a corporate healthcare tale

I worked as a medical technologist for 41 years.  My hire date with Parkview Hospital was August 7, 1977, three months after graduation from UTCHS in Memphis.  We were a family so to speak.  Lab people took call after 3PM and on weekends because, well.  There was no instant anything.  We did EKG and blood gases as well which was shortly turned over to the respiratory therapy department.  Our automated chemistry analyzer ran once a day and the rest was tube boiling and spectrophotometer plus some manual math. Gawd, it was rough but it was kinda' sorta' normal for a rural hospital in the late seventies.  

In the early 80s Methodist Health Systems and Baptist were in a pissing match to buy up the feeders all along Highway 51.  Methodist paid 10M over market price and the county government took the highest offer.  MHS also bought six other rural West TN facilities at the same time.  The majority of employees and physicians supported a Baptist sale but we were not heard, even after we all showed up at the courthouse for the hearing.  Money talks.  Supposedly the proceeds from the sale were put in reserve for indigent care.  I am currently searching to see what happened to that money.

Eventually the "vision" of MHS changed from rural healthcare to a partnership with UT Memphis for transplant services.  That was when they sold ALL of us to Community Health Systems.  CHS was on a roll then buying up little places and they were doing well until a big merger with HMA.  Stock dropped from sixty bucks to the current 2 and some change.  The merger involved a lot of money posted by a hedge fund.  Right after I retired the facility and all practices were bought by West Tennessee Healthcare.  A feeder for Jackson, so to speak.

Union City is still a Baptist facility, the only surviving one outside of the Memphis metro area.  It is about the same distance as driving to Jackson for what that's worth.  As for me, I just want to be treated well by people who care.  My PCP is amazing and very overworked.  Says he can't afford to retire.  I know the feeling buddy.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it ^j^