June 26, 2023 – “Service Employees International Union Local 521 accuses the Kern County Hospital Authority of overpaying two private consulting firms by some $23 million during the last four years, then taking steps afterward to shield the payments from public scrutiny.
The union says it has asked for, but never received, a detailed explanation for the retroactive contract increase beyond a statement by Kern Medical CEO Scott Thygerson that all the disputed payments to CMG were made in accordance with the terms of payment for services rendered.”
Read more here.
June 28, 2023 – “A nine-page report from the union, obtained by Becker’s, alleges the hospital failed to disclose management compensation accurately, failed to properly correct the issue when notified, and attempted to conceal this failed disclosure from the public.”
Read more here.
April 19, 2023 – “The union alleges the authority overpaid [$23 million to the] two contracting firms who help manage the hospital… The union argues that money could have been used to recruit much-needed staff.”
Read more here.
April 19, 2023 – “The short-staffed and exhausted safety net hospital workers demand answers on how the Kern County Hospital Authority overpaid the firm employing hospital administrators by $23 million and why it cannot provide an explanation or why there’s no investigation.”
Read the press release here.
March 5, 2023 – “The Kern County Hospital Authority board did a do-over last month. Members held a ‘special’ meeting to make up for the one where the public was illegally locked out.
It may have seemed to some to be a magnanimous, inclusionary gesture by the board. In fact, members had broken the state’s open-meeting law that allows public attendance. They had to hold a do-over meeting.”
Read more here.
February 15, 2023 – “A former Kern Medical employee who was a 2020 Kern County Nurse of the Year honoree is now no longer allowed to step foot at Kern Medical.”
DEVELOPMENT June 8, 2023 – Chris has been returned shortly after this article broke news, but he has been assigned a non-emergency room position. He is still requesting to be returned to the trauma floor where his skills and leadership can develop Kern Medical staff and improve patient care.
Read more here.
July 19, 2022 – “Although the Ambulatory Surgical Center (ACS) was created to provide ambulatory surgeries, it’s also providing ’boutique spa services and cosmetic surgeries’ to residents outside of the county ‘at the expense of investments that could improve the quality of care provided to indigent residents’ the lawsuit charges.
Read more here.
September 28, 2013 – “Audits showed that KMC’s chronic money problems ranged from handling petty cash to a patient billing system riddled with bad data to an inmate care program where staff overcalculated what the hospital was owed in a single year by $6 million.
But this time the cost of the mistakes is a gut-wrenching $64 million. (The county’s 2013-2014 budget totals $2.6 billion).”
Read more here.
