Best Regional Hospitals

According to the US News & World Report website, there is only ONE hospital in Decatur judged the best.

St. Mary's Hospital is listed as one of the best hospitals in the East Central Illinois region.  DMH is not listed at all.

USN&WR ranks hospitals throughout the country based on a variety of criteria THEY choose to evaluate.  In other words, this is not a mail-order award, it's a designation bestowed after close examination and scrutiny.

The other hospitals that were ranked best in the East Central Illinois region were Carle Foundation Hospital in Urbana, OSF St. Joseph Medical Center in Bloomington, and Sarah Bush Lincoln Health Center in Mattoon.  St. John's Hospital in Springfield shared the designation of best in the West Central Illinois region with Memorial Medical Center of Springfield.

For the full report, go to the US News & World Report - Health web article.

Thievery and Deception

As DMH employees suffer with hiring freezes, benefit reductions, and an ever-increasing patient-to-nurse ratio, DMH administration continues to lavishly overpay their physicians. Feeling the bite of losing hundreds of patients to St. Mary's from their cardiology fiasco and with the economy down in general, DMH administration has finally done something it's never done before: cut administrator's salaries.

Although it might look good to some, the hundreds of thousands of dollars they are paying off some physicians with still flies in the face of the crappy environment the employees have to work in.

See the entire tax return from 2009-2010 fiscal year here; below is the total compensation claimed for each of the following:

KEN SMITHMIER $726,320
TIM STONE $419,295
GARY PEACOCK $394,821
LINDA FAHEY $242,560
MICHAEL ZIA $295,374
STEVEN SOBOL MD $1,696,585
STEVEN WEBER MD $1,137,145
THOMAS FULBRIGHT MD $869,041
JOHN WATERS MD $841,855
MOHAMMED HASNAIN MD $820,237
TANSEL TURGUT MD $775,842

Go to salary.com to see just how overpaid these people are, despite the 'pay cut' administration got this past fiscal year. DMH employees, THIS is one of the reasons why you are suffering!

The Well Is Running Dry

It is becoming more and more apparent that Ken Smithmier's strategies are backfiring and that his empire is crumbling. DMH's census is down 40% since Ken kicked Prairie out of his hospital. His heart cath lab is missing a bunch of employees who followed Prairie to St. Mary's. And, those God-awful tax bills will soon start rolling in. He's significantly increased his overhead by renting even more property and buying more billboards and city bus advertising. Much lower revenue + kicking out Prairie's patient base + spending more and more money = disaster on the horizon. (There's no European Union to bail you out, Ken.)

What does all this mean? Maybe Ken won't be able to pay himself $1.5 MILLION this next fiscal year. Even more important, the doctors who he's been grossly over-paying may see their paychecks shrink to less than half of what they were making...perhaps just enough less that they might be more willing to talk to the Feds about what they know. Perhaps just enough so that a full audit of DMH's books might reveal some interesting discrepancies. Perhaps just enough to prove to those who know how the books were cooked that they'd better talk with the DOJ now rather than be in prison later.

You can't work in a hospital that's not allowed to bill Medicare, people. Wise up, come clean, and end the charade now.

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:

And just when Ken thought it couldn't get any worse...

Not only has the financial rating giant Moody's given DMH a NEGATIVE outlook, now it appears that DMH's financial woes are only just beginning. In the Springfield Journal Register earlier this week (8-17-2011), it was reported that DMH is one of only three hospitals in the entire state to lose their tax-exempt status!

For years, Ken has been paying his doctors, his fellow administrators, and himself exorbitant salaries (did someone say, cooking the books?) and pushing DMH toward financial ruin. Then when Moody's catches him at it he decides to try to stem the flow of cardiology money from Prairie to his own doctors by kicking Prairie Cardiovascular off DMH's campus. Of course, Ken didn't plan on 85% of Decatur patients *PREFERRING* the nationally recognized experts of Prairie Cardiovascular (and therefore St. Mary's/St. John's/Memorial Medical Center) over his group and all their 'issues.' Now, all the potential hospitalization dollars, lab dollars, outpatient dollars, radiology dollars that Prairie was bringing in to DMH--are now ALL going to other hospitals, thus meaning even further lost revenue. And now for the icing on the cake: the state of Illinois has revoked DMH's tax-exempt status, meaning Ken's expenses just went up another $1.5 million per year.

Meanwhile, how much money has been wasted in all those new buildings that Ken has been building all over the city? How much more has he put DMH on the string, increasing overall expenses while attempting to portray DMH as the 'Mayo of the Midwest.' It's no wonder why more patients are leaving DMH's PAthetic care for St. Mary's: even more money lost (huge expenses in building and/or renting more property + fewer paying visits (Illinois public aid doesn't pay all that much, Ken, especially to those who have lost their tax-exempt status!)

Funny, isn't it, that Ken's salary was about the same last tax cycle as what the new tax bill is going to be? I think the DMH board has a clear course to take: FIRE KEN SMITHMIER BEFORE THE HOSPITAL IS FORCED TO DECLARE BANKRUPTCY!!!!

SMITHMIER IN PANIC: HIS EMPIRE IN ITS DEATH-THROES

As a recent poster has alluded, Decatur Memorial Hospital has recently been given a NEGATIVE RATING by Moody's credit rating service. This is the summary from their most recent article on DMH:

SUMMARY RATING RATIONALE

Affirmation of the A2 rating is based on DMH's strong balance sheet, which is characterized by ample cash and moderate debt levels. The A2 rating also incorporates DMH's leading market position, which should be maintained despite recent gains by its main competitor, St. Mary's Hospital, a member of Aa3 rated Hospital Sisters Services. The revision of the outlook to negative from stable is based on DMH's downturn in operating performance that mainly reflects losses in cardiology volumes to St. Mary's. DMH's recent operating losses began in fiscal year (FY) 2010 and are projected to continue through FY 2011 (which ends September 30, 2011). Should this trend continue through FY 2012, DMH's credit rating would likely be affected.

Now we know why DMH administration began their new fraud strategy (Blatant Fraud Continues At The Direction of DMH Administration) in May. New sources say that as of August 1, Prairie Cardiovascular Consultants will no longer be allowed on DMH's campus. Why? I think the answer is clear. Ken has been mismanaging his hospital, paying his doctors (and himself!) way too much money, and now Moody's has given them a negative outlook rating. So, Ken is going to attempt to steal as many of Prairie Cardiovascular's patients as he can and force them to use his employed 'cardiologists' at his hospital.

DMH Board, do you see what you have allowed to happen?

DMH Board, are you REALLY willing to risk peoples' lives by preventing DMH patients from seeing their own competent cardiologists at Prairie?

DMH Board, are you REALLY willing to go to jail with your administrators when the FBI makes their move? You can't really think the federal government is just going to stand by while this crime is committed, do you?

If you won't act, then it's time the citizens of Decatur do so...


NOW IS THE TIME TO CALL FOR A BOYCOTT OF DECATUR MEMORIAL HOSPITAL!!

BLATANT FRAUD CONTINUES AT THE DIRECTION OF DMH ADMINISTRATION!!

As DMH's financial picture looks gloomier and gloomier, DMH Administration must go hunting for much needed revenue in other places. They tried to get a exclusivity for the city's major employers - didn't work. Employee benefits have been cut to the bare bone, hiring freezes stay in effect, and pay raises are few and far between (except if you're in DMH administration) - that didn't work. The public has caught on to the deception and the delusions of grandeur that is DMH administration. What's next?

Along with the allegations of Medicare Fraud, Medicaid Fraud, and Stark Anti-Trust Violations, there appears to be a new way DMH Administrators are attempting to coerce the citizenry of Decatur into giving them money.

Several reports indicate that patients are being told in the ER, and in the hospital, that Prairie Cardiovascular Consultants, undeniably the best cardiologist group in Central Illinois, "doesn't come here anymore" or "aren't available today." Long-standing patients with Decatur's premiere cardiologist group are being funneled (along with their money) to the DMH-employed cardiologists. Not only that, it also appears as if Prairie Cardiologists are no longer allowed to read EKGs, Echocardiograms, perform Stress Tests or even Heart Catheterizations, despite the fact they are still members of the hospital medical staff.

I have to think this is a violation of free trade, and that Ken Smithmier, by forcing these patients (many of which are Medicare/Medicaid!!) is now OPENLY & BLATANTLY committing Medicare Fraud and Medicaid Fraud!! ER doctors, DMH-employed doctors, or even nurses who coerce Medicare/Medicaid patients into having to use DMH-employed cardiologists may be accessories to Medicare Fraud and Medicaid Fraud. Do you DMH-employed doctors and nurses really WANT to go to jail for Ken Smithmier?

As the Rape of Decatur continues, I truly hope the US DOJ, which has been quiet for some time now, will move soon to eradicate this menace from the city of Decatur.

The Rape of Decatur Continues

As you can see from the following excerpts from the 2007-2008 fiscal year tax returns, Ken, Tim & Co., are still raking it in, while DMH employees continue to languish in higher insurance premiums, decreased benefits, and having to work harder with much fewer people (in other words, the fast decline of the quality of care at DMH continues, too.)

Now, it seems that Wal Mart management has made their bed with DMH. I wonder what the higher ups within the corporation will think of our local management once they learn they signed a contract with a firm STILL UNDERINVESTIGATION BY THE US DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE FOR MEDICARE FRAUD, MEDICAID FRAUD and STARK LAW VIOLATIONS!!! I hope those managers have their resumes in order. When Ken and Tim are led away in handcuffs, those managers are going to look awfully foolish.






If you know or work with any of the board members mentioned above, and you do not agree with the way Ken and Tim are running DMH into the ground while they line their own pockets, then call them and let them know. Maybe if the board says no to Ken and Tim, maybe they'll get the message. The overpaid docs are paid to keep their mouth shut; don't expect them to have the guts to do what's right.