Amid reports of an FBI probe and now news of improper disclosures of patient health data by its parent organization, Encino Hospital Medical Center management is trying to do something quite mundane: negotiate a new 3-year contract with the hospital union. But when it comes to Prime Healthcare Services, which has owned Encino since 2008, nothing is simple. And neither are these contract talks. Back in December, 15 months into ongoing negotiations, Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers (SEIU-UHW) floated a most unusual proposal: a whistleblower clause to protect workers who speak up against management. The union called it an “innovative set of proposals,” and for good measure, threw in a pitch to create a wellness program to educate hospital employees about how to stay healthy. But why the need for an education campaign targeting these particular workers who presumably already know about such things? And why the need for a whistleblower clause? State and federal law already protect employees from being fired for speaking out against management or reporting wrongdoing, said Richard Rosenberg, partner at Glendale-based Ballard Rosenberg Golper & Savitt, LLP. Nevertheless, SEIU pressed its case, issuing a press release that reiterates a litany of wrongdoing by Prime. Management called the proposal a headline grab. “Both state and federal laws offer more protection for whistleblowers than this union is proposing,” said Encino President Robert Bills. “It’s clearly a publicity stunt.” Rosenberg agrees that SEIU’s pitch is little more than an attempt to get attention. And yet, Encino’s parent, Prime Healthcare, seems to have blurred the lines of good behavior one too many times. For that reason, one has to at least question management’s side in this dispute. California Watch, an investigative journalism group, has extensively chronicled Prime Healthcare’s questionable billing practices. In December, the organization reported that employees at a Prime facility — Shasta Regional Medical Center — were told by management to bill Medicare for a disease rarely seen outside developing countries —kwashiorkor, a kind of malnutrition. The implication was that Prime is making its money by billing for expensive and non-existent illnesses. According to California Watch, the FBI is now investigating. There’s more. The Los Angeles Times reported earlier this month that Shasta executives had shared a patient’s name and medical record with local newspaper reporters and editors in Shasta County, ostensibly to clear their name. If this is true, as Times Columnist Michael Hiltzik wrote, Prime should be subject to investigation for violation of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, which prohibits sharing of medical records with any third party without a patient’s clear consent. So what does all this have to do with contract talks at Encino? According to SEIU, maybe more than one would think. Citing California Watch reports as proof that Prime shouldn’t be trusted, the union says it pushed for the whistleblower proposal because its employees are concerned about patient safety. They claim that a 35-year veteran of Encino — health care worker Pat Aguirre — lost her job because she testified before Attorney General Kamala D. Harris against Prime Healthcare. “I was fired for speaking out,” Aguirre said. “We would like to avoid that from happening.” Bills says Aguirre’s claim is “absolutely false…She was fired because she lied to two human resources people about confidential information that she was requesting,” he said. As for the whistleblower provision, management says it’s just meant to fan the flames while the union stalls at coming to terms. Bills concedes that turnover may have led to some mistrust in the past, but relations have improved. “I’d be hard pressed to find any group inside who would not trust senior managemen here,” he said Both sides have a point. Regardless, Prime, its hospitals, employees and patients are already in a mess. If an FBI probe leads to another by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the result is a demand by CMS to give back overpayments— as Sherman Oaks-based Payers and Providers Publisher Ron Shinkman recently noted — Prime will have not just a publicity, but a deep financial problem. And that certainly won’t bode well for Encino’s workers who deserve a decent wage and a contract that could be a model for other upcoming negotiations with Kaiser Permanente and Catholic Healthcare West, both with a presence in the Valley. The stakes are high for both the union and the management. It’s time for cooler heads to prevail and for both sides stop issuing press releases and start coming up with solutions. Staff Reporter Judy Temes can be reached at (818) 316-3124 or at [email protected].
Whistleblower Law, FBI Probe Cloud Contract Talks
