In a September letter to Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel warning about Beaumonts implosion, Shaevsky spoke of the need for independent directors to bring some stability to the organization.. The terms of the deal were so obscenely favorable to Advocate Aurora that Rep. Andy Levin, whose district includes Beaumont Royal Oak, announced he would oppose the deal. Spectrum and Beaumont are technically merging because the board of the combined companies will have near equal representation and Beaumont chair Julie Fream will serve as chair of the BHSH. Fox trumpeted the deal as a win for Southeastern Michigan because he said Advocate Aurora would invest $1 billion to move the William Beaumont Medical School in Rochester to the Royal Oak campus and upgrade Beaumonts technology. Beaumont is awaiting approval to be rescued by Spectrum Health in Grand Rapids. The financial terms of the deal will reveal whether Freese Decker is as touchy-feely as she appears or whether she can be quite ruthless when a lucrative financial opportunity presents itself. Beaumont is a crippled hospital network on management life support. With regards to healthcare, Nessel is a do-nothing attorney general who has stood idly by as Fox drove Beaumont into the ground and is expected to rubber stamp Spectrums takeover. Disgruntled Staff. Whats notable about Foxs disclosure is the seeming priorities of Spectrum compared to Advocate Aurora, the Chicago-based hospital system that Fox tried to give Beaumont away to in June 2020 under terms so obscenely favorable to Advocate Aurora, he couldnt pull it off. Under the terms of the deal Fox negotiated, Advocate Aurora would have taken over Beaumont and its $2.5 billion reserve without forking out a penny. In quickly reviewing Spectrums website and news releases, I can't find evidence that Freese Decker has expressed the belief that Spectrum needed to achieve considerable size to survive and remain competitive. Terms of the deal arent disclosed, likely because Spectrum is gaining control of Beaumont and its $3.5 billion reserve for next-to-nothing, and possibly paying nothing at all based on Foxs previous deal making. If the proposed merger goes through, seven Beaumont board members will serve on the board of the combined companies. Spectrum and Beaumont announced today that they are moving forward with Spectrums takeover, having provided the applicable regulatory agencies with all requested information. The deadline apparently has passed for the Federal Trade Commission to challenge the deal. She never followed up with a comment. A company is headquartered where the CEO is based. Beaumont Royal Oak is a Level I regional hospital, which according to the American Trauma Society means it is required to have 24/7 staffing available to provide total care for every aspect of injury from prevention through rehabilitation. Despite the pandemic, which has forced Spectrum to call for military assistance to support its flagship hospital, CEO Tina Freese Decker recently disclosed that shes been focused on integrating Spectrum and Beaumont, creating Michigans biggest hospital system as well as the biggest employer. In addition to her Beaumont debacle, theres been considerable turnover in Spectrums senior ranks, mostly women. Rather than having people speculate he was passed over, he chose to step down in advance. Among the benefits of the deal Fox trumpeted was a $1 billion commitment to move the William Beaumont School of Medicine from Oakland University to Beaumonts flagship Royal Oak campus and a significant increase in technology spending. Spectrumreportedthat Beaumonts operations already have racked up nearly $100 million in losses. As Deadline Detroit recently reported, Beaumonts once-bustling endoscopy suite, where a patient died undergoing a routine colonoscopy in January, has suffered a rash of nurse resignations and can barely operate at 50 percent capacity. Gretchen Whitmer. Spectrum spokeswoman Ellen Bristol Wednesday morning said she would look into whether a merger was imminent, seeming to indicate Deadline Detroits inquiry was the first shed heard of a potential deal. A source told me that Barbee was highly regarded among Spectrums Black employees but was frustrated by his inability to achieve meaningful change. All of Spectrums top executives are based in Grand Rapids, which is understandable since none of Foxs top lieutenants remained with the company. (Deadline Detroit art work ), Starkman: Why Tree Huggers Must Save This Small Town in Michigan From Ford, 'Detroit In Black And White:' Why We Got Kicked Off 910 AM, Randy Wimbley Leaving Fox 2 After a Decade on the Air. In a major blow to the hospital, Reza Dabir, Dearborns top cardiothoracic surgeon, resigned to join Ascension Health. Have you tried to find Beaumont Healths financial statements? Freed asks. After she announced the deal, former Spectrum CFO Michael Freed publicly alerted Spectrum's then board the deal could result in a massive financial loss.. The resignations were due to working conditions and management dissatisfaction, not Covid. . But Spectrums management is 100 percent running the show. Newsweek Ranks 3 Beaumont Hospitals Among Best in U.S. One Down, Three to Go. Spectrum was projecting a loss of $57.1 million, which also is an eye-opening surprise. Fox has blamed the pandemic for Beaumonts HR problems, but the issues predated Covid. Spectrums joint release with Beaumont says the aim of the deal is to make health care more affordable for the communities we serve. Heres my challenge to Freese Decker: For every independent study she can come up with showing where hospital mergers resulted in more affordable care, I will come up with two showing the opposite. I only see the potential for massive financial loss., Freed warns Spectrums directors: When you sign the documents that will permanently change this region, your signature will forever hold you accountable for the repercussions.. John Fox, the Atlanta carpetbagger who washed up on the shores of southeastern Michigan seven years ago to bolster Beaumont Healths profits and gussy up Metro Detroits biggest hospital network so that he could sell it, appears hes pulled off what he set out to do. One need only look at Beaumont, an amalgamation of the Beaumont Health System, Royal Oak, Oakwood Healthcare, Dearborn, and Botsford Health Care in Farmington Hills that was created in 2014. The companys chief revenue officer left earlier this month. Starkman: Electric Vehicles and the Exploitation of Michigan Taxpayers. A merger of Spectrum and Beaumont must be approved by Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, who has shown no interest in championing healthcare issues and can be counted on to rubber stamp the deal. Spectrum also is comfortable issuing misleading or deceptive statements, so culturally Beaumont is possibly a great fit. Soon after, Fox announced the Advocate Aurora deal. Most of them arent qualified to serve on the board of a major hospital company and the proof is in the Beaumont pudding. Share. Freese Decker held various strategic and operational roles before being named to the top job in 2018. The joint release promotes the benefits of Priority Health, Spectrums insurance plan. Several prominent Beaumont doctors warned the board they had serious concerns about the anesthesia outsourcing company before it took over, but Beaumonts board ignored the concerns. Freese Decker is likely assured a big pay increase and bonus. Its a no-brainer to understand why Fox desperately needs to pull off the Spectrum merger. According to an email obtained by the Detroit TV station, Beaumont transferred its Covid patients because the CEO said the hospital system was losing too much money treating them. Beaumont, consistent with its practice of putting a spin on undesirable news, notified employees that it is making "good progress" toward . Business Starkman: Bloodbath at Beaumont - COO Carolyn Wilson and Top Doctor Ousted; Chief Quality Officer Resigns Tweet Share July 22, 2021, 12:45 PM This columnist, a Los Angeles freelancer,. Starkman: Electric Vehicles and the Exploitation of Michigan Taxpayers. Meet Michael Freed, decidedly among the bravest persons in . Turns out Beaumonts reported $4 billion reserve also dwindled by the time Fox turned over the keys to Freese Decker. It should give Grand Rapids residents cold shivers that the chair of Spectrum is Julie Fream, who was vice chair of Beaumont when Fox destroyed the hospital system's once nationally vaunted reputation. To support Deadline Detroit's independent. Its almost a mantra among Beaumont Royal Oak nurses that Henry Ford treats their nurses like royalty. Beaumont has had a contentious relationship with its Royal Oak nurses for years, prompting them to try to organize a union two years ago. The nurse anesthetists at Beaumont Royal Oak, Troy and Grosse Pointe hospitals, who are critical to keeping their facilities' lucrative surgery businesses humming, are mad as hell and aren't going to take it anymore. Those workforce headwinds should have been known to Freese Decker well before she took over Beaumont. Beaumont employees and vendors are encouraged to reach out, with confidentiality assured. Meet Michael Freed, decidedly among the bravest persons in Michigan and one who acts on his conscience when it comes to protecting the health care of his hometown Grand Rapids community. If Michigan had a competent attorney general or a governor with a healthcare interest beyond abortion rights, the deal would have been derailed. Spectrum also reported that Beaumont lost $253 million on its investments. To support Deadline Detroit's independent journalism, please sign up for a $3a month membership or a one-time donation. That's bad news for Metro Detroit's biggest hospital system. By comparison, BHSH will have 22 hospitals and 64,000 employees. Another open position is the Chief Inclusion, Equity, Diversity and Social Impact Officer.. Starkman: Why Beaumont's John Fox Could Haul More Than $30 Million Back to Atlanta Tweet Share February 02, 2022, 4:58 PM Beaumont CEO John Fox The writer, a Los Angeles freelancer, is a. Eric Starkman of Los Angeles is a former Detroit News business reporter who blogs at Starkman Approved.. By Eric Starkman. Still, Beaumont is clearly going to be a financial albatross on Spectrums operations for quite some time. The insurance business is among the most profitable sectors in healthcare, but as anyone who has dealt with one of these companies know, their priority is profits, not patient care. The release, which Fream presumably signed off on, said her appointment was part of a normal governance leadership rotational process.. Marshall is big news in Michigan these days, as the state has earmarked more than $1 billion in subsidies for Ford Motor Co. to build an electric battery plant on . Fox in January also disclosed that Beaumont planned to spend significant dollars to embark on a three to five-year plan to expand the health systems private bed capacity. My sense about Spectrum is that if doctors had serious patient safety concerns and felt the need to circumvent management to get them addressed, the hospital companys board would take the matter quite seriously. Beaumont derailed the effort after spending nearly $2 million on union busters, furthering ill will among its nurses. Eric Starkman of Los Angeles is a former Detroit News business reporter who blogs at Starkman Approved. As an example of their power and influence, they have managed to derail enforcement of rules the Trump Administration issued requiring hospitals to be transparent about their prices. Board chair Fream, who holds a Harvard MBA, told The Detroit News that Beaumont's board used an "independent consultant" to determine Fox's compensation. Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel could also have moved to block the Spectrum deal or demanded certain concessions, but she has proven to be a regulatory lightweight, particularly on matters relating to healthcare. Getting more Americans vaccinated is widely believed the ticket to saving lives and preventing hospitals from being overrun with Covid patients at deaths door. Beaumont CEO Fox and COO Wilson Must Go Now! The head of Beaumonts audit committee was Julie Fream, who earlier this month became the hospital networks chair and has no auditing experience or background listed on her LinkedIn page. To support Deadline Detroit's independent. Even more disconcerting: Beaumont chairwoman Julie Fream will serve as chairwoman if the companies merge. Share. The deal, which was announced Thursday, is still subject to various regulatory approvals. Ohios AG has won a series, Today is indeed a historic day. ER sources at Royal Oak and Troy say Covid patients account for a small percentage seeking emergency treatment. A Zoom video conference call that was leaked this week among physicians and the marketing director of a North Carolina hospital involved a discussion on how to manipulate Covid patient stats to make them more scary to the public. Henry Ford also said the unvaccinated were exacerbating its staff shortages. Spectrums financial statements indicate that cash and investments from the acquisition was $3.2 billion. A hospital CEO committed to the best interests of their organization and the communities it services would typically demand a premium of one times the annual revenue, meaning Spectrum should pay nearly $5 billion to take over Beaumont. Beaumont spokesman Mark Geary ignored a request for comment. Thats how Beaumont ended up in the sorry state that it did. These contracted doctors also were responsible for setting up a Covid-19 ICU unit at Beaumont Troy. 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