Will the Many Current Investigations of Memorial Medical Center Spark Change?

Embattled Memorial Medical Center’s “retirement” of its CEO, John Harris, was a first step, but the hospital still has a long, tough road back to some semblance of public trust.

More than a half-dozen public entities are investigating MMC, which has tended toward an unfair balance of profit margin and patient care since private-equity firm Apollo Global bought MMC’s parent company, Lifepoint, in 2018.

Initially, Memorial was a Hill-Burton public hospital, city- and county-owned, in the small building across Lohman from the County Courthouse. I visited folks there 50+ years ago. Memorial moved up to Telshor. Still later, City and County sold it. Now it’s private-equity-owned. City and county still own the land; and the hospital made promises under the Lease and the Asset Purchase Agreement.

There’s a legal obligation to extend care to people who need it, even poor folks. As publicized largely by Yoli Diaz, MMC has turned away patients with advanced cancer but thin wallets. In a City Council meeting, MMC seemed to deny they’d done such a thing. Good luck, MMC!

State Attorney-General Raul Torrez has initiated a much-publicized investigation of that. Las Cruces and Doña Ana County are both looking into whether or not MMC has breached its contract. I’m betting at least one concludes fairly soon that a breach (or breaches) occurred. City and county also aren’t happy that MMC allegedly is blowing off stringent reporting requirements.

Meanwhile, Medicare and the State are asking whether MMC has defrauding the public.

I wrote in January of two troubling situations. MMC declined to answer my questions, then wrote a response that didn’t deny anything I’d written, but accused me of “a false narrative.”

First, some doctors believe MMC’s cardiac folks are doing unnecessary procedures, when less costly and less invasive procedures would suffice.  I've heard anecdotal evidence; but these are complex issues. A public entity should get the facts on how many trans-esophageal echocardiograms, watchman procedures, and aortic valve replacements MMC does, whether those have increased, and, if so, fairly inquire why. (Have stress tests decreased?) I’m surely not qualified to reach a conclusion; yet experienced doctors have questions, but fear alienating MMC-Apollo.

Second, a disproportionate number of kids admitted to the hospital reportedly go to the pediatric intensive-care unit. There’s a normal range of percentages of hospitalized kids who need intensive care. Unless we’ve some weird local epidemic, MMC’s percentage of PICU admissions should be close to that norm. I’m told it isn’t. Has MMC’s pediatric ICU set protocols under which doctors have no choice but to classify more kids as needing intensive-care? Assuming that MMC charges ICU rates for kids classed as ICU patients, MMC could be taking in more than it should. Medicare folks likely wonder. Someone with subpoena power should determine this.

New Mexico’s Superintendent of Insurance is also investigating MMC, in tandem with state legislators considering passing legislation to curb private-equity abuses of hospitals. Even the U.S. Senate is investigating Apollo Global, as I discussed in my 28 January column.

I hope Apollo and MMC up their game, and adopt a more caring balance between profit and patients. However, if City and County find contractual breaches, they should put the owners on notice, formally – and be researching what our options are if MMC doesn’t cure the breach(es). Asserting public rights might encourage MMC’s owners to improve more quickly.

Let’s hope a new CEO improves both openness and care.

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[This column was to appear Sunday, 25 August, 2024, in the Las Cruces Sun-News and will presently be up on the newspaper's website and on KRWG’s website, under Local Viewpoints. A shortened and sharpened radio commentary version will air during the week on KRWG (90.1 FM) and on KTAL-LP (101.5 FM, streaming at www.lccommunityradio.org/). For further information on the topic of this column, please go to my blog, https://soledadcanyon.blogspot.com/ .]

[This column is one of several on MMC. While the recent firing of MMC’s CEO appears to be (and MMC has suggested it was) a step in the right direction. MMC is still owned by Apollo Global. (Too, recent statements by MMC say the former CEO merely “retired.” ]

[ I’m hoping that Apollo’s MMC, pressured by investigations and public concern, will engage in more open dialogue and either respond to some of the many allegations against it and/or make welcome changes. That will only happen if new local management sees the need for it, and if city, county, state, and the public remain interested. Although MMC is no longer our only hospital, it’s important to our community. We need to see Apollo up its game OR evict Apollo if contracttual breaches warrant that. The usual course for a private-equity-owned hospital is ultimately grim. Can we / will we avoid that here?]

[Sorry the column wasn’t in the newsprint Sun-News people received today. The opinion page is made up for the whole area, sometimes without our editor’s involvement in the process, so that stuff happens.]