Campaign under way to keep benefits at Mercy Hospital (union protest of hospital sale)

The Daily Item (Sunbury PA) ^ | 11/15/2005 | Damian Gessel

[Born Conservative]

DANVILLE (PA)— A crowd of concerned citizens and union members showed up at Geisinger's doorstep Monday to present its CEO with letters and petitions from more than 2,000 Wilkes-Barre community members, according to a Pennsylvania Health Care Union spokeswoman.

The petitions came as part of a campaign, in anticipation of Geisinger's takeover of Mercy Hospital, to lobby the health care giant to keep its employees' current contracts and maintain its level of care.

With its current contract, Mercy Hospital provides benefits for part-time workers. That may change, however, when Geisinger assumes control of the hospital.

"The union is posturing to apply pressure to accept the current contract definition, which we will not do," said Geisinger executive vice president chief operating officer Frank Trembulak Monday. The concern the union has posed is that Geisinger may be more interested in lining its pockets than in furthering the needs of those who attend and work in the hospital. In fact, that seems to be the slogan of the campaign. Press packets handed out by a union representative Monday included a flyer addressing Geisinger. They read, "Geisinger: Don't put your bottom line ahead of our community's needs." There is even a Web site dedicated to arguing the union's case: www.KeepTheMercyinMercy.com.

"Geisinger is a big business," said SEIU spokeswoman Shawn Towey, "our fear is that they're running it as a business and that they're putting the bottom line ahead of the community's needs."

Ms. Towey added, "There are a lot of workers at the hospital that are part-time and have these benefits."

Geisinger has its own ideas about the hospital's current contract, however. For one, implied Mr. Trembulak, why would Mercy be up for sale if it had run a tight ship?

When asked why Geisinger will not continue Mercy's current employee contract, Mr. Trembulak said, "It's not market competitive. It's very costly, in excess of the market. That's part of the problem. Why is Mercy looking to sell its hospital if it's thriving? We need to look at how we can revitalize this facility, stabilize it and generate business."

Besides contract negotiations, SEIU has taken Geisinger to task on other issues as well. For instance, one spokeswoman said union research has shown that in the last year Geisinger had one third the level of charity care that Mercy had. She said she was worried Geisinger would turn away a large portion of the uninsured patients Mercy has made point of taking in. Mr. Trembulak, however, said that simply would not be the case.

"The people wouldn't be turned away," he said. "A part of our charitable mission is to take anyone who presents themselves for care. We would do the same thing at Mercy. My view is that we would take uninsured patients in to a greater extent than has been carried on here."

Said Mr. Trembulak, "In fiscal year 2004, our community and public support totaled about $136 million dollars— significantly more than Mercy has accrued." The official did admit, however, that the figure encompassed all of Geisinger's campuses.

Union officials are also worried that Geisinger may close its acute-care facilities, including its ER.

"Geisinger up to now has been very vague and not willing to commit to keeping the hospital open as an acute-care full service hospital," said Ms. Towey.

Mr. Trembulak again denied the assertion.

"We've said from the very beginning that we will maintain emergency services," he said, noting that ER, outpatient services and acute care would remain at Mercy. He did note, though, that there may be some changes in the services the hospital offers, depending on several factors.

"What we've been vague about has been what acute-care services will remain. We're trying to define how we revitalize and stabilize the acute-care facilities. There have been significant declines in work-force numbers from three years ago. We're looking to rebuild that."

Mr. Trembulak said officials are working with hospital staff to determine what warrants keeping and what may not.

But though they have not yet come to a compromise, both sides said strike has not yet been brought up in conversation.

"We're not talking about it. We hope we won't have to talk about it. We're not at that point," said Ms. Towey.

Said Mr. Trembulak, "We hope we don't get to that point."

The sale of Mercy Hospital to Geisinger was officially announced at the end of June.

[Born Conservative]

"Geisinger is a big business," said SEIU spokeswoman Shawn Towey, "our fear is that they're running it as a business and that they're putting the bottom line ahead of the community's union's needs."