To Every Thing There Is A Season . . .
All posts save one are archived. Post-pandemic, nothing has changed for Pediatrics in over 30 years. It ' s time to write the book. (Source: Dr.J's HouseCalls)
Source: Dr.J's HouseCalls - May 8, 2023 Category: American Health Source Type: blogs
A Change Of Heart: " For The Children "
Last night, I archived everything on the blog except " Why Pediatrics " . More and more, it ' s become a question rather than a statement of purpose. In the wake of the COVID 19 pandemic, where the entire US system shifted on its axis to shut down community Pediatrics services and " feed " children ' s hospitals (to free up resources for sick adults), the situation for those of us practicing inpatient Pediatrics (as " Pediatric Hospitalists " ) really went to hell. You could not find/beg a job in the community setting during the pandemic. Actually, jumping through the ABP ' s hoops to do a...
Source: Dr.J's HouseCalls - December 24, 2022 Category: American Health Source Type: blogs
Hiatus
If you have to ask why, you haven ' t been paying attention.Everything except " Why Pediatrics " is archived. These days, it ' s more of a question than a statement of purpose anyway. (Source: Dr.J's HouseCalls)
Source: Dr.J's HouseCalls - December 24, 2022 Category: American Health Source Type: blogs
Taking Back Medicine
I am currently trying to decide how this blog moves forward - and if continuing to publish here is the best way to move forward. A few long-standing posts (detailing my adventures with corporate medicine as a medical whistleblower abandoned by the Federal government) have been archived for now. Others remain.For instance, I like to remember how idealistic I once was. Last year, I lent a lot of support to my local County Commissioners ' plan to " save " my (bankrupt) hometown hospital (Randolph Hospital in Asheboro, N.C.) - never mind all their executives did to destroy me - a long time ago - after a ...
Source: Dr.J's HouseCalls - July 18, 2022 Category: American Health Source Type: blogs
Randolph Hospital (the old/bankrupt Randolph) vs. Cone Healthcare: " Self-dealing " And Unethical Business Practices. DUH. It's Not Like I Did Not Tell You So.
Before we even get started (and for the record), I was born at Cone Hospital. For years, I admired it from afar.But that was before . . .Once upon a time, twenty-four years ago this month, the executives running my hometown hospital (Randolph Hospital in Asheboro, North Carolina), fired me ( " without cause " ) . . . two weeks after I answered a terrified LDRP charge nurse ' s call in the middle of the night - to intervene in a neonatal case where the managing Family Practitioner was so " lost " that the nurse feared the baby would die before I could get there. The FP (who later styled himself to the baby ...
Source: Dr.J's HouseCalls - February 24, 2022 Category: American Health Tags: Asheboro Atrium Health Bankruptcy Bob Morrison Cone Healthcare Ed Cone Medical Whistle-blower National Health Service Corps NC Rural Heatlh Patient Safety Quality Assruance Steve Eblin Source Type: blogs
A Twenty Year Fall: It Feels Like We Just Flat-Out FORGOT.
Before the iconic "Falling Man" photo was taken, there was this moment . . . the moment when so many were forced to chose how they would end. Does one fall forward " into the arms of God " - or back into the inferno?That is THE moment/image I ' ve never been able to shake. From a 2006 Housecalls post entitled, " Just Quiet " .Have you ever been in the middle of a crowded, noisy somewhere and ever looked out beyond it . . . into a blue sky . . . or a lush green field or forest . . . or out over perfectly still/clear aqua water . . . and wondered (1) how you found yourself in the middle of th...
Source: Dr.J's HouseCalls - September 11, 2021 Category: American Health Source Type: blogs
NC Pediatricians/Physicians RISE Against CHEAP/PROFITEERING Hospital Executives: Maybe I'm Not " Disgruntled " . . . Or " Disruptive " . . . OR ALONE . . . After All.
First, read the following article (linked in red) at North Carolina Health News - " lifted " from a story/letter published at the Charlotte Ledger:The doctor won ' t see your newborn now - North Carolina Health NewsIt only under-scores the cheap, supremely arrogant C-Suite mind-set that I ' ve been blogging about . . . and fighting . . . as an inpatient Pediatrician covering the duty in small/rural/community hospitals in NC and Virginia . . . for over 20 years.Pediatricians that work for hospitals are " a-dime-a-dozen " . We ' re " interchangeable light bulbs " . We can be " replaced by nurses " . The gen...
Source: Dr.J's HouseCalls - June 23, 2021 Category: American Health Tags: ApolloMD APRN Central Carolina Hospital CMS Duke Lifepoint JCAHO LDRP medical scope creep Mother-Baby Care Pediatric Hospitalist Pediatrics Quality Assruance Source Type: blogs
Let's Talk About Hospitals And Rural Healthcare (Particularly Mother-Baby Care): My Letter To The NC Government Commission/NC State Treasurer In Support Of Randolph County's Application For A Loan To Save Randolph Health
Author ' s Note: The lawyers have a saying, " Res Ipsa Loquitur " " . Translated from Latin, it means, " The thing speaks for itself " . This is the text of the letter I sent to theNC Local Government Commission (embellished with a few links and additional comments in red) . . .in support of the state of North Carolina granting a loan to Randolph County (via the NC Rural Healthcare Stabilization Act) . . . for purposes of assisting in the " rescue " of Asheboro ' s Randolph Health - in a bankruptcy Court-approved buy-out of Randolph ' s assets by American Healthcare Systems, LLC.On May 4th, afte...
Source: Dr.J's HouseCalls - May 7, 2021 Category: American Health Tags: Asheboro Atrium Health Bankruptcy Cone Health Duke Lifepoint LGC Medical Whistle-blower Mother-Baby Care NC Rural Heatlh NCDHHS Non-profit Randolph Health UNC Health Wake Forest Baptist Source Type: blogs
Thank You
I ' d like to thank the folks who have contacted me to offer feedback on my letters to Senator Burr and NCDHHS Secretary, Mandy Cohen . . . and support for my situation. One complement went right to my heart and I want to share it here. " You know there ' s so much out there on social media - you cannot always tell what is true and what isn ' t. This is the first time that I ' ve read something online that I actually have first-hand knowledge of . . . because I was there and I stood beside you . . . and this is so REAL and so true . . . and you just NAILED all of it. " As trillions of taxpayer dollars fly o...
Source: Dr.J's HouseCalls - March 28, 2021 Category: American Health Source Type: blogs
When Hospital CEO's and Leapfrog LIE to the Public: False Advertising Based On Old/Bad Data
This morning, I sent out a passel of e-mails to selected representatives and Senators in the NC General Assembly . . . begging for much-needed, post-pandemic medical reforms in North Carolina.I am all for the NC General Assembly supporting the healthcare industry in North Carolina - but they need to do it without otherwise killing the doctors and nurses working in it. The " right to work " for doctors and nurses in North Carolina (if we are indeed doing what the Governor calls " God ' s work " ) MUST be about something other than the right to have our lives devalued, disrupted and brutally eviscerated (as mine was la...
Source: Dr.J's HouseCalls - March 5, 2021 Category: American Health Tags: Apollo Global Management ApolloMD Central Carolina Hospital CMS Duke Lifepoint JCAHO Leapfrog Medical Whistleblower Mother-Baby Care NCDHHS Quality Assruance Source Type: blogs
As One Licensed NC Physician To Another Unlicensed One (Dr. Mary Johnson to Dr. Mandy Cohen/NC DHHS Secretary): PROTECT MEDICAL WHISTLEBLOWERS NOW!
Related to mylast post - which went up (after much soul-searching and trepidation) on 2/28/20201 one of the biggest complaints (coming largely from folks reading on mobile phones) was that the post was " so long " . They wanted something more " concise " . The post relates my own horrific pandemic experience with Central Carolina Hospital/ApolloMD and Duke Lifepoint in Sanford, North Carolina. It ' s my third dance as a medical whistle-blower in 23 years. And much like the first two cases (Asheboro in 1998, and ETSU/Ballad Health in 2017), it ' s really NOT " soundbite " material (it would ...
Source: Dr.J's HouseCalls - March 4, 2021 Category: American Health Tags: ApolloMD Central Carolina Hospital CMS Dr. Seuss Duke Lifepoint HIPAA Mandy Cohen Medicaid Medical Whistleblower NCDHHS Pandemic Pediatric Hospitalist Source Type: blogs
A North Carolina Pediatric Hospitalist Tells Her Pandemic Story to Senator Richard Burr: Thirteen Months (And Counting) In Medical Whistle-blower Hell - Courtesy Of Private Equity/For-Profit Healthcare And Cruelly-Indifferent/Morally-Bankrupt State & Federal Oversight
Author ' s Note: I cannot " sound-bite " the last year - and perhaps it ' s time to write the book. Scroll about half-way down to read the letter to Senator Burr. The bottom line is that for thethird time in 23 years, as a Pediatrician staffing a community hospital, I was fired " with-out cause " immediately after intervening in a neonatal ( " bad baby " ) case, rescuing the situation/ " saving " the baby, and reporting it INTERNALLY to Peer Review. NO discussion. NO recourse. NO review. A total cover-up. And EVERY SINGLE TIME I ' ve asked the state/Federal government to enfor...
Source: Dr.J's HouseCalls - February 28, 2021 Category: American Health Tags: ACA Apollo Global Management ApolloMD Ballad Heath Central Carolina Hospital CMS Duke Lifepoint ETSU Medicaid Medical Whistleblower NCDHHS Pandemic Quality Assruance Randolph Health Richard Burr Trump Source Type: blogs
Throwing the Book
I spent the better part of a month thinking that I might have breast cancer. I don ' t. This is in the wake of probably having COVID in March (with neither the hospital I staffed, nor my contracting group caring enough to test me) . . . and on the heels of my third-go-around as a medical whistle-blower.This time, the findings of a CMS site visit - compelled by a complaint I filed - vindicate the concerns I tried desperately to address internally. We ' ll see how that all ultimately plays out.Our healthcare system is fundamentally broken - on every level now. It ' s been broken for well over twe...
Source: Dr.J's HouseCalls - August 24, 2020 Category: American Health Source Type: blogs
" Strike Two " : A Pediatrician's " Dance " with Alan Levine/Ballad Health - And WHY We Need Federal Medical Whistle-blower Protection For ALL Healthcare " Workers " NOW
This is the story of how government failed me as a Pediatrician - for the second time. The saddest thing of all is that there is a " Strike Three " . Nobody cares about Pediatrics - or Pediatricians. They haven ' t for a very long time. This is a long post. Don ' t whine about it. Read it. CARE that somebody trying to stand up for your children lived it - and not for the first time.Twenty-two years ago, the morally-bankrupt executives of my now fiscally-bankrupt hometown hospital (in Asheboro, North Carolina) railroaded me out of town . . . after I intervened in a nursery case being...
Source: Dr.J's HouseCalls - May 12, 2020 Category: American Health Tags: Alan Levine Ballad Health Cooperative Agreement COPA ETSU Medical Whistle-blower Pediatric Hospitalist Ralph Northam Randolph Hospital Tennessee Department of Health Virginia Department of Health Source Type: blogs
Statement to the Randolph County (NC) Commissioners Regarding a Taxpayer " Bail-Out " of Randolph Hospital
You get tired of playing the game - or banging your head against stone walls. For weeks, I have been resolved to appear at tonight ' sPublic Hearing at the old Asheboro Courthouse - in which Randolph County Commissioners will take up the matter of going into massive debt (by applying for a loan from the state) to keep Randolph Health from closing its doors in late January or February.But I cannot . . . and will not even try to . . . cram 22 years into 3 minutes. I can actually make the statement in 8 or 9 minutes, but not 3. The hospital has pontificated from its various soapboxes and manipulated the...
Source: Dr.J's HouseCalls - November 21, 2019 Category: American Health Source Type: blogs
