Figures released this past week indicate that Southern Ohio Medical Center (SOMC) is one of the worst hospitals to be taken to if you are suffering a heart attack. SOMC is ranked as one the worst hospitals in the nation from the period of July 2005 through June 2006. SOMC Chief Operating Officer Randy Arnett says this information is not accurate because the information submitted is from the United States Medicare/Medicaid Programs. Well the information is from the months indicated so it is information from cases within the last twenty four months and that is pretty good for government work.
Remember this is just for heart attack patients. The big problem is the rest of the patients. How many people have had family members taken to SOMC only to be told the patient was transferred to another hospital out of the area for "better treatment"? This is the norm for any patient that has serious medical needs. SOMC doesn't have competent doctors to handle tough cases.
Remember this is just for heart attack patients. The big problem is the rest of the patients. How many people have had family members taken to SOMC only to be told the patient was transferred to another hospital out of the area for "better treatment"? This is the norm for any patient that has serious medical needs. SOMC doesn't have competent doctors to handle tough cases.
Many of our qualified doctors have left the area claiming that SOMC is not willing to pay a competitive salary because SOMC CEO Randy Arnett is willing to pay less money to foreign doctors willing to come to Portsmouth for lower salaries. This has a direct impact on patient care. Patients are being treated by low paid doctors who may not be able to find work in other hospitals across the nation.
While CEO Randy Arnett is unwilling to pay high wages for quality doctors he seems to be doing quite well for his personal bank account. The salary ranges for hospital CEO's in the State of Ohio was a low of $105,542 through a high of $2.14 million. (This includes salary and benefits.) The average salary for all CEO's was $474,167.00. SOMC CEO Randy Arnett was paid $513,220 as of June 2005 with a whopping 28.1% increase in his pay.
Can anyone tell me where a CEO who has their hospital ranked in the bottom of the country in medical care for patients receiving a 28.1% pay increase?? What's wrong with this picture??
SOMC is a major player in the Southern Ohio Growth Partnership Gang (SOGP)! These two organizations work hand in hand putting their people to work in high salary jobs while floating millions of dollars in tax moneys through their organizations. This is white collar crime at its best!
The best thing to happen for patients is the arrival of Kings Daughter Hospital to the area. Maybe this hospital will put patient care first and CEO Randy Arnett and SOMC can fold up shop! Maybe Kings Daughter Hospital will higher qualified American doctors to take care of the patients and forbid the highering of foreign nationals just looking for American paychecks with no regard for the patients actual health care.
The report speaks for itself. SOMC stinks! The following was written in an article for USA Today!
"A look at how medical centers across the USA rate
These hospitals made the government's roster of the best and worst in America, as measured by patients' heart-attack and heart-failure death rates in 2005 and 2006. Hospitals that were worse than the national average for patient heart-attack mortality:
• Sparks Regional Medical Center, Fort Smith, Ark.
• Yuma Regional Medical Center, Yuma, Ariz.
• Kingman Regional Medical Center, Kingman, Ariz.
• SVCMC-Catholic Medical Center of Brooklyn-Queens, New York City
• Southern Ohio Medical Center, Portsmouth, Ohio
• Christus St. Michael Health System, Texarkana, Texas
• Danville Regional Medical Center, Danville, Va.
SOMC is the only hospital in Ohio performing so poorly in heart attack and heart failure results – the most common cause of death."
Do you feel safe taking your family member to SOMC now?????
John Welton (DD)
