From The Front Lines....3/13

These were pulled from anonymous comments submitted to the blog yesterday. Most deal with Essent's anti-blog policy.

Heard that last week on South Campus there were 30 patients and only three nurses to care for them. Heard the nurses filed a "safe haven".
And one of Ducky's "8 Points" is The Patient Comes First?
Rrrrrright....that goes along with "Employees are our most valuable resource"!

Safe Haven is a notification of a dangerous situation--in this case loading three nurses with 10 patients apiece. Some patients require a higher nursing to patient ratio. If this was the situation, it was appropriate. Just remember, we can't talk about being short-staffed....

So Essent sent out a memo that stated the following:
"It starts out with Happy New Year..
and in one of those small paragraphs it has a little note informing about the increasing number of complaints (anonymous on-line internet "blogging".) "This will not be tolerated and will lead to immediate termination of employment and is a violation of company policy and the Federal Law!" The Health Information Director at MVH posted a comment on the blog using her name and title. So is she still employed or is it just to scare the employees?

Quote from "Kathy DiPietro, RHIT said...
I am the Director of the Health Information Mangement Department at MVH and I am tired of being lied about by ex-employees"

But, is she really? I can't tell. And who would be stupid enough...need I say more?

The Federal Law the memo was citing was in regards to HIPAA info. Posting priviledged information is a violation of federal law. However, I hope he can prove it!!!

Mr. Fletcher is the source of all HIPAA in Essent, however he's been aware of several breaches (and not on this blog) that have quietly gone away.

Saw a memo sent out to all employees from Charles "Mr HIPAA" Fletcher that first congratulated employees on being mindful of HIPAA regs but then warned them that posting on blogs "even anonymously" was a violation of Essent policy and would be strictly enforced.

This was kind of a hold-over from Christus. They had two policies that chapped: You couldn't discuss anything of a detrimental nature outside the hospital, and actions of employees that brought discredit to the hospital, even if on their own time, were grounds for dismissal.

Recently, while wating to check out at WalMart, in response to my "how are you?" a complete stranger told me all about her recent surgery, the complications and the care she received at PRMC. As well as a similar surgery and complications her aunt had. For many people a surgery or even just a hospital stay is a life event and newsworthy. They tell everyone about it.

So how can Fletch be so sure that an anonymous post about a patient's experiences at PRMC are from an employee? The answer is he can't. It's just another excuse for a witch hunt. Already people have been fired from allegedly having something to do with this blog. Oh, wait. For going in a different direction from the hospital. Just another way to get rid of 'necessary terrorists'!

And there are whistle-blower statutes in place to protect those revealing actual situations that are criminal or dangerous. We use 'medical ethics' to justify non-disclosure of medical malfeasance. How can the truth be a violation when it corrects a dangerous situation?

I find it rather alarming that Essent's logo is very much like Enron's. Didn't that start with the CEO stealing the employee's pensions??

And lastly:

I hear another layoff is coming soon.
Please, dear Lord, let the rumor about ETMC be true!!!