The House of Cards

Anonymous writes...

How ironic that Greenville citizens awoke to news spots featuring Ray Humphreys as part of the economic development board this morning. He was deceitfully making some lame comments about jobs for Greenville and Washington county. What a joke!!

He has destroyed enough jobs at the hospital, PLEASE, we don't need his input for our city or county. And who knows if the county helps to fund DRMC or not. Why does it matter? Has anyone looked at Ray's salary? How about his "dream team" of cronies? They are breaking the place.

And even with Medicaid/Medicare issues, it still does not excuse the board and DRMC administration from accountability of gross mismanagement of hospital funds. This entire 43 million dollar crisis is a result of long term abuse of power, terrible judgement calls, and a horrific disregard for the quality of healthcare. Instead of laying hometown folks off who are here forever, get rid of him!

Somebody better wake up quick. The ship is sinking...FAST. Ray, you are done for - and take all of your hand picked cronies with you to the next unfortunate community you infest.

There is no faster road to financial ruin than for a hospital to purchase clinics and physician's practices. It compromises quality patient care from two perspectives. First, the physician gets a large guaranteed salary whether he/she sees two patients or twenty in a day (golf is pretty much a year-round sport in the Delta... so, you do the math).

Second, it creates an "unwritten" agreement that these same employed physicians will admit a certain number of patients to the hospital; thus, generating revenue... in return for their large salaries.

It is similar to taking your car to a mechanic whose brother owns an auto parts store. You can pretty much bet that your total bill will include more than just "labor".

The DRMC empire is more than just a hospital. It is a conglomeration of several different corporations including physician practices, home health, hospice and several clinics... all of which are presumably separate fiscal entities. Here is where Ray is the master illusionist!

Question... have you ever been drowning in debt and so desperate to stay afloat that you decided to pay off your "Mastercard" with a loan from "VISA"? Well, that's pretty much the scenario at DRMC. The problem is, like in the credit card analogy, you have not reduced your debt, simply shifted it with additional interest.

Ray has pretty much pushed the envelope as far as it will go. Houses of cards tumble when the top gets too heavy... and the top is extremely heavy! I hope that 2008 will be the year of revelation for Greenville about the status of our current health care system.

As in the recent election, if you don't vote, don't complain about politics; and if you never plan to be sick, don't worry about heath care.

Forthright