Grand Jury faults San Gorgonio Hospital for unaccountability and failures

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7/12/12 -The Riverside County Grand Jury has issued a report (view) that faults the San Gorgonio Memorial Hospital

District for lack of organizational transparency, mismanagement of $ 108 million in bond proceeds and poor performance when compared to other hospitals.  Furthermore, the Grand Jury finds there to be overall unaccountability : they were unable to ascertain how tax dollars are spent at the District.

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GRAND JURY COULD NOT DETERMINE HOW HOSPITAL SPENDS TAXPAYER MONEY

The Grand Jury – even with their unique “power of subpoena” – says that they were “unable to ascertain from documents provided how tax dollars are spent” at the San Gorgonio Hospital District. Could there be a bigger red flag for the public than such a Grand Jury statement ?

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OPAQUE LEGAL STRUCTURE INCLUDES TWO BOARDS

The Hospital District operates in an opaque, difficult to understand legal structure. There is a public district, but also a 501,c, 3 , “Non-Profit” arm. According to the Grand Jury a total of 2 supervisory boards are exercising “ oversight”. These two boards and their correlation are  difficult to understand, leading to “public confusion”.

CEO Mark Turner is an employee of a management firm that has a contract to run the hospital. He is also a member of the board, which  – as the Grand Jury points out – is giving a  ” public perception” of a “conflict of interest”.

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MISMANAGEMENT OF $ 108 M HOSPITAL EXPANSION BOND

As the Grand Jury points out, a 2006 hospital expansion bond for $ 108 million has not yielded the much promised hospital tower, which was never built. It turns out, the project costs were never properly calculated – the $108 million number was just a wild guess on part of the hospital.

As we are now discovering, the District’s amateurish “guesstimate” of $ 108 million was off by a mind blowing 175 % – or $ 184 million !

This means, that the total estimated cost for the expansion will now be $ 292 million. The Grand Jury seems to suggest that hospital management soon might try to pursue another $ 184 million bond in order to finish the ill fated project.

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LOWEST IN PATIENT SATISFACTION

Another fact pointed out by  the Grand Jury :   the San Gorgonio Hospital ranges among the lowest overall performance when compared to 3,837 hospitals on a regional and national level. Official rating : “Substantially Below Average”.

It also ranks the lowest in patient satisfaction (view), with less than half of the patients willing to recommend the hospital to others.

Is seems a hospital with lower ratings than those assigned to the San Gorgonio Hospital would be hard to find.

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CONCLUSION

The San Gorgonio Hospital District is a prime example of government gone completely out of control .The Hospital District appears to be one of the biggest mal-investments the taxpayer has ever funded in the Pass Area. Unaccountability, mismanagement as well as devastating ratings and reviews speak volumes.

With such a dismal track record, it may be time for CEO Mark Turner to be replaced .

Should the public continue to throw good money after bad, with yet another $ 184 million bond – coming soon ?  Can we afford for this fat cat to fleece our wallets, again and again ?

Or wouldn’t it be much better to dissolve the Hospital District and sell the hospital to a private company that knows what they are doing ?  If your answer is “yes”, choose the next board members carefully.

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