Golden Valley Health Centers to create ombudsman program for staff

Golden Valley Health Centers’ board of directors is reviewing recent allegations from staff members and will create an ombudsman program to build trust within the organization, according to a statement released Wednesday.

It was the board’s first public response since staffers aired complaints in recent weeks about the new management of Golden Valley. The nonprofit health centers provide medical and dental care and behavioral health services to 100,000 patients in Stanislaus and Merced counties. Chief Executive Officer Tony Weber, who took over in May, has come under fire from the staff, and at least three key staff members have been terminated.

A nine-member board headed by Chairman John Price of Merced oversees the health clinics.

In Wednesday’s statement, the board addressed one bone of contention: that health care providers were ordered to increase the number of patients they see in the clinics. “Any statement that our organization is overloading medical providers with patients is inaccurate and misleading,” the board said. “We have not increased the number of patients seen by our doctors beyond our historic guideline of 24 per day and have not implemented any policies to do so.”

Such a policy is a central issue in former chief medical officer Silvia Diego’s wrongful-termination lawsuit filed against Golden Valley last week.

Diego said Weber pushed a plan in the fall to increase the number of patients seen at the clinics and outlined the directive in an email. When she advised Weber to slow down and allow doctors to prepare, the CEO gave them two weeks, Diego said, adding that additional patients were scheduled after she was fired.

Her departure in November and recent medical leaves have left some clinics short on health care providers and made it difficult to accept new patients, Diego and a current staff member said. Golden Valley confirmed it placed a 30-day hold last week on scheduling new patients, except for expectant mothers and newborns, because it does not have the provider capacity. The temporary hold will be re-evaluated in mid-January.

With almost 2 million people enrolled in Medi-Cal during the first enrollment blitz of the Affordable Care Act, safety-net providers such as Golden Valley are under pressure to serve new patients, most of whom will be placed in managed-care networks.

Weber has been harried by complaint letters to the board, suggesting he has created an environment in which employees fear retaliation if they express themselves. Wednesday’s statement said the board remains committed to its executive management team and other hardworking employees, as well as to the mission to improve the health of patients and provide services to local residents regardless of language, financial or cultural barriers.

The board called on staff members to communicate concerns in a constructive manner. “It is unfortunate that certain individuals have attempted to disrupt the operations of our organization,” the board said, adding that any attempts by current and former employees to disrupt operations are harmful to the vulnerable populations that rely on the clinics.

“We will use legal recourse where necessary to enforce our rights and preserve the good name and reputation of GVHC,” the statement said.

The board will appoint an ombudsman to consider complaints from inside the organization. That program is in early stage of development and a person to serve as ombudsman has not been chosen.

Liza Pham, a Golden Valley pediatrician who criticized Weber in open letters to the board, commended the board members for considering issues raised by the staff. She said the board was starting to take the right steps and added that there is abundant evidence to support Diego’s lawsuit.

This story was originally published December 25, 2014 at 12:39 PM with the headline "Golden Valley Health Centers to create ombudsman program for staff."