Front Page  »  

French Hospital responds (weirdly) to our article.

January 31, 2008

1/31/2008

(Editor’s note: French Hospital responded to UncoveredSLO.com’s Jan. 27 article on French Hospital with this statement to Dave Congalton’s 920 KVEC radio show. Please also see our commentary below.)

“French Hospital stands by our commitment to deliver compassionate, high-quality, affordable health services, to serve and advocate for our sisters and brothers who are poor and disenfranchised, and to partner with others in the community to improve the quality of life. We are very proud of our record of service to San Luis Obispo County.

French Hospital has been recognized by Avatar, a national leader in patient satisfaction research receiving awards two years in a row for exceeding patient expectations. In 2007, French Hospital provided nearly $5 million in community benefits and care for the poor. Quality data reported for fiscal year ending June 2007 by national and state sources shows French Hospital performing in patient experience and core quality measures with superior and above average scores.

We routinely participate in public reporting projects and fully support initiatives that promote transparency, facilitate improvement in patient care and enable consumers to make informed choices about their health care.

We have great respect for and are fully transparent with legitimate media sources that provide balanced reporting and utilize reliable sources to ascertain facts to support their stories. We strongly believe that Ms. Veile has misrepresented the facts and twisted the truth for some unknown purpose.

If any person has questions, concerns or issues about French Hospital, we welcome the opportunity to discuss these issues in an appropriate setting where a productive dialogue can be assured.”

“We are proud to be San Luis Obispo’s only not-for-profit hospital.”


Loading...
Subjects:
Related:


3 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

Member Opinions:

By: Anonymous on 2/6/08

if you want to run a hospital but it! Otherwise you have 2 choices:

1) Use it

2) Don’t use it


This is still America! Free enterprise is the rule of law.

People vote with their dollars, and so far French is winning that election.


So get off your soap box and move on. Might I suggest a hobby or a good book!

Sheeesh!


By: Anonymous on 2/4/08

All of you seem to think that the info the anonymous should be discredited but remember the source just got the reporters headed in the right direction. Alan’s salary was verified from the public filings of form 990, the second job was verified by the Spinemark website and a call to Spinemark. The ER stats were from state filings, public info. The info on on-call Doctors was from the state.

Good reporting is when an anonymous source is used and verified by facts.

Oh yes the Tribune added some more facts.

The truth is CHW french does not care about anything but keeping the good old boys happy and well paid.

Anyone out there interested in making a donation towards Alan”s salary.

Oh I forgot read Frenches response, they did not refute anything.


By: Anonymous on 2/3/08

yes, the trib article sort of came to some of the same conclusions. But with factual data and no ananomouse (dave) sources


By: Anonymous on 2/3/08

The only reason the Tribune did this story is because of Karen’s article. Get a clue!


By: Anonymous on 2/3/08

If you read the article in Sunday’s Trib about Sierra Vista/French, you’ll see an example of solid reporting. Good stats. No anonymous sources. Arnquist shows that Velie may be right in how poor patients don’t come to French, but the Trib article is much more professionally presented.


By: Anonymous on 2/3/08

I am amazed at this website and all of the accusations it is making about French Hospital. I recently had a medical procedure there and no one ever asked me to donate money to anything. From start to finish everyone I encountered was nothing but professional and caring. I understand that French has some of the highest scores in the U.S. when it comes to patients and how they score the procedures and services there. In the mid 80’s, it was known as the Heart Center of the Central Coast. Then, a few years ago, French was near bankruptcy. Now it is opening a state of the art cath lab along with bringing in state of the art equipment and top notch employees to make it into a great hospital once again. What’s wrong with that? In my book, I am glad there is an alternative to Sierra Vista.

By: Anonymous on 2/2/08

Tsk SLO Bear,


…and you wonder why lawyers have a bad name, even if you’re not one.


0

By: Anonymous on 2/1/08

I don’t work for French or CHW, but I do perform operations consulting for small and large businesses. CHW is not a client of mine.


I was just giving Karen and Dan some advice. They seem to be representing this site as a for-profit news source, for which the legal pitfalls can be very different than an opinion page. If something you publish as fact causes a business to lose money and then can’t prove it is true – significant legal liabilities materialize.


Also, FWIW, CHW is a non-profit corporation, not a charity – there are significant differences between the two.


By: Anonymous on 2/1/08

There seems to be a concerted effort to smack down anyone who even dares criticize French Hospital. The Frenech CEO sounds like a bully. I’ll keep taking my family to Sierra Vista. Much better hospital. Much better.


By: Anonymous on 1/31/08

Why don’t you flamers (flamers meaning the act of posting deliberately hostile messages on the Internet, not what you do when your wife isn’t looking)((Although I can only assume SLO Bear is looking for a Twinkie)) Stop hiding behind the cutsie non-de-plumes and show yourselves. Oooh that’s right, French Hospital is a Catholic organization, those defending their actions are just marching in step with the status-quo.


By: Anonymous on 1/31/08

Dearest SLO Bear,


It seems one unusual aspect of French’s response is that instead of addressing the issues, they just attack the messenger. What facts? What truths? You seemed to have jumped on the bandwagon of controlling freedom of speech with threats of a frivolous lawsuit if you don’t like the content. Do you suggest Karren and Dan ask thier sources to risk thier jobs just to satisfy YOUR idea of credibility?


I’m interested to hear more about the “deep pockets” of a non-profit that is seeking donations.


Speaking of anonymity, do your friends call you “SLO Bear”?


By: Anonymous on 1/31/08

SLO Bear,


What is your job at the hospital?

wouldn’t happen to be in the liability department would it?

Brad


By: Anonymous on 1/31/08

ANOTHER THING THAT TICKS ME OFF IS THEIR SOLICITING EMPLOYEES AND PATIENTS TO DONATE MONEY TO THEIR ORGANIZATION…LIKE THEY WERE POOR OR SOMETHING. THIS IS A NON-PROFIT THAT OVER THE PAST 3 YEARS (2005-2007) COMBINED, REPORTED MAKING A PROFIT OF $1,691,123,000. THAT’S ALMOST 1.7 BILLION! POOR MY ___.


By: Anonymous on 1/31/08

CHECK OUT THIS GREAT WEBSITE THAT WATCHDOGS THESE CATHOLIC NOT-FOR-PROFITS.

http://WWW.WHERETHEMONEYGOES.COM

SEARCH: CHW FOR SOME GREAT INSIGHT!


0

By: Anonymous on 1/31/08

SINCE FHMC (CHW) IS A NON-PROFIT, THEIR IRS FILING 990-S IS PUBLIC RECORD. ANYONE CAN GO TO http://WWW.GUIDESTAR.COM AND LOOK AT THEIR MOST RECENT FILING (2005). OR THEY CAN CONTACT CHW CORPORATE AND REQUEST A COPY OF THEIR 2006 FILINGS, THE LATEST. (BY LAW THEY HAVE 30 DAYS TO GET YOU A COPY). THIS IS WHERE I STUMBLED ACROSS ALANS ~MILLION DOLLAR SALARY, AND THAT WAS IN 2005. PREVIOUS YEARS FILINGS ARE REALLY INTERESTING…ALL OF THE FORGIVABLE MORTGAGES TO EXECUTIVES, INCLUDING ALAN AND LLOYD DEAN. DID I MENTION LLOYD DEAN PULLS DOWN OVER 5 MILLION/YEAR???

I DON’T REALLY CARE HOW MUCH THEY MAKE, BUT I AM SICK OF BEING NICKLE AND DIMED AT WORK…BECAUSE WE DON’T HAVE THE MONEY! ALL FOR THEIR CONTINUING THEIR HEALING MINISTRY BLAH, BLAH, BLAH…


By: Anonymous on 1/31/08

You quote an anonymous source but you also quot form 990 it is a public record and the Website for Spinemart. So if why is everyone thinking you made tis up. If French is disputing any of the information they certainly did not say so in their statement, they just quoted unrelated statistics.


By: Anonymous on 1/31/08

Journalism school teaches you to use anonymous sources pretty much never but with approval of editorial staff only. With a self-regulating editorial staff, where is the credibility?


By: Anonymous on 1/31/08

I really thought this site was going to be a new alternative news source for SLO. Unfortunately, editorializing your headline with “weird”, only underlines a bias in reporting – just like any other blog.


I found nothing unusual about their response.


Let me give you some free advice – be sure your business liability insurance carrier as well as your lawyers are clear on what you are doing. Posting info from questionable, anonymous sources about private business can have a direct economic impact of their operations and I guarantee their legal pockets are deeper than yours. Even though Oprah won her case on slander – it cost her a small fortune to defend herself.


By: Anonymous on 1/31/08

“Thruthful, bold, vital, cutting edge reporting”


hmmmm…not so far anyway. This French Hospital scandal is:

abhorrent, atrocious, awful, base, beastly, contemptible, cursed, deplorable, despicable, detestable, disgusting, execrable, foul, grim, hairy*, hateful, heinous, hellish, horrible, loathsome, lousy, nasty, nauseating, obnoxious, odious, offensive, repellent, reprehensible, repugnant, repulsive, revolting, rotten, sleazeball, stinking, terrible, very bad, vile, wretched.


Clean it up or shut it down.


By: Anonymous on 1/31/08

What is with this new colusion this site has going on with Dave Congalton and visa versa?


Both of your journalistic crediblity are coming under suspicion.


Is it “uncoverdhometownSLO” or “Hometownradiouncovered”?


I now view everything here with an eye of suspicion. Was that your goal in attacking a local hospital with “anonymouse” sources?


Please explain…


0