By Mary Blyth Jones
Coalinga Press
Coalinga Regional Medical center has been through the wringer lately. With financial woes and struggling staff, when former CEO Sharon Spurgeon retired, Wayne C. Allen was hired to head the flailing health provider.
Admidst a flurry of town hall forums, meetings, and searching through the books of CRMC, Allen reported that the facility would be closing its doors until such time as when some other entity could manage to financially secure services while the institution struggled to regain its footing.
When word of CRMC’s imenent closure and deep debts, nursing registries who had not been paid in half a year and other vendors pulled services and employees from the site.
in a matter of weeks, nearly the entire facility had shut down. The skilled nursing sites still cared for the few patients still housed there, but all other departments were, for al intents, cloed. The Rural Health Clinic is still open as well.
CEO Allen kept a positive outlook, offering the assurance that he felt he would have a positive announcement to make by the end of the month, at the latest.
So it was not much of a surprise for those who were already familier with Allen and the way he works, to hear that a management group is planning to take over CRMC.
American Advance Management Group which has already absorbed the management of four flailing hospitals in California has agreed to join the team in coalinga, managing the details of the business at CRMC.
AAMG already manages Central Valley Specialty Hospital (Modesto), Glenn Medical Center (WIllows), and Colusa Medical Center. All three medical facilities were in similar financial situations as CRMC but are now thriving under the management of AAMG.
One thing that sets the group apart, says Robert Salas, of AAMG, is that all the members of leadership are medical professionals themselves, who understand the intricacies of the medical business.
The group depends on creative outlooks to be resourceful in providing highly demanded services such as “sub-acute” care instead of the typical skilled nursing levels provided in skilled nursing facilities.
The group reportedly opened such a wing in another facility and before it even opened for patients, there were an additional 40 individuals already on the waiting list to receive care there.
“Many patients are being sent all the way to Arizona for this type of care,” said Salas. “We can meet their needs right here.”
The group plans to hire as many local individuals as they can because this proves to be the best way to have a facility thrive.
“When they have skin in the game, everyone works just a little more to make sure it works,” said Salas.
AAMG will assume none of the former debt incurred by CRMC. That debt is still the responsibility of the local hospital and its clients to pay off.
AAMG does not charge for its services but collects from the profits produced by the facility. They are convinced that with proper management, a strong staff, and excellent skills and practices, the Coalinga facility can and will once more be successful and financially stable.
The hopspital board approved of this joint venture, and all are poised to join the team. it is only technical details from the state which are in the way of this project starting.
AAMG plans to host job fairs and plans to re-open the facility in 45 – 60 days. Former employees and those who left in good standing will be given priority consideration when hiring begins.
More information will be forthcoming as it become available.