Union protests hospital owner’s practices

Michelle Swafford

Wednesday, Nov. 26, 2003 | 8:50 a.m.

Members of the Service Employees International Union Local 1107 say local hospital operator Universal Health Services Inc. does not do its fair share of treating uninsured patients in the Las Vegas Valley.

King of Prussia, Pa.-based Universal Health Services, which operates locally as Valley Health System and owns Desert Springs, Valley, Spring Valley and Summerlin hospitals, said the union's charges are inaccurate and oversimplified.

About 50 union members brought the issue to light at a rally in front of Spring Valley Hospital Tuesday. President Bush spoke inside the hospital to health care workers and members of the public about health care and the newly passed Medicare bill. The union spoke out against the Medicare bill and Universal Health's practices in the valley.

Tom Beatty, executive director of SEIU Local 1107, said Bush's visit to a Universal Health hospital was a "perfect marriage" because neither the president nor the company is helping the uninsured population.

"UHS controls about one-third of the beds here," he said. "Despite the fact they control one-third of the beds, they only provide 6 percent of the charity care."

Beatty said taxpayers pay the tab for uninsured patients because many of them go to University Medical Center, operated by Clark County, instead of going across the street to Valley Hospital or to another Universal Health hospital.

Michael Tymczyn, spokesman for Valley Health System, said, "The (federal) law says we must treat everyone who comes through our doors and we do. Valley treats a huge number of indigent patients."

"Our four hospitals are just as accessible," he said. "We are committed to Las Vegas. We are here for the long haul."

Universal Health announced plans Tuesday afternoon to build a fifth hospital in the valley. The specifics of the new hospital have not been disclosed, but it will be at the intersection of I-215 and U.S. 95 in northwest Las Vegas.

Beatty said Valley Health System sent about $178 million in the last three years back to its parent company in Pennsylvania. The money is a portion of the local profit and is about 14 times what Universal Health spent in caring for the uninsured, he said.

Jackie Johnson, a registered nurse at Valley Hospital and a union member, said she was proud that Bush chose a sister hospital to speak at. But she said Universal Health needs to improve care for uninsured patients.

She said she witnessed inferior treatment of an uninsured patient recently when a supervisor referred to the patient differently and said the patient shouldn't be able to choose his nurses because he can't afford health care.

It's bad enough the company does not treat many uninsured patients and then it singles them out, Johnson said.

SEIU represents about 7,000 health care workers in the Las Vegas Valley, including 1,000 in the Valley Health System, but most of them did not attend the rally.

Tymczyn said the claims against Universal Health are groundless and oversimplified.

"We provide much more than they say we do," Tymczyn said. "What they don't address is the millions of dollars that don't fall into charity care. Those who aren't 'poor,' but do not have health insurance."

Universal Health hospitals in Nevada, which include the four in the valley and one in Sparks, provide about $60 million worth of free care to patients annually, he said.

Tymczyn said he was uncertain what the SEIU's agenda was, but said he thought it was because the group is losing ground at Universal Health hospitals in the valley.

"Perhaps it's the fact that they're losing their grip at our facilities," he said. "Our employees are choosing our management directly rather than going through the middle-man, SEIU."

In August 2002, Valley Hospital technicians voted against being represented by the SEIU. Now, 100 technicians at Desert Springs Hospital are scheduled to vote Dec. 18 whether to keep or to decertify the SEIU.

SEIU represents nurses and some other health professionals at Desert Springs, Valley and Sunrise hospitals and University Medical Center.

Beatty said the protest at Spring Valley, which is not unionized, had nothing to do with the fact that the hospital is non-union.

"We're criticizing the company at large, not just Spring Valley as a single entity," he said.