CHRISTUS:

May is Form 990 submission month for CHRISTUS Health, CHRISTUS St. Vincent Hospital, and SVH SupportCo. Request your very own copy from each organization and be the first on your block to find out how much CEO Alex Valdez made in FY2010, how much taxpayer funding contributed to the hospital’s bottom line profits, what local organizations received “community benefits” from the hospital, and how much executive compensation continued to outpace employee wage increases. The three organizations file their Form 990s to the IRS in mid-May every year and are required to respond to requests from the public in 30 days, so get your request in now. (Of course, just because they’re required to doesn’t mean they will, as evidenced by their stonewalling for 60 days last year during the nurses union contract negotiations.)

CHRISTUS St. Vincent Hospital, managed and co-owned by CHRISTUS Health, must be held accountable to Santa Fe. Despite the fact that taxpayers have provided over 12% of their total operating revenue since 2004, CSVH management has steadfastly refused to provide any accountability for those taxpayer funds. Their corporate culture is insulated by a reliance on pervasive public relations rather than candor, of stonewalling rather than transparency.

One way or another, this must change. The purpose of the A2SF Network is to empower community voices and facilitate that change. Keep up with the latest news about CHRISTUS St. Vincent here.

The A2SF network provides: 1) a community-wide Discussion Forum about CHRISTUS; and 2) individual Blog Sites that focus on specific issues or concerns. Read more …

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How Poor is CSVH Patient Satisfaction?

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Survey of Patients’ Hospital Experiences (2010 data), THE Santa Fe hospital scores less positively and more negatively on every criterion in the survey as compare to both the national averages as well as the state of New Mexico averages. More details here.