Questions, questions, questions!

I came away from my first hospital board meeting last night, March 10, 2014, with some unsettling questions. Actually, I had a hard time falling asleep as I tried to make sense of all I had heard, seen, and experienced.

My first question. The hospital administrator responded to a question about bonus payments to providers. He said, “It is based on provider performance.” I thought how in the world do you determine that! I later discovered it is based on some generic survey questions that are assigned a numerical value. That’s all well and good but performance is more than a number. To me, performance comes from what is resident deep inside an individual. It encompasses all that the word character embodies. You can’t produce something like integrity if it isn’t already present. I have had many encounters, some within the community but most have been on a professional basis, with three of the doctors at CMC over the last 30 years. I know them to be men and women of great integrity and character.

My second question has to deal with the public statement Wendy Hughes gave regarding her decision to leave her clinic practice at CMC. In her statement she said she and several others are being investigated for “inappropriate practice.” What? Where did that come from? Please don’t tell me this investigation has been initiated by the administration! She didn’t state where this investigation originated but it was one of those things that rushed through my head when I heard Wendy’s statement. I thought, “No. Now don’t be too quick to judge. Surly the administration would not step into that arena, would they?” IF they did, it is a battle that needs to be fought and we as the community who stand to lose the most need to get involved!

Third question. Is there a hidden agenda that has not been verbalized? You know, the kind that goes to create the bigger picture down the road that nobody saw coming.

Questions, questions, questions. Somebody knows the answers.

Janice Archer