If there’s one thing we learned from a recent packed-house meeting about medical care it’s this – Villagers care deeply about their hospital and they are quite concerned about the level of care being provided there.
The meeting was put on by the Property Owners’ Association and it featured Don Henderson, president and CEO of Central Florida Health, parent company of The Villages Regional Hospital (TVRH) and Leesburg Regional Medical Center. He was joined by Michael Pittman, TVRH’s chief clinical officer and site administrator.
The meeting at the Laurel Manor Recreation Center was timely because Villagers recently learned that their hospital had received a one-star rating – the lowest given – from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. They also found out that hospital’s Advanced Surgery Center had quietly been shut down, possibly on a temporary basis. And they were frustrated and armed with questions about many things pertaining to the 307-bed hospital, especially the ongoing slow wait times in the emergency department.
But not surprisingly, the first round of concern centered on the one-star rating and the fact that TVRH was one of just 282 hospitals in the country to receive the poor score.
Henderson told the standing-room-only crowd that the deck is stacked against TVRH because of the criteria used to rank hospitals. For instance, he said, one of the scoring categories involves mortality. With the highest percent of Medicare patients of any hospital in the country, Henderson said it’s basically impossible to overcome that negative rating.
“If you’re 80 percent Medicare, people are going to get terminal illnesses and they’re going to pass away in the hospitals,” he said. “Other hospitals don’t have that percentage of Medicare patients.”
At times throughout the presentation, many in the audience seemed miffed at the answers they were hearing. One person blurted out that he believed Henderson was taking the subject matter too lightly. And others would come close to openly booing whenever he said something they didn’t agree with.
In all fairness to those concerned residents, it’s important to note that mortality was just one of the categories used to rank the more than 3,500 hospitals across the country. The others were safety of care, readmission, patient experience, effectiveness of care, timeliness of care and efficient use of medical imaging.
Of those seven categories, TVRH ranked below the national average on four – mortality, readmission, patient experience and timeliness of care. The hospital ranked above average on safety of care and efficient use of medical imaging. And the effectiveness of care ranking was right at the national average.
“The bottom line is if you have a lot of elderly patients, you’re going to score lower than hospitals that don’t have a lot of elderly patients,” Henderson said to a rumbling audience.
Henderson also pointed out that when it comes to patient satisfaction ratings, those who don’t give the hospital a 9 or 10 aren’t included in the Medicare assessment.
“Medicare has kind of skewed the game against us a little bit,” he said. “How many events in your life do you rate a nine or 10?”
The most interesting part of the presentation came when the floor was opened up for questions. POA President Cliff Wiener reminded everyone to keep their questions on a professional level – an announcement he made more than once.
When asked about long waits in the emergency department, Henderson suggested that part of the problem revolves around snowbirds who don’t have primary care doctors here and just go to the ER when they need medical care.
That prompted one audience member to ask point-blank if there is a staffing issue at the hospital.
“The nurses will tell you there’s a staffing issue,” Henderson tersely shot back. “But the bottom line is that we’re fully staffed,” he added, as a wave of grumbling moved across the room.
At that point, Village of Alhambra resident Cindy Grillet had heard enough and stood up. She pointed out that everyone in the room – including Henderson – was well aware of the demographics in The Villages. And she also reminded him that he was the person chosen to serve that demographic – which includes snowbirds who come here every year.
Grillet said she had recently spent more than 26 hours in the emergency room waiting to be admitted to the hospital. And she said that she found it disturbing that a section of the emergency department wasn’t in use that day.
“With an entire waiting room and the emergency room hallway full – which is where I spent my first 13 hours – that entire back station was empty and non-staffed and the beds were unfilled,” she said. “So clearly there is a staffing issue, contrary to what you said.”
Grillet said residents deserve answers about the emergency department and have every right to be worried about the future as the mega-retirement community continues to add new residents.
“We are growing and you can’t serve us now,” she said. “What happens as we continue to grow?”
Sadly, Grillet and many of those in attendance at the POA meeting aren’t the only ones feeling frustrations about the care offered at their hospital. Many recent letters to the editor at Villages-News.com have expressed similar sentiments. Some of those include:
- A March 19 letter from Village of Winifred resident William Bolash asks why anyone would choose to seek care at a one-star hospital.
- A March 14 letter from Village of Orange Blossoms Gardens resident Jim Kehr details his bad experience and nurses with “snotty” attitudes.
- A March 10 letter from Village of Palo Alto resident Eileen Sullivan-Kaplan says that if improvements aren’t made, it could be time to make changes.
- A Feb. 15 letter from Village of Bridgeport at Miona Shores resident Sandra Bowman questions why she had to wait six hours in a wheelchair in the emergency department before seeing a doctor (the hospital turned to consultants late last year in an effort to cut down those wait times).
A March 21 letter from Village of Largo resident Al McGarity did offer praise for care he received at TVRH during hip replacement surgery in January. But judging by the comments we’ve heard recently – both in the meeting and out in the community – a great number of Villagers are fed up and want to see positive changes at their hospital – now!
Unfortunately, these worrisome sentiments aren’t new to The Villages. In the early- to mid-2000s – shortly after TVRH opened – many residents refused to go there and would instead travel to Gainesville, Ocala or Orlando for treatment. It would be a real shame to see this community heading in that negative direction again but that’s exactly what appears to be happening.
That said, we commend the POA for holding last week’s meeting. And we applaud POA President Cliff Wiener for vowing to bring Henderson back to a future meeting in a few months to find out if any positive changes have been made.
Like many of you, we’re extremely concerned about the health care issues plaguing our community hospital right now. And we agree that poor ratings and ridiculously long waits at the emergency department are completely unacceptable.
Because if that’s happening now, we shudder to think what things will be like on the medical front after another 50,000 homes are built here.
