Measure G - Valley Health System

Measure G is the voter initiative to decide if Valley Health System should sell its hospitals to Select Healthcare of Del Mar.

Now that the vote is set for November 6, signs are being posted all across the district boundaries, particularly in Hemet where the situation with Hemet Valley Medical Center appears bleak.

Today, the Valley Chronicle reports that Valley Health System board Chairman Patrick Searl warned voters that if they DON'T approve Measure G, the emergency room at Hemet Valley may have to shut down due to dwindling finances...

http://www.thevalleychronicle.com/..../01ner.txt

The same article goes on to report that the Hemet City Council voted unanimously to support Measure G.

The Press Enterprise reported today that a group called "Hospital Defense League" has filed a lawsuit to block the sale. They're concern is that Dr. Kali P. Chaudhuri, the guy who runs the company that manages the three district hospitals, is working behind the scenes with Select Healthcare to become its future owner...

http://www.pe.com/....Local_H_measure28.3daecd4.html

A lot of people are, in fact, in agreement with the Hospital Defense League, and is the basis of their opposition to Measure G. They go on to explain that Chaudhuri's company is what created the big financial mess that the three hospitals are in, and that Chaudhuri is the mastermind behind the sale.

Interestingly, Valley Health System itself, is a 50% owner in the same company that Chaudhuri operates. While I'm not putting any support in Chaudhuri, I still find it hard to point all the blame on him. I feel that Valley Health System is also to blame for the mess these hospitals are in.

I want to also direct your attention to some very insightful comments posted on an earlier article of ours, which highlights the situation with Chaudhuri....

http://www.menifee247.com/....center-goes-to.htm#comments

Chaudhuri orchestrated the Valley Health System’s Board to sell the three district hospitals to Select Healthcare that has no track record of operating hospitals. Board of Directors, Darren Magness is Chaudhuri’s henchman and Dr. William Cherry is a full time employee of Dr. Chaudhuri’s related company.

As for each of you voters reading this, I hope I've presented some arguments in favor of, and against Measure G. There seems to be two major issues going on...

• The three hospitals are NOW providing service at an unacceptable level. Conditions are already bad. Valley Health System failed to operate these hospitals profitably. You can blame this on Chaudhuri's poor management, but I think Valley Health System itself is also to blame, being the 50% owner of Chaudhuri's company.



• The sale of these hospitals may very well end up becoming owned by Chaudhuri. Since none of us really know if that's true, it's just speculation. But for the sake of argument, let assume it's true. If the sale were to fail, then what's the alternative? Valley Health System cannot operate these hospitals, and many voters like myself are not willing to pay for bonds that will allow fiscal irresponsibility to fester.

For the future, if Chaudhuri were to become the owner of Menifee Valley Medical Center, and if Chaudhuri were to continue running it into the ground, then it simply opens up an opportunity for other companies to build competing hospitals.

The demand for quality healthcare already has Menifee residents flocking to Inland Valley Medical Center. That sends a signal to other companies that there is a demand to exploit. No matter what becomes of Chaudhuri, the approval of Measure G lets all healthcare companies know that Southwest County wants better service.