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March 15, 2006
Playing the blame gameHOSPITAL'S GRAND OPENING REMAINS A DARK MYSTERY
By GINA B. GOOD
The hospital is not open and after a television interview Monday evening with Dr. Lawson Richter - who heads Compassionate Care For Women, in Pahrump - the news anchor added that Desert View's CEO said he doesn't have an opening date for the hospital. He also told a Channel 3 TV Las Vegas reporter that, "it has been difficult getting Las Vegas contractors out to Pahrump." Say what? Late last week, CEO David Rencher told the PVT, "We continue to make progress. State licensure is a big wildcard - it takes awhile." Rencher did not mention construction delays. The week prior, prompted by calls to the newspaper from a senior citizen representing a small concerned group of friends, Rencher was asked what insurance companies would be accepted by Desert View. The CEO replied that he was in negotiations with Senior Dimensions and other insurance providers and that he expected all the major insurance companies would be accepted. Let's get this straight. The construction is not complete and insurance contracts are not in place. Those details should have been taken care of months ago if the hospital management was truly set to open in November 2005, as was trumpeted at one point by the hospital's project manager, Roy Barraclough. In December of last year Barraclough filed a complaint with the Public Utilities Commission against Utilities Inc. In turn, the PUC told the utility company it must supply water and/or sewer services before its plant expansion was due to be completed in April of this year, even though the agreement the hospital signed with Utilities Inc. stated the hospital would wait until the plant expansion was scheduled to be complete. Why did Barraclough whine to the PUC in December when he must have known the construction schedule was behind? How did the hospital management intend to open in December - or January? Why did David Rencher announce a mid-February opening to Town Manager Dave Richards as well as to the Pahrump Valley Times when he was having problems with contractors meeting deadlines and without patient insurance coverage to pay the hospital's expenses? Lisa Crossett, operations manager of Utilities, Inc., suggested in 2005 that Barraclough was using the utility company as a diversion to draw attention away from the hospital's lack of progress. She told the PVT that on many occasions Barraclough declined to meet with her to discuss issues as they came up. Crossett said Barraclough also agreed in writing to the dates utilities would be available, only to complain publicly and to the PUC that service dates had to be moved up. Yet the hospital has not made any of its anticipated completion dates - and will be in violation of its agreement with the state if it fails to open in April. The contract for the hospital's ambulance service has also not been signed with the Pahrump Valley Fire-Rescue Service - or any other company. A few months ago, Mark Stoddard, president of Rural Health Management Corp., the firm that built and will operate Desert View Regional Medical Center, assured residents of Pahrump they would be very pleasantly surprised with the awarding of the ambulance contract. Stoddard said his company believed in working within the community where Rural Health had made its investment and commitment. Among all the complex issues surrounding the hospital, the ambulance contract could have the most far-reaching consequences for the financial future of the Town of Pahrump. The simple truth is that the citizens of Pahrump have waited two decades for a hospital and the community needs this facility. An additional three months or six months wouldn't matter much had the hospital management stepped up and candidly communicated the delays months ago. The exact date doesn't matter much - unless you are a pregnant woman counting on having your baby in Pahrump. The human toll Robin Flinchum, a freelance reporter for the Pahrump Valley Times, is one of many obstetrics patients caught up in the legal tangle between Pahrump doctors Gary Wright and Georges Tannoury. The family practitioner Flinchum has grown to trust and love, Michelle Stacey, M.D., worked with Wright at Pahrump Women's Medical Center. The two physicians also worked together in Texas before they relocated their families to Pahrump last year. Wright has operating privileges at Desert View Regional Medical Center and planned to be readily available during Flinchum's delivery had any problems surfaced. After the doors to Wright's office were closed by court order over a dispute of who owns the practice - Wright or Tannoury - Dr. Stacey started seeing patients a few doors down from where she'd been practicing since July, in Dr. Lawson Richter's office. However, those few steps mean an extra 60-minute drive to Las Vegas when Flinchum's baby is delivered, because even if the new hospital opened tomorrow - which it won't - Richter does not have privileges to operate at Desert View. In his television interview on Monday, Richter - who has offices in Las Vegas and commutes weekly to Pahrump - stated he might not recommend the new hospital to his patients when it opens, indicating he had little confidence in the facility. He said he has not been inside, yet. What he failed to mention is that he has yet to apply for operating privileges at Desert View and can only deliver babies in Las Vegas. |
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