Tri-City Medical Center is considering giving its CEO, Art Gonzalez, a raise. He currently makes $436,000 a year in base salary.
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Tri-City gives Gonzalez current and future raises
By: PAUL SISSON - Staff Writer | ∞
Tri-City Medical Center is considering giving its CEO, Art Gonzalez, a raise. He currently makes $436,000 a year in base salary.
JAMIE SCOTT LYTLE Staff Photographer
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OCEANSIDE ---- Citing a need to keep his salary competitive with executives at other similar-sized facilities, Tri-City Medical Center's governing board approved two raises for the hospital's chief executive at a regular meeting Thursday.
On a 5-2 vote, with hospital directors Kathleen Sterling and RoseMarie Reno opposed, the board increased Gonzalez's base salary from $436,000 to $457,000. The raise is retroactive to Oct. 3.
A second 5-2 vote along the same lines will increase the chief executive's base salary to $483,000 on Oct. 3 this year.
Gonzalez's contract with Tri-City requires that his salary be reviewed annually and adjusted to keep his pay in the 65th percentile of hospital chiefs at similar-sized medical institutions nationwide, meaning that 34 percent make more and 64 percent make less.
The board usually considers Gonzalez's raise every fall. Last year, with only six members, the board deadlocked on his proposed increase. Now that a seventh member has been seated and October is approaching, the board chose to tackle the raises for last year and this year all at once.
Though she said she is generally unhappy with chief executive pay nationwide, hospital Director Madeline Rodriguez said she voted to give Gonzalez a 5 percent raise because Tri-City must compete for leadership in a national market.
"The bottom line is we have to compete with the market," Rodriguez said.
She added that running a hospital like Tri-City, which has a $271 million operating budget, is not a simple endeavor and requires an executive with years of experience.
"You could have the best-performing business, and if you have someone running it who doesn't know what they are doing, you are going to lose money," Rodriguez said.
But two directors had a different view of how the hospital executive's pay should be managed.
Director Reno said the board should reconsider the notion that Tri-City can afford to pay in the 65th percentile. She noted that the hospital has had ongoing financial difficulties this year that make a raise less palatable.
"I do believe it is time that this board looked at the 65th percentile again," Reno said. "Health care is in a sea of change, and we are going broke."
Indeed, administrators said the hospital is projected to end its fiscal year on June 30 $2 million in the red. While the hospital made more money this year than it did last year, budgeted increases in patient volume were not as robust as predicted.
Because the hospital is ending the year with a loss, Gonzalez is not eligible for a bonus ---- which he has received in some years past ---- of up to 30 percent of his base salary. He also receives a $12,000 annual car allowance.
Gonzalez still makes less than his counterpart at Palomar Pomerado Health, which operates public hospitals in Escondido and Poway.
In March, Palomar's board of trustees awarded Chief Executive Officer Michael Covert a 2 percent raise, bumping his base salary from $518,440 to $528,000. The board also approved a $160,000 bonus for Covert and extended his contract through 2011.
Several hospital directors noted that Tri-City conducts annual salary surveys for all of its employees in order to keep their pay in the 65th percentile.
Board Chairman Larry Schallock said that the hospital's 1,045 nonunion employees recently received market-based raises ranging from 3 percent to 8 percent in order to keep their compensation in line with their counterparts at other hospitals.
"They can also get merit-based raises in addition to that market increase," Schallock said.
Schallock said he believes it is important to treat Gonzalez as he would any other employee.
"I feel that I have to be fair, I have to be uniform and I have to be consistent," Schallock said.
Though CEO pay has long been a thorny issue at Tri-City, only one member of the public commented on the raises.
Valerie Pemberton, a Tri-City nurse who works in the hospital's obstetrics department, said she opposed the increase because hospital employees had recently been laid off.
"On the one hand, you're going to give somebody a raise, and on the other hand, you're getting rid of people," Pemberton said.
Director Reno repeated the statement that Tri-City had conducted a round of layoffs.
"We are laying off quality people, and this bothers me," Reno said.
But Suellyn Ellerbe, Tri-City's chief operating officer, said she disagrees with the notion that the hospital has conducted layoffs. She said that a total of 12 management positions have been eliminated, but added that "all but one" of those employees had already applied for other vacant positions at the hospital.
"Only one of them is accepting a severance package," Ellerbe said.
Ellerbe said the hospital has also undertaken a reorganization of its nursing staff, replacing a "charge nurse" position with a management-level "shift supervisor" position. She said the change has not resulted in any nurse losing his or her job.
Contact staff writer Paul Sisson at (760) 901-4087 or psisson@nctimes.com.
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Larry wrote on Jun 1, 2007 12:58 AM:Please join me in voting NO for Tri-City's third bond election attempt that is likely to be on November's ballot. This Board shows again with this obscene raise for its CEO that it cannot govern with the best interests of the District's residents in mind. Don't give them $600 million of your tax dollars to do what they please.
Larry wrote on Jun 1, 2007 1:03 AM:The Board voted for this raise at this time with the hope that the voters will forget about it before November. Last year this Board voted to not raise the CEO's pay in a vote just before the second bond vote because the Board didn't want to offend voters just before the bond election. WE WILL NOT FORGET THIS VOTE COME NOVEMBER.
Larry wrote on Jun 1, 2007 1:32 AM:Director Madeline Rodriguez's argument that the District needs to pay a half-million dollar salary to their CEO because the hospital has a $271 million annual budget is pretty weak. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's salary for administering a $100 billion budget (400 times the size of Tri-City's budget) is $206,500 (less than half of Gonzalez's approved salary).
Concerned Businessman wrote on Jun 1, 2007 4:51 AM:I feel sorry for the rational, intelligent Board members who have to endure Kathleen Stirling's rants. She makes up facts to suite her biases and just loves to be on television. It must also be an extreme embarrassment for all the hardworking employees at Tri Cities to have to be associated with this woman in any way.
Need professional nurses wrote on Jun 1, 2007 5:07 AM:Last night I heard that charge nurses are responsible for patient safety and therefore Tri City should not change this position. I thought all nurses were responsible for patient safety! The charge nurse concept is anchient history. It is an old parent/child form of management. Get your head out of the sand, this is the 21st century, the age of the professional nurse.
Get Real wrote on Jun 1, 2007 5:18 AM:34% of Hospital CEO's at similiar sized hospitals get paid more than Dr. Gonzalez and don't have to put up with Stirling...doesn't seem fair.
Good Grief wrote on Jun 1, 2007 5:31 AM:What could Reno possibly know about "quality people". If her performance on the Board is a demonstration of her definition of quality, she is the last person who should be judging the quality of others. Well, maybe second to the last, next to Stirling.
Fire him wrote on Jun 1, 2007 5:35 AM:What a greedy son-of-a-gun! Almost HALF A MILLION DOLLARS???????
Oink, Okink, Oilk wrote on Jun 1, 2007 6:21 AM:Now here is a GOOD reason why we don't need a hospital bond. The salary of these PUBLIC employees needs to stop what an outrage. School superintendents rack in a couple hundred for producing the worst schools in the State, what is wrong with this picture? Where is the accountability and who controls the puppet boards?
Hilarious! wrote on Jun 1, 2007 6:28 AM:Let's give the chief executives massie pay raises that place them in the top 1% of the US while the hospital system struggles to provide medical services. Is this a great country or what?
Oceansider wrote on Jun 1, 2007 7:08 AM:These folks on the TCMC board just don't get it, and apparently they never will. Don't bother with hiring a consulting firm to assess why your bonds failed. And don't bother to float another one.
Train Wreck wrote on Jun 1, 2007 7:26 AM:This Board is like a 'train wreck' that never stops happening. Nurse Ratchet/Reno and the regular cast of goofballs just can't stop giving that tax money away to good ol' Art. And the voters keep sendin 'em back to the Boardroom. Perhaps Trump's next season of The Apprentice should use this Board as the subjects. It would only be 1 episode, though, as he would have to say, "You're ALL fired!!".
Randy wrote on Jun 1, 2007 7:38 AM:Pay everyone who works at the hospital at the 65th percentile. Then no one will have anything to gripe about!
Carl wrote on Jun 1, 2007 7:42 AM:Mr. Shallock, you should treat Gonzalez as any other employee and fire him. The public may not have commented last night, but just try and get another bond to pass. We are watching!
Stunned wrote on Jun 1, 2007 8:48 AM:I can't believe it! Good employees are getting laid off,other employees are afraid they're next, and administration gets raises, and they wonder why we won't pass a bond!
O'side taxpayer wrote on Jun 1, 2007 9:10 AM:Wow! Would I like I pay raise like that. Retro-active even......probably held off the pay increase in an effort to force the Hospital Bond on the voters. The article states that no one was laid off.......just that positions were eliminated. It's the old "statistics don't lie, but you can lie with statistics". Next time board members are up for election, remember how this crew voted.
Randy wrote on Jun 1, 2007 9:35 AM:Since the difference between the 50th and the 65th percentile is combat pay for having to deal with her boorish behavior, have Kathleen Sterling reimburse the hospital for the difference!
Joe B wrote on Jun 1, 2007 9:52 AM:I hate to say I told you so, but I was right. Gonzo want to get as much money as possible. And the board will continue to give money away, without pause to this guy. The board need to recalled.
$$$$$$$ wrote on Jun 1, 2007 9:55 AM:Give him the money- How can you expect this poor guy to live comfortably off $483,000/year? He works hard, really hard. This is kind of a SICKO thing,
Joe B wrote on Jun 1, 2007 10:00 AM:I see the bond going down,, again, and again, and again. They will not be allowed to fleece the tax-payers with a bond again.... Gonzo is not worth 20% of that.
Alex wrote on Jun 1, 2007 10:04 AM:Yes, the retroactivity of the raise all the back to Oct. 1, which predates the last bond election by six weeks, is very telling. The Board considered the raise before the last bond election and decided not to grant it because of the impact that the news of the CEO's raise would have on the election. This granting of the retroactive raise at this time shows the dishonesty of the Tri-City Board. This Board is counting on you having a short memory and that you will forget about this action before the next bond election.
ADIVINO wrote on Jun 1, 2007 10:48 AM:This has to be the stupidest move the Board has made yet. Kiss that new bond measure goodby. As for Kathleen Sterling, give her credit for voting No -- Her vote proves once again that even a busted clock can be right twice a day. She was right to vote NO twice.
Oceanside Chris wrote on Jun 1, 2007 10:56 AM:Liars and thieves. Retro pay raise, what a crock. Tri City will fail at their attempt at another boondoggle bond.
Randy wrote on Jun 1, 2007 11:36 AM:Get over your jealousy. Go to college and get your degree, get a job that gives you experience, and find someone willing to pay you $457,000 base compensation. Quit whining!
Still Stunned wrote on Jun 1, 2007 11:41 AM:thank god we have Sterling and Reno to watch out for our tax dollars-
tg wrote on Jun 1, 2007 12:57 PM:Article says Gonzales was not eligible for a bonus of up to 30 percent because Tri City ended year with a loss...who needs a bonus when you get a $47k raise! Seems the more bond issues that fail, the bigger the raise he gets!!!
Maria wrote on Jun 1, 2007 1:24 PM:Randy- I was hit and run by a 14-year old. I asked myself was he related to a former TCMC member of the Board? Should I go to TCMC for treatment? So what do you suggest I do?
Rufus wrote on Jun 1, 2007 1:39 PM:Not only the shameful retroactive pay, they are giving the second pay raise early so that they won't be faced with doing this next fall just before their third bond election attempt. We will remember this come next November when the third bond issue is on the ballot.
Award dinner wrote on Jun 1, 2007 1:40 PM:Recently the hospital held it's annual service awards dinner. Art Gonzo and Kathy Sterling were both present. Which one went around the room shaking hands and thanking employees for their years of service, calling them the glue that holds the place together and which one huddled in the corner? Thanks Kathy!
Shaky Jake wrote on Jun 1, 2007 1:46 PM:I have a close friend who is an aide at TCMC. Her salary is just a couple grand more per year than Gonzalez's car allowance. She works EVERY weekend. There is a shift differential for weekends. They haven't paid her the differential since she agreed to work those hours, and blow off her requests for compensation. She is afraid to complain because of retaliation. She volunteered for the position because another employee was out on sick leave. That's how TCMC management treats their employees.
not surprised wrote on Jun 1, 2007 3:32 PM:In my book the chief executive is responsible for not only the financial well-being of the institution but also the quality of care and the morale of the employees. Gonzalez knows how to make money for sure and hopefully this tranlates to the hospital budget. What he does not know how to do is treat people(employees) with respect and appreciation. He has hired upper managment people who are deceitful, uincaring, and at times even cruel. The morale at TCMC is in basement. No amount of money is worth having to work in that environment.;
annoyed by this wrote on Jun 1, 2007 3:39 PM:the governing board, and the human resource department at tri city continue to pull the lindsay lohan approach to living, they are above it all, and untouchable. someone, take a stand, and do the right thing around there
not surprised wrote on Jun 1, 2007 3:50 PM:moral at tcmc is at an all time low, good people are leaving in droves, but that doesn't seem to consern upper management. why should it, they continue to get their raises, and bonuses, living the good life,be
Joe B to Randy wrote on Jun 1, 2007 4:05 PM:You don't have to get a degree to work at try city, just look at their directors.
Joe b wrote on Jun 1, 2007 4:06 PM:Randy, I wonder why you are fixated on Sterling. Hmmmmmm
recall wrote on Jun 1, 2007 4:13 PM:let's recall the board now! Larry Schallock said that employees got a 3-8% market raise that's not the truth.It was last year!The board needs to go. Their will be a lay-off of 60 employees within the next month! they delayed the timing because of ART's raise.NCT'S please blog this.....
Forget a bond wrote on Jun 1, 2007 4:35 PM:When a publicly run hospital that isn't doing all that well can reward it's chief with a half million dollar salary something is clearly wrong. This hospital board is a joke!
Total Recall ! wrote on Jun 1, 2007 5:19 PM:This article and these blogs are only the tip of the iceberg!! Along with the CEO- his VP's were also blessed. This is beyond shameful as we are way..way.. more than 2 million in the hole as reported by CNO-Ellerbe. Ask her why all managers hired have to go through her firm-even when they walk through the door??? Those two new cardiologists are being paid close to 1 million each to come here!! Many insider physician contracts were renewed at higher rates.. All this when they getting rid of employees!! Lay-ing off employees is not the appropriate word as then TCMC would be required by law to pay a portion of benefits received to the state-axing would be more appropriate. They also want to change the employees retirement carrier- could it be that the CEO and many VP's would benefit in some way from that. I do not for one second believe that these people would merely act on behalf of employees- as demonstrated by their current and prior behavoir. Mr. Gonzales came to TCMC in 1998/1999 to correct the budget now here we are 8-10 million in the hole and fighting off Administrative take-over and getting rid of dedicated employees!!
TCMC employee wrote on Jun 1, 2007 5:30 PM:Correction to Mr. Schallock-who touts that he cares for all employees. 8%(1045) of NON-UNION employees got a 3% market adjustment the rest got 2%. If you make $12 bucks/hr that amounts to about 0.25cents, $20 bucks a week, for a total of $520.00 dollars a year that does not even cover the cost of gas to drive to work every day for the year let alone everything else. THANKS! Sorry I can't be as thankful as Mr. Gonzales, Mr. Coleman, Mr. Wardwell, and most importantly MBIA(Citigroup) who'll be earning a pretty penny refinancing the bad debt. Those four looked like they swallowed the whole canary when they left the BOARD meeting.
TCMC RN wrote on Jun 1, 2007 5:45 PM:Someone at the paper should ask the BOARD and Mr. Gonzales why his raise is determined at the national 65th percentile while employees are determined at the local level?
Total Recall wrote on Jun 1, 2007 5:51 PM:How much has TCMC and the BOARD spent on consultants from 1/07 to present? How much money did they pay for American Medical Consulting in JAN/FEB for the medical staff needs analysis?
And they wonder why taxpayers won't pass the bonds wrote on Jun 1, 2007 5:56 PM:Duhhhhhhhh. Gonzalez is paid WAY too much! Because of my experiences with Tri-City, in the future I would rather drive to (or direct the ambulance to) another hospital, even if I was bleeding profusely. If the hospital is losing money, it should be investigated, not the leadership rewarded. Something is wrong with this picture!
You're joking right? wrote on Jun 1, 2007 6:04 PM:A man who can't get a bond through gets a half million $$ and a 2 year contract? He should have been fired!
Listen up! wrote on Jun 1, 2007 6:06 PM:It's time that that staff and employees did a no-confidence vote on Gonzales. His time to move on has come. Maybe he and Richart can leave town together on a slow train to nowhere!
Hah! wrote on Jun 1, 2007 6:30 PM:The governing board does this, and then they think we're going to agree to a BOND???????????? Big, shiny brass ones, all right.
recall wrote on Jun 1, 2007 6:36 PM:RECALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!the time is now!
Oh come'on wrote on Jun 1, 2007 6:44 PM:You know how expensive it is to live here, they deserve the raise! It takes insightful business sense to run a hosptial and you get that by paying the top people decent wages! Tri-City Hospital should be a first class operation. We need to vote for any and all bond issues. We need to have a first class hospital! Soon, we will have 12 million new "zitizens" and they need top medical care, in a top medical facility, run by top paid administrators. This is America, for goodness sakes!
Another TCMC employee wrote on Jun 1, 2007 7:07 PM:Larry Shallock is out of touch with reality if he thinks he is treating Gonzalez as any other employee. The REAL employees of TCMC are forced to flex, thus making a financial sacrifice for "the overall good of the hospital". Please Larry, tell us what financial sacrifice are you asking Gonzalez, or anyone in management, to make?
TCMC RN wrote on Jun 1, 2007 7:26 PM:"The quest for riches darkens the man's sense of right and wrong"-Antiphanes, ancient Greek dramatist.
Reardon wrote on Jun 1, 2007 8:08 PM:To Oh, Come on: Anyone who supports a bond issue should write a personal check! I have checked the appropriate statutes several times, and there is NO LAW against writing a personal check to the hospital district, the school district, or any other issuer of bonds. If everyone who supports an issue would write a check there would be no need for bond issues. WRITE A CHECK! No need to wait.
TCMC RN wrote on Jun 1, 2007 8:12 PM:Unlimited power is apt to corrupt the minds of those who possess it.
Incredible! wrote on Jun 1, 2007 8:38 PM:Where is Donald Trump when you need him? Oh yeah, hitting the ballot boxes in November! Did someone say bond? I am not voting for any bond!
Reward for Nonperformance! Why? wrote on Jun 1, 2007 10:05 PM:If denied the raise, would Gonzo have looked elsewhere? Who would hire a CEO who has led his hospital into a 6 million dollar debt? Or is the problem that TCMC is so dysfunctional that no experienced applicant would ever ask for the job if he did quit? TCMC should give raises based on merit alone - housewide. Why pay the 65 percentile to those who are not performing over the 50 percentile. If you cannot speak to why you deserve a raise, you do not deserve it. Just "'cuz I have survived another year" does not cut it! Slackers: Deal with no raise or be gone!
Alex wrote on Jun 1, 2007 10:20 PM:Paying big salaries to the CEO and his assistants is the product of a lazy and incompetent Board. We see currently Palomar Pomerado unable to get its new hospital started after the passage of its bond and this is due to incompetence. Don't be as foolish and vote for a bond for the Tri-City Board.
Tri-City Spouse wrote on Jun 1, 2007 11:11 PM:Wonderful. Congratulations Artie boy - go for the money. Maybe you ought to lay off even more people so that you will get a bigger raise next year - maybe one that is retroactive to the day my hard working little butt was laid off. This farce will end January 1st, 2012 because we are all going to vote NO on any future bond attemps! By the way, Larry Shallock, how could you have gone from being a nice, hard working Pharmacy Supervisor to some obsequeous Art-kissing Board member.
John C wrote on Jun 2, 2007 7:58 AM:Well Folks This Board and its Chairman do not have any shame at all ,none ,whatsoever . They are going down in flames for the third time this November.
econ-101 wrote on Jun 2, 2007 2:27 PM:Here's the way it works. Fire... as many long term employees with (relatively speaking that is) high salaries and vesting in Tri-City's employee's pension fund system. Hire... as many low payed entry level employees who are not vested. Astro Gonzalez doesn't have to make matching contributions for the higher paid vested employees and nothing for the unvested employees until it is time to fire them. Its as simple as 2+2=22.
Party pooper: wrote on Jun 2, 2007 2:37 PM:Miracles never cease to occur at Tri-City. That ham, Shallock layed another golden egg for Art Glide Gonzales!!
dog days of Tri-City wrote on Jun 2, 2007 2:50 PM:Judging from the amount of time Gonzo spends at the office, he's more like a part-time employee. Perhaps its just my imagination, but I don't recognize many employees any more. Could be Artie's idea of "off shoring" labor costs. Slick!
econ-101 wrote on Jun 2, 2007 3:27 PM:Using percentile and averages is one of the oldest trick in the accounting book. Randy and Ron, your both accountants and know the game. The 65th percentile of salaries for the job that Gonzalez can't do without an enterage of consultants is not the same as the 65th percentile of CEOs or the median income of CEOs. Shouldn't AG's salary be discounted based on the size of his consulting enterage? When an experieced RN is layed off or fired it is an illusory statistic only in an account's mind. To the average(not median) citizen, $485,000 is not so illusory even for a CEO of AG's profound talents and great hair. Total Recall just got easier. profound talent
gadfly to rumpus wrote on Jun 2, 2007 3:37 PM:I just caught a wiff of mendacity. Didn't A. Gonzalez say in public once that his pension plan was just like every other employees. If so when did he vest and how much of the District's meager funds are going to match his every growing pension contribution? Worth a public records request, perhaps.
econ-101 to recall and total recall: wrote on Jun 2, 2007 3:51 PM:Tri-City has promised up to up $800,000 in forgivable loans to each of two cardiologists to establish their practices in the Tri-City District. Unless I missed something on the KOCT broadcast, that's not only a lota looooot but a lot of RN's salaries. But then the inducement was necessary because of the high cost of living in the North County. Did anyone stop to concider that an unemployed, layed off or flexed nurse or service employee has the same cost of living. 2+2=4 really Ron and Randy. Time for a total recall and a forensic audit by the CA AG not TC's AG.
Seeing I Dog to Dog Days: wrote on Jun 2, 2007 4:07 PM:I think director Gerrahy needs a new prescription for those really big glasses she wears so that she can actually read the contracts the District is passing out and do the math. I'd say they are going to have to do a lot of treadmilling at Gonzo's new wellness center to make up the $1.6 million their giving to the 2 Docs. I can't see where its going to come from Dog Days.
Bed sore to TCMC RN wrote on Jun 2, 2007 4:21 PM:The definition of a Brain Dead Board of Directors is when the habitual liars don't know that they're pants are on fire. "Illegitimus non carbarundum" and "carpe per diem." Make sure your out before the lights are, but not before my back rub. Iam sooooo soooore and no one will answer my call light at Tri-Sity.
Jaycee wrote on Jun 2, 2007 5:33 PM:Absolutely disgusting. Making it retroactive was ridiculous. Add his huge car allowance and it is totally obscene and very unseemly. Pure greed on his part, and pure grovelling on the board members who voted yes.
TCMC RN wrote on Jun 2, 2007 7:01 PM:To party pooper- just like the flag out front states "TCMC where miracles happen every day", "We put the joy into nursing". Who,what,when,how, where, why........ It depends is it a Monday or a Friday? Dorothy you don't work for Scripps anymore!
Gusdusted wrote on Jun 4, 2007 5:06 PM:Once again, Gonzo becomes the disgust of the medical center, not that he isn't the other 364 days of the year anyway. A center that is in the red, losing employees continuously to Scripps and Palomar (check and see how their ranks are filling up with Tri-City ex's)and where a raise is so paltry that you can't use it to purchase lunch at the cafeteria on a daily basis. So, where's the positive side of this. We've quit and moved on but feel for our friends and co-workers who are unfortunately still in in a position where they're unappreciated and underpaid. A big NO on the bond issue from all of us. Maybe they should take the money they're spending to see whether it would pass and see why it won't?
Doc wrote on Jun 4, 2007 5:27 PM:I am simply amazed how the hierarchy can continue to line their pockets when the facility is allagedly in such dire financial trouble. Employees in ER Registration are told they cannot have overtime hours, regardless of how short they are on personnel, hours are cut for many employees, full timers atre told they will be moved to per-diemwith their benefits dropped and all in the name of saving money. Yet the CEO gets a fat raise for doing what? Helping put TCMC further in the hole? Read the memo that was posted internally and it says they had the best year ever last year? What does that mean? They lost the least money? Or the brass upstairs had the best year anticipating their big raise by sucking the life out of the real workers at TCMC? Or????
Support your community wrote on Jun 4, 2007 6:13 PM:Tri-City hospitals economic impact to the local community is almost half a billion dollars each year. They not only provide cutting edge technological care to the community they also contribute significantly to the local economy. The Sharp system has a CEO at each hospital along with a CEO over all of them. Why no outrage for their pay scale? Because it's not published to the community. CEO pay is what it is. Please don't let his pay turn you away from supporting the hospital.
Wondering???? wrote on Jun 4, 2007 6:42 PM:Now that the board voted to refinance their "old" bonds, a new windfall for the Gonzo admin will surely be in order... Wondering now, if the Excess Revenue Over Expenses threshold will be made and Gonzo plus cronnies will get their blood money??? I mean bonuses??????????
John wrote on Jun 4, 2007 7:26 PM:Is this hospital in the 65th percentile whenit comes to providing care and service? If it is, I think the pay raise is fair enough. If he made it into a 90th percentile facility, he should get paid accordingly.
To Support your community wrote on Jun 4, 2007 9:56 PM:Unfortunately, TriCity Medical Center does not support its real employees. While it may be true that employees got a raise this year, employees are now being forced to flex WITHOUT PAY which cuts into any raise we may have gotten. Once again, the true employees are the ones that are making the financial sacrifices, while higher management continue to line their pockets without shame.
John C wrote on Jun 6, 2007 8:02 AM:Run Gonzo out of town on a rail. The hospital is in the red and he gets a raise!!!!!!!! ...
Emesis basin wrote on Jun 6, 2007 8:19 PM:Thats right, I am a real nurse- I have a BSN and my position at TCMC was eliminated. They are trying to cover up what is really going on!! I know of someone whose position was eliminated today 1/6/07. This is disgusting that these people are allowed to get away with this. My mother was going to have a joint replacement at TCMC and she is rescheduling to have it at another facility because of the way they treat their employees. She is fearful to have surgery there. The Administration and the BOARD have no idea of what they are doing to employees and patients
To Emesis basin wrote on Jun 6, 2007 9:24 PM:There's no doubt that employees are suffering because of mismanagement. But regardless of all the "stuff" going on--management's poor decision making and the war between management and union--the nurses I work with won't let this affect the care they give; we remain committed to giving the best care possible. I still have patients thank me every single day for the care they've received at TCMC. As long as TCMC has patients, there will be caring, committed nurses at the bedside.
Patients Pick Doctors Not Hospitals wrote on Jun 6, 2007 11:14 PM:It is not the Board or the CEO that makes the hospital. The Board and the CEO are backwards because their greed has given them temporary satisfaction while placing the hospital's mission and its values to the last in line. I chose my doctor because of the reputation and care I will receive from my doctor. I have never decided on what doctor to see because of the hospital. I have faith in my doctor therefore as long as I have my doctor I will go where my doctor sends me. My family and friends have left Tri City because their doctors are leaving to go to another hospital. Doctors and patients make a hospital's reputation.
Medical Nemisis wrote on Jun 6, 2007 11:18 PM:Going to Tri City under the current conditions will prove Ivan Illich to be right - the medical nemisis is you will be sicker after you arrive at the hospital. Tri City makes its money for the CEO and his cronnies by making you sicker rather than well.
To Patients pick Doctors not hospitals wrote on Jun 7, 2007 4:08 PM:I have never heard of a physician who provides 24/hr bedside care. If just Doctors and Patients made a hospitals reputation then we would not need to pay JACHO for certification.
Another ex-TCMC RN wrote on Jun 15, 2007 7:22 PM:I worked at TriCity for over 14 years. I left for another hospital in complete disgust over the way management is handling the hospital. There is a total disconnect between administration and the nurses. My friends who currently still work there are either looking for other jobs or just planning to ride it out until they retire. It is shameful how nurses are treated there.
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