Regional medical center officials silent on audit

Sue Vorenberg | The New Mexican

2/28/2008 - 2/29/08

Transparent isn't as transparent as it used to be, said Gail Williams, acting president of the Nurses Union at St. Vincent Regional Medical Center.

When she learned of a mysterious audit conducted by the hospital, Williams noted it's just another instance of staff and the public being kept out of the loop — much as they have been when hospital employees have asked for specific information on how the proposed partnership between St. Vincent and Christus Health will affect them.

"We frequently ask questions, and we don't always get answers that make sense or satisfy us," Williams said of both the partnership and the audit. "They say there's going to be complete transparency, but we don't have that. There's just a lot of questions."

Hospital management hasn't responded to requests by staff to meet with them to discuss their issues on how the agreement could affect their benefits and the rules of the system, she added.

And as for the audit, so far, all St. Vincent spokesman Arturo Delgado is willing to discuss is what it isn't.

It isn't related to the proposed partnership between the hospital and the Catholic health care organization Christus Health, he said.

"We have a process in place for regular independent audits," Delgado said in an e-mail to The New Mexican. "In this instance, as soon as the concern came to our attention, we immediately began an independent audit that is still in process. This auditing will have no impact to patients — the hospital will be operating normally."

When asked what the "concern" was, Delgado said "an accounting concern," but declined to add more information because "it's still in process."

Linda McClung, a spokeswoman for Christus, said she's aware of the audit, and it's not related to the partnership.

"We were alerted to it," McClung said. "I know that St. Vincent is conducting an audit. We trust their process. We trust they're handling it."

She also declined to say what the audit was about.

Williams said she and others are wondering about all sorts of rumors flying around
St. Vincent's explaining the audit.

She said there are also several rumors about St. Vincent chief operating officer Rick Crabtree, who Delgado said is on leave from the hospital.

Crabtree has not returned several calls for comment from The New Mexican, and Delgado will only say he's on leave.

So far, all the staff has to go on is rumors, and that's not what they want, Williams said. "There are a lot of rumors, and there don't need to be," she said. "If people would just communicate."

Contact Sue Vorenberg at svorenberg@sfnewmexican.com.