Stacking the Deck with “Big Guns” and “Heavyweights” at Henry Mayo

When Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital (HMNMH) opened in 1975, our valley filled with pride as this was a non-profit, locally-run facility for community healthcare. Through the years, we have loudly proclaimed how our hospital is governed by those who live or work in Santa Clarita, and until recently, this was true. Forces are slowly ebbing this away.
The hospital Board of Directors presently number fifteen, with five doctors, and the others from various backgrounds of business, education, and law. Understanding how they are chosen and the importance of their vote in directing hospital policy allows one to see how power and control can be wielded for good...or evil.

By-laws govern this Board and define their make up, duties, and responsibilities. How they are nominated, how long they serve, their interaction with the physician Medical Staff, and guidelines of conflict of interest are clearly delineated by this document.

Under the By-laws, a Governance Committee selects candidates for nomination when a position opens on the Board (which is not very often since a member can serve three consecutive terms of three years, meaning 9 straight years). What if though the Governance Committee is dominated and controlled by one individual?

Roger Seaver has this power and control and wields a wide swath with his sword. Once his personal selection passes through the Governance Committee and is placed on the Board, financial influence (which might be judged as conflict of interest) beckons them to vote in his favor.

For instance, the Board has recently voted to: increase the length of their term on the Board; overrule the Medical Staff credentialing process potentially allowing unqualified physicians to practice at our hospital; ignore The Joint Commission (TJC) standards violations putting the hospital accreditation in jeopardy; hire a Chief Medical Officer (CMO) not mentioned in hospital governing documents which is sanctionable; remove the Deputy Chief of Staff’s vote marginalizing physician participation; suspend a decorated veteran doctor from the staff; pass “Resolutions” against the Medical Staff affecting patient care; etc., etc. Some of these are regurgitated from past WRB postings.

The deck has been stacked with By-laws changed or just violated in order to gain votes and control. The Board moral compass is misdirected, and can only be changed by those in our community who have sustained fortitude and lack fear to fight. But why not by them?

I have had recent and past contact with 11 of the 15 Board members, and their actions, or inactions, perplex me. As a physician, I am expected to interpret information yielding treatment for a diagnosis. Red flags sit in front of this Board representing clear manipulation of information that should prompt questions, or at least stir their curiosity:

1) Administration hiring of a consultant for $350,000 to only conclude the Medical Executive Committee (MEC) was the sole source of communication problems; 2) G&L Realty contribution to City Council candidates to affect their vote, and their financial relationship with Roger Seaver; 3) building offices and parking structures without guarantee of building a hospital; 4) not having enough operating rooms to serve this community in comparison to other hospitals; 5) public denial of the existence of privileging Gold Cards, and; 6) a “Vote of No Confidence” by the Medical Staff against the Board and Roger Seaver.

The most obvious red flag just occurred under their nose and shamelessly demonstrates this whole surreptitious process. The Medical Staff “Vote of No Confidence” was almost unanimous except for one dissenting doctor vote. This physician has been fast-tracked through the Governance Committee and will sit on the Board of Directors beginning in April. I wonder for which side he will cast his next vote?

Another recent addition to the Board, Dr. Richard Corlin, does not live nor work in this community. He is on the faculty of the Institute of Medical Leadership run by former highly paid CMO, Dr. Susan Reynolds. Her recent replacement, Dr. Richard Frankenstein (who does not live and had not worked in Santa Clarita) is also on this faculty. The ebbing away of local influence at our hospital shows how they keep it in their family...not ours.

Certainly, we should have the best qualified physicians associated with our hospital whether they live or work here. But should it not bother this community when hospital spokesperson, Andie Bogden, recently stated in our local newspaper when referring to Drs. Corlin and Frankenstein as “big guns” and “heavyweights”. Maybe her Freudian slip should have been “hired guns”.

Through the power and control of CEO Roger Seaver, the hospital has ramped up their battle against our local physicians to suspend and destroy doctors and eliminate their voice. Will the Board be oblivious to the significance of these red flags?

As the Board of Directors travel this ill-gotten road, they are twisting their fiduciary responsibility to our community by hiding and not reporting sentinel events; contemptuously closing the elder senior safety net, the Transitional Care Unit; and

demonstrating fiscal irresponsibility lacking “financial feasibility studies” for the cardiac catheterization lab, neonatal intensive care unit, and heart by-pass surgical suite which may put us back into bankruptcy. Is this now a careless and “care less” attitude of the Board doing business?

Our community pride is gone and patient care is suffering, and with the Board of Directors led by Roger Seaver painting themselves into a corner, accountability follows closely behind from the IRS, State Attorney General, TJC, and Medicare.

As a physician who serves this community everyday at HMNMH, what keeps me hopeful are the spirit of the doctors, nurses, and all ancillary personnel who still work with great pride to take care of fellow Santa Claritans. Their dauntless task of providing healthcare to our community has remained unshaken during this crisis.

Some members of the Board of Directors are the mouthpiece for the Administration, but others I hope will find their voice. If not, we must work to reshuffle the deck and hope the cards fall in our favor, so the community can proudly proclaim “we have our hospital back.”

Gene Dorio, M.D.- Guest Commentary

Gene Dorio, M.D., is a local physician. His commentary represents his own opinions and not necessarily the views of any organization he may be affiliated with or those of the West Ranch Beacon. You can also see more of Dr. Dorio’s commentaries on Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hosipal at http://hospitalrantandrave.blogspot.com/