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Archive for the ‘Layoffs’ Category

π-yush ‘slash and burn’ tactics reminiscent of first LSU Pres. Gen. Sherman’s March to the Sea–but without the charisma; 600 jobs, 50 beds to be cut at Interim LSU Hospital in N.O.

Posted in Boards, Budget, Governor's Office, Health Care, Higher Education, Jobs, Layoffs, Legislature, Legislators, LSU, Privatization, Public Records, RFP, Request for Proposals, State Agencies, Teague, Transparency on September 9, 2012| 4 Comments »

LouisianaVoice has learned that Gov. Piyush Jindal, through the LSU Board of Supervisors, is planning to lay off up to 600 people at the Interim LSU Public Hospital in New Orleans within the next few weeks in a move that will further reduce access to health care for Louisiana’s indigent population.

The action also would mean the loss of about 50 of the facility’s 201 beds.

The layoffs were mentioned by Dr. Frank Opelka, recently appointed to replace Dr. Fred Cerise as head of LSU’s health care system, during last week’s meeting of the Board of Supervisors. Though he said he would be accelerating the cuts that Dr. Cerise and Dr. Roxane Townsend had developed in an effort to mitigate negative impacts, Opelka never mentioned any numbers and apparently no one on the Jindal-dominated board, thought, or wanted to ask.

Nor did any board members inquire as to the impact the cutbacks would have on the ability to continue to provide health care to indigent residents and neither was the question raised as to how the action might affect some 300 residents who train at the facility.

The Interim LSU Public Hospital presently employs about 2100 persons, meaning that about 24 percent of the facility’s personnel and 25 percent of its beds will be lost.

Last Friday, Robert Barish, chancellor of LSU Health Shreveport, notified his faculty and staff that the LSU Board had approved a resolution authorizing the LSU Health Sciences Center in Shreveport and the Health Care Service Division to issue a request for proposals (RFP) “for the purpose of exploring public-private partnerships for the LSUGSC-S affiliated hospitals, namely the LSU Medical Center in Shreveport, the E.A. Conway Medical Center in Monroe and the Huey P. Long Medical Center in Pineville/Alexandria.”

Consideration of that resolution was not added to the board’s agenda until late Thursday and the board subsequently amended the wording to include “each of the hospitals in Health Care Services Division.”

That amendment to include “each of the hospitals in Health Care Services Division,” while largely ignored and not discussed at all, is key in that it means that “every hospital within the LSU System is now on the table for privatization,” as one observer put it.

“Shreveport is moving faster but they are just the first,” he said. “The dismantling of indigent care will now occur much more quickly and more broadly.”

The resolution says, “The President shall have the discretion to authorize the release of the Request for Proposal and to accept the proposal that he deems in the best interest of the university.”

It did not specify if that would be current Interim President William Jenkins or his successor, recently rumored to be Steve Moret, current Secretary of the Louisiana Department of Economic Development.

Administration officials and LSU Board members have denied that the fix is in for Moret to become the next president. Jenkins said it would be ridiculous to hire a consultant to conduct a national search if the decision had already been made.

The layoff plan is the latest example of the slash and burn tactics employed by Piyush in his zeal to cut health care services to the poor while at the same time dismantling the teaching hospitals that currently serve about 200 LSU and 100 Tulane University medical students.

Beginning with the firing of LSU President John Lombardi last April, Jindal, through his hand-picked Board of Supervisors, has fired or reassigned Drs. Cerise and Townsend and LSU System General Counsel Ray Lamonica.

At the same time, he has implemented severe cutbacks at Lallie Kemp Regional Medical Center in Tangipahoa Parish and at LSU Hospital in Bogalusa—cutbacks that have adversely affected the availability to provide care in the areas of oncology, gynecology, disease management and pediatrics and the loss of up to 150 jobs at Lallie Kemp. Jindal also announced the closure of Southeast Louisiana Hospital in Mandeville, beginning next month, a move that will leave the entire southeastern section of Louisiana without state mental health treatment centers.

The most incredulous statement to come out of all this is that of Jindal spokesman Kyle Plotkin who, when asked whether Piyush was involved in Cerise’s firing, said, “That’s a decision for the board and the LSU System president.”

But almost as puzzling is the deafening quiet from members of the legislature whose constituents—both health care providers and their patients—stand to be negatively impacted by the recent chain of events.

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What happens when a dictator gains control over education, health care, legislators? Ask Gov. π-yush, campaign donors

Posted in ALEC, American Legislative Exchange Council, Contract, Contracts, Education, Ethics, Governor's Office, Health Care, Higher Education, House, Senate, Layoffs, Legislature, Legislators, LSU, OGB, Office of Group Benefits, ORM, Office of Risk Management, Privatization, Transparency on September 7, 2012| 6 Comments »

Let the dismantling begin.

The LSU Board of Supervisors, packed with 11 of its 15 members who contributed an aggregate of more than $225,900 to Gov. Piyush Jindal’s political campaigns, voted Friday to take the first official step toward what will likely become the complete destruction of the LSU Health System.

The board, which since April has fired, demoted or reassigned LSU President John Lombardi, health system head Dr. Fred Cerise, Interim LSU Public Hospital CEO Roxanne Townsend and LSU System General Counsel Ray Lamonica, voted on Friday to authorize LSU hospitals in Shreveport, Monroe and Alexandria to develop requests for proposals (RFPs) for public-private partnerships for the three hospitals.

Jindal has already slashed $14 million in appropriations for Lallie Kemp Regional Medical Center in Tangipahoa Parish. That represents nearly 35 percent of the facility’s total budget and will mean the loss of surgery, cardiology and ICU services and dramatic cuts to oncology, gynecology and disease management as well as up to 150 staff members who stand to lose their jobs.

Additionally, the LSU Hospital in Bogalusa had its budget cut by $3 million, forcing the facility to close several clinics and to absorb pediatrics into primary care.

In Mandeville, Southeast Louisiana Hospital is slated for closure beginning next month, leaving the Florida parishes, Orleans, Jefferson, St. Bernard and Plaquemines parishes with no state mental health treatment centers.

W.O. Moss Regional Medical Center in Lake Charles also was designated for massive budget cuts and University Medical Center (UMC) in Lafayette was earmarked for $4.2 million in cuts but Jindal said the LSU plan would “protect critical services.

In an apparent effort to head off employee protests, UMC administrator Larry Dorsey notified employees not to attend a public rally—on or off the clock—protesting the cutbacks subject to disciplinary measures. That email was in stark violation of state civil service rules which specifically allow employees to attend such rallies as long as it is on their own time.

The Shreveport Times Friday morning published a story saying that LSU System supervisors would vote later in the day on beginning the process to develop RFPs on public-private hospital partnerships for hospitals in Shreveport, Monroe and Alexandria.

LSU Health spokesperson Sally Croom said the resolution, which was not added to the board’s agenda until Thursday, apparently after Lamonica was forced to resign as general counsel, and after the reassignment of Townsend, would give officials authority to develop an RFP.

Late Friday, as has become the custom of the administration, the announcement was formally made. Robert Barish, chancellor of LSU Health Shreveport, notified “faculty, staff and friends” by memorandum.

“As promised, I wanted to update you on the most recent activity regarding our continuing efforts to ensure a successful future for LSU Health Shreveport in the wake of the federal cuts to Louisiana’s Medicaid budget,” he said. “As you might recall, we were asked to explore several approaches to address the continuing budget challenges or our hospital system.

“Today, the LSU Board of Supervisors authorized us to explore public-private partnerships for our three hospitals. It is important to note that this is being done to see how collaboration with other hospitals might look and whether this may be a workable option.

“We will follow the Board instructions to explore this option, which is among several we are looking at during this fact-finding process. We have been looking at other hospitals which have faced similar situations successfully.

“We are committed to a thorough fact-finding process and exploring possibilities that would ensure continuation of our important missions of education, patient care and research.

“I will keep you updated as more information becomes available.”

It was not immediately known if similar messages were sent to employees of the facilities in Monroe and Alexandria.

The resolution passed by the board said:

• BE IT RESOLVED by the Board of Supervisors of Louisiana State University that LSU Health Sciences Center Shreveport and Health Care Services Division are hereby authorized to develop and seek a Request for Proposal for the purpose of exploring public private partnerships for the LSUHSC-S affiliated hospitals, namely the LSU Medical Center in Shreveport, the E.A. Conway Medical Center in Monroe and the Huey P. Long Medical Center in Pineville/Alexandria and each of the hospitals in Health Care Services Division; and

• BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this is necessary for identifying potential partners and long-term strategies which may help ensure the organization’s clinical services and financial stability in light of budgetary challenges caused by the recent decrease in federal Medicaid funding; and

• BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the authority to seek a Request for Proposal does not mandate the Request for Proposal be released, nor does it mandate a proposal be accepted should one be released. The President shall have the discretion to authorize the release of the Request for Proposal and to accept the proposal that he deems in the best interest of the university.”

So, there you have it. A figurehead president brought out of retirement to replace a president who had a bad habit of being candid and outspoken is given the final authority to release the RFP and to accept the proposal “that he deems in the best interest of the university.”

What are the odds that this interim president and his hand-picked board will take any action, up and including taking a bathroom break without the approval of Piyush Jindal?

We already have more than sufficient evidence that Jindal is rapidly moving toward successfully destroying public health care in Louisiana. The closure of Charity Hospital in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina, though nearly three years before he came to power, lay the groundwork for his later actions.

The federal government’s decision to slash Louisiana’s Medicaid appropriation by more than $572 million—along with state cuts of $287 million, bringing the total loss of funding to $859 million—simply gave him a convenient opportunity to accelerate a program he already had in place.

One need only look at what Jindal has done to higher education and public education to see a dangerous trend of cutbacks in crucial public services. His obsession with granting tax exemptions totaling $5 billion a year for corporate donors, transferring funds from parish school boards to private, for-profit schools, and forcing state colleges and universities to increase tuition to cover budgetary cuts has put the state on a dangerous collision course with fiscal reality that will remain long after Jindal has moved on to a cabinet position or in pursuit of higher office.

Jindal won’t be around to answer for his policies…but 144 legislators will be.

And so will Louisiana voters.

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New LSU teaguing by π-yush may be imminent; Raymond Lamonica rumored on way out as System general counsel

Posted in BESE, Commissions, Education, Governor's Office, Higher Education, House, Senate, Layoffs, Legislature, Legislators, LSU, OGB, Office of Group Benefits, Politicians, Regents, Teague, Transparency on September 4, 2012| 5 Comments »

Reports out of the State Capitol on Tuesday has yet another state employee about to become a victim of the ongoing Piyush Purge.

LouisianaVoice has learned of plans by the administration to fire LSU System Office General Counsel Raymond Lamonica.

If true, Lamonica would be the third LSU official to be teagued by Jindal in less than six months. System President John Lombardi was fired in April by the LSU Board of Supervisors acting on directions from the governor and last month, Dr. Fred Cerise, head of the LSU health care system similarly dismissed.

Reached at home Tuesday, Lamonica acknowledged that he had heard the reports but had no additional comment. “Not yet, anyway,” he added.

Lamonica was appointed as United States attorney for the middle district of Louisiana in 1986 by President Ronald Reagan. President Bill Clinton appointed L.J. Hymel to replace him in 1994. Prior to that, Lamonica worked as executive counsel to Gov. Dave Treen.

If the reports are accurate, Lamonica would be only the latest in a growing line of rank and file state employees, agency directors and cabinet secretaries who Jindal has either fired outright or, in the case of two legislators, demoted from committee assignments.

Besides members of board and commissions who are routinely replaced by governors with political allies and campaign contributors, Jindal has replaced, in order:

• March of 2008—Louisiana Highway Safety Commission Executive Director Jim Champagne, who opposed Jindal’s campaign promise to repeal the motorcycle helmet law;

• September of 2008—Department of Social Services Secretary Ann Williamson, after criticism of shelter conditions following Hurricane Gustav and problems with a post-storm food stamp program;

• June of 2009—Board of Elementary and Secondary Education member Tammie McDaniel, after she disagreed with some of the administration’s public education policies;

• October 2009—Melody Teague, a social services grant reviewer, after testifying in opposition to Jindal’s plan to streamline government;

• February 5, 2010—Department of Transportation and Development Secretary William Ankner, after a company that contributed $11,000 to Jindal’s campaign was awarded a $60 million highway contract despite not having the low bid;

• August 13, 2010—State Alcohol and Tobacco Control Secretary Murphy Painter, after being accused of sexual harassment and fired after rejecting a permit application to SMG, the New Orleans Superdome management company, that would allow Budweiser to erect a large tent and signage in Champions Square. Budweiser had offered $300,000 to the Louisiana Stadium and Exposition District to sponsor the tent for tailgating parties at Saints home games;

• April of 2011—Office of Group Benefits (OGB) Director Tommy Teague (husband of Melody Teague), after failing to display sufficient enthusiasm over Jindal’s plans to privatize his agency;

• June of 2011—Tommy Teague’s successor Scott Kipper, after apparently irritating his boss, Commissioner of Administration Paul Rainwater over the number of OGB employees he would recommend to be laid off;

• March of 2012—Office of Elderly Affairs Executive Director Mary Manuel, after testifying she was never informed of Jindal’s plans to move her agency from the governor’s office to the Department of Health and Hospitals;

• March of 2012—State Rep. Harold Richie (D-Bogalusa), demoted from his vice-chairmanship of the House Committee on Insurance after voting against a tax rebate for those who donate money for scholarships (vouchers) to private and parochial schools;

• April of 2012—LSU System President John Lombardi, after publicly criticizing massive budget cuts imposed on higher education by Jindal;

• June of 2012—Secretary of Revenue Cynthia Bridges after it became obvious that an alternative fuel tax credit law signed by Jindal which granted tax credits for the purchase of certain fuel-efficient automobiles would cost the state upwards of $100 million;

• June of 2012—State Rep. Jim Morris (R-Oil City), was removed from his vice-chairmanship of the House Natural Resources and Environment Committee after resisting efforts by Jindal to use one-time money to fund recurring expenses in the state’s General Budget;

• August of 2012—Dr. Fred Cerise, head of the LSU health care system, after criticizing Jindal budget cuts which gutted the LSU medical system of hundreds of millions of dollars.

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Piyush purge continues; head of LSU medical system is latest to be teagued for unpardonable sin of thinking for himself

Posted in Boards, Governor's Office, Health Care, House, Senate, Layoffs, Legislature, Legislators, LSU on August 24, 2012| 16 Comments »

Add another name to the growing list of state employees teagued by Gov. Piyush Jindal.

This time it was Dr. Fred Cerise, head of the LSU health care system who was canned by this egomaniacal little man who simply cannot tolerate any subordinate who thinks or acts for himself.

It’s not as if LSU’s statewide system of hospitals and clinics which served the dual purpose of providing of healthcare for the poor and as teaching hospitals for medical students had not already been dealt crushing blows from devastating cutbacks.

And it’s not as if Jindal hasn’t gained complete control of the LSU Board of Supervisors, appointing all but one of its members and firing President John Lombardi earlier this year.

This egocentric governor must lie awake at night thinking of new ways he can consolidate absolute power in the name of all that’s good and wholesome. He must salivate when he thinks of another employee he can fire and the higher position his latest victim holds, the more titillating it must be for Piyush.

So, of course, when Cerise criticized Piyush budget cuts which gutted the LSU medical system of hundreds of millions of dollars, he had to go.

It was not a matter of whether or not he or Lombardi, or Office of Group Benefits former director Tommy Teague or anyone else was doing a good job; it was a question of blind, unquestioning subservience to sanctimonious Pope Piyush the Perfect. Fail that test, and you’re history.

Not even members of the legislature are immune to his wrath. Two crossed him and promptly were removed from their committee assignments.

Speaking of the legislature, isn’t it about time those 144 representatives and senators grew a collective spine and stood up to this Huey Long reincarnate? Wouldn’t there be some merit to being a member of a House or Senate that could truly call itself independent as opposed to simply existing to serve the whims of a power-mad, self-righteous narcissist?

It wasn’t enough that Jindal purged his administration of yet another person capable of being something more than just another pathetic, fawning sycophant in Piyush’s inner circle (with the exception of one who this week admitted that his boss was “delusional”), but he had the unmitigated gall to play the “who me?” card when asked about the firing.

True to form, Jindal did not give an interview about the latest dismissal. He rarely holds press conferences in other than tightly controlled settings and he never takes questions, preferring instead to stick to the stock prepared statement which neither takes questions nor answers them.

In just such a prepared statement, this man of action (when there is a TV camera to record his image at an oil spill or in a hurricane command center, that is) said through his imported press secretary: “That’s a decision for the board and the LSU System President. With the changing environment in healthcare today, LSU’s health system needs a leader who can implement reforms that deliver services more efficiently.”

Please, Piyush, can’t you be a little more original—and honest—than that?

Sen. Fred Mills (R-St. Martinville), a member of the Senate Health and Welfare Committee, expressed concern over the firing of Cerise, who also served a stint as Secretary of the Department of Health and Hospitals under former Gov. Kathleen Blanco.

“Where else in the state do you have a gentleman that’s worked in the health care system (as a physician at Earl K. Long Hospital in Baton Rouge), been secretary of the Department of Health and Hospitals, and leader in the LSU Health System?” Mills asked. “Where are you going to get a resumé to replace this type of gentleman?”

Adding to the absurdity of the entire situation is the fact that Cerise’s contract runs through 2015, so he will be kept on the payroll in another capacity.

His replacement, Dr. Frank Opelka, vice chancellor for clinical affairs at the LSU Health Sciences Center in New Orleans, was named to replace Cerise—in the newly-created position (an increasingly familiar scenario for Jindal appointees) of executive vice president for health care and medical education redesign.

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Layoff notices going out to OGB in anticipation of Piyush privatization putsch: eager nation awaits his GOP speech

Posted in Civil Service, Governor's Office, Layoffs, OGB, Office of Group Benefits, Politicians, Prison, Privatization, Retirement, State Agencies, Transparency on August 24, 2012| 7 Comments »

The procedure for laying off up to 121 employees of the Office of Group Benefits (OGB) has been initiated by the Jindal administration in the aftermath of the privatization of the OGB Preferred Provider Organization (PPO).

A memorandum dated Aug. 23 has been circulated to OGB employees by Steven Procopio of the Office of Human Resources in the Division of Administration setting the effective date of the staff reductions as Jan. 2, 2013.

The layoffs must be approved by the State Civil Service Board but the board on Aug. 1 approved the awarding of the contract for the PPO to Blue Cross/Blue Shield (BCBS) of Louisiana, so the consideration of the layoff proposal should be little more than a formality by the board which has demonstrated a propensity to roll over and play dead for the administration.

BCBS already is the TPA for the state’s HMO.

Positions affected by the termination notice are in Internal Audit, Administration, Quality Assurance, Fiscal, Flexible Benefits/Imaging Services, Legal and HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) Compliance, Customer Service, Information Technology, Claims and Provider Services.

Employees of these offices are domiciled in the parishes of East Baton Rouge, Jefferson, Lafayette, Ouachita, Caddo, Calcasieu and Rapides.

The BCBS assumption of the third party administrator (TPA) duties for the PPO is scheduled to take effect with the beginning of the new calendar year in January.

Gov. Piyush Jindal and Commissioner of Administration Paul Rainwater have consistently insisted that the state should not be in the insurance business and that a private entity can administer insurance claims on behalf of state employees more cheaply and more efficiently than the state—despite OGB’s having built reserves of $500 million over the past half-dozen years.

Several independent studies have intimated that premiums are likely to increase after the first year because a private TPA will face the double whammy of the need to show a profit and the requirement to pay taxes on profits—factors the state never had to consider when it administered the claims.

Jindal, who made a point of voicing his concern and respect for state employees when he ran for governor has shown little, if any, of either sentiment since becoming governor. In fact, he has consistently attacked state employees at every turn including the orchestration of failed attempts to dismantle Civil Service and to gut the state employee retirement system—both to the detriment of state workers.

Jindal, after failing to sell state prison facilities, simply closed two of them and then announced the closure of Southeast Louisiana Hospital in Mandeville without notifying the legislative delegation in that part of the state—a delegation which until then had been fiercely loyal to him.

The closure of the Mandeville facility will adversely affect more than 500 employees and up to 170 inpatient recipients of mental health care. Moreover, with its closure, there will be no state facility offering mental health care for an entire section of the state that includes the parishes of Tangipahoa, St. Tammany, Washington, Orleans, St. Bernard, Plaquemines and Jefferson.

Other state medical facilities and LSU teaching hospitals also are threatened by the lost of some $800 million in Medicaid funding and higher education also has taken a major hit with near catastrophic budgetary cutbacks.

Yet, as all this economic train wreck careens out of control down the tracks, Jindal continues to travel the country—initially auditioning for the vice presidential nomination on Mitt Romney’s ticket and when that failed, soldiering on as the dutiful lap dog in support of the Republic Party that has relegated him to a minor speaking role at next week’s GOP convention.

Hardly an appropriate token of appreciation, considering all he has done on behalf of his second choice for the nomination while ignoring a state falling apart back home.

The leadership vacuum experienced by Louisiana during this administration is not what one would expect to read of in Jindal’s book Leadership and Crisis, now is it?

The real of the crisis, after all, is his abysmal lack of leadership.

If, as New Orleans’ Gambit so succinctly pointed out, he truly has the job he loves, he should return to Louisiana to address the myriad of problems facing the state and in so doing, put his money (read: efforts) where only his mouth has been.

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