairie Cardiovascular to their patients
A friend of mine let me scan in his copy of the letter he got from his heart doctor at Prairie Cardiovascular. My friend says that even though he lives 2 blocks from DMH, he will not go anywhere but St. Mary's to see the cardiologist that saved his life back in 2004. I told him he was one of many who will be abandoning the obvious greed of DMH administration and going to St. Mary's for their heart care. See letter below:
posted by Watcher2300 at 8/24/2011 01:47:00 PM
18 Comments:
Overheard conversation between 2 DMH owned docs at nurses station - wasn't eavesdropping - just no privacy there with all the computers sitting right on top of each other.
1 doc talking about his letter said to 2nd doc "I'm screwed now. Dr. --- (a Prairie doc) told me next time I have chest pain I have to get to the hospital stat & to call an ambulance"
2nd doc said to his best friend "Forget the ambulance. Chew an aspirin, call me & I will personally drive you to Springfield. You know the ambulance would just bring you here (DMH) & I'm not ready to lose you yet. I can get to you quicker than the ambulance, drive fast & let the cops chase me all the way to St. John's parking lot'
Says a lot when doctors bought and paid for by Smithmier don't trust their lives to what Ken loves to refer to as quality care right here at home.
Think about it folks. If your own doctor won't even go to DMH heart center why would you go there?
Thank goodness St. Mary's is a great option for us. They will have their cardiac center up & running in no time and we can all still get there very quickly & get the great care that Prairie is famous for.
Staying tuned here.
After a couple of years of no news things are finally getting interesting again.
Way to go DMH and Board of Directors. And thank you so much Ken for keeping us entertained.
Can't help yourself can you Smithmier? Spotlight is off you for just a little bit and there you go again^^^^thinking you are invincible and putting the spotlight and all the attention right back on yourself and all you have tried to get away with.
Thank goodness for the Springfield Journal Register. If not for them we folks in Decatur would be clueless about what is going on at DMH.
Seems we have been clueless since we let this go on for so long but thanks to S-J-R they are keeping folks who care up to date.
Now if only the government and law enforcement would get interested again life would be really good.
Can someone explain to me how kicking Prairie off campus doesn't result in self-referrals to hospital-owned (cardiac) docs which I thought was one of the reasons DMH was in legal trouble for anti-trust violations in the first place? I heard that Prairie was asked to leave for "economic reasons" (apparently DMH only did a handful of hearts last year), not because their doctors are incompetent. Are the laws changing with declining medicare reimbursements and the looming changes from Obama"care"?.
Good point made by previous poster.
Self referral is the name of the game,
The fact that DMH "did only a handful of hearts last year" is just more proof that the heart center was not needed in the first place. Thought major projects like adding a heart center had to be approved by a state committee that investigates whether the services are really needed in the community. Apparently the services were not needed here.
Was there someone or several people on the group that makes these decisions also in the pocket of Smithmier and Company (can't bring myself to call it DMH any more)
Pitiful that is will be the employees who take the major hit when Ken's empire comes crashing down.
And by the way when you compare Ken's doctors to the Prairie Cardiovascular doctors, Ken's doctors are incompetent.
Any word on Ken's big meeting with the employees last week?
All I need to know is that I can get care from Illinois' best cardiologists at St. Mary's - a service no longer available at DMH since Smithmier kicked Prairie Cardiovascular out of his hospital.
Seems like St. Mary's really is focused on providing the best health care to people of the area while DMH is focused on lining the pockets of its administrators.
St. Mary's here I come!
It would be great if it was possible to REALLY put up all the billboards posted on this blog around Decatur. Even though they were meant to be tongue in cheek they were all great.
That way people who don't know about this blog or what has been happening at DMH because of Smithmier and company and think twice about going to DMH for quality healthcare.
To whom it may concern,
I have expansion property for sale located on the DMH campus.
I would hazard a guess that someone will make copies of these "billboards" and make sure they are freely distributed.
Who could guess where they might show up?
CFO abruptly unemployed at DMH today.
Was Mr. Oppenlander fired?
Possibly he wouldn't play ball?
Was Mr. Oppenlander fired?
Would he not "play ball"?
Uh oh. If a Chief Financial Officer is "unexpectedly unemployed" there's something going on and it's not good. I've seen it before at other hospitals and normally it boils down to the CEO and COO wanted the books cooked even more than they already are.
Wish smithmeier could be a little more forthcoming about the CFO firing given the fact several employees witnessed him being escorted off the premises but security....and now he is bringing Gary peacock back?
With his ankle bracelet and all?
Seriously? Peacock has ankle bracelet or is that just wishful thinking?
CFO really escorted off premises (translation - fired)?
Could there really be 1 or 2 honest people at DMH or on the team investigating DMH? Couldn't be anyone with any power currently employed at DMH since if one goes they all go (unless they cut really good deals for themselves).
Saddest thing is that the people with the most knowledge of how Smithmier, his board, & his MD's ruined & stole from the hospital & defrauded the government and taxpayers are all close to or past retirement age & will get great pensions and social security benefits no matter what while the employees once again take the major hit.
The city county and entire area can only hope this mess will soon be over & DMH will once again be a safe place to go for care.
Anybody know what Smithmier said at his "annual meeting" or is that still coming up?
If it is coming up, wonder what kind of spin he will put on CFO situation? I'm sure it will be somthing along the lines of "exciting new options to pursue, family/personal reasons" etc., which is generally a way employees are told in writing "Screw you. We are firing you because you wouldn't play ball & there is nothing you can do about it." Did the DMH headhunters really screw up this time and hire a really honest man to replace Peacock?
Is that quiet noise we hear in the background the sound of Smithmier & his BFF Stone's empires slowly but surely crumbling?
Let's pray that this mess will soon be over.
This has gone on for far too long. I hope that the length of time involved from start to finish only means that the state and federal governments have done a really thorough job of investigating EVERYTHING involved, have all their ducks in a row, and make the crooks REALLY PAY for the crimes against taxpayers, government & most importantly the patients
A slap on the wrist for these guys would be a slap in the face & F***Y** to the honest employees and patients who trusted DMH.
Let's finally get this mess over with so we can finally move on to other problems in the area like schools, employment, street crime, murders, Infratructure repair, etc. How sad that one man and his cronies have been able to take the time focus & resources away from investigating the other major problems this once proud community faces.
Seriously, everyone knows that they are just making the books look good for an eventual sale to Memorial,Carle or a national health system. All financed on the brilliant idea of selling farm land at "good prices". Because everyone also knows that farmland in central Illinois is going to do nothing but tank in the next few years.(That is arcasm my friends.) Just in time for the whole gang to retire and get nce "severance" packages.
And the people and taxpayers still get screwed while the big boys have their golden years already financed at our expense.
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