Patient data sent to overseas tech sweat shops
AFT Connecticut
Union leaders representing the impacted workforce have learned that the network is contracting with Shearwater Health, a private equity-backed firm with a record of exploiting foreign labor to pad returns.
The company, which recently hired investment bankers to explore
selling off its assets, specializes in displacing American-based health
professionals with working people from the Philippines. 1
“Our impacted members deserve better than to have their jobs outsourced overseas," said Cathy VanVerdeghem, RRT, the president of L&M Federation of Technologists, AFT Local 5051.
“They’ve been loyal employees -
half have over 10 years of seniority at our community hospital. One was even
presented with an anniversary certificate at the same time administrators told
them they were being cut,” added VanVerdeghem, an interventional radiology
technologist at L+M.
For
decades, these professional medical coders have consistently met and exceeded
all of the productivity criteria and quality expectations established by local
hospital administrators. They have consistently worked together as a team to
resolve problems and constantly collaborated with other departments within
YNHHS since the system’s takeover of their facility to address issues.
“We
are a team that cares about each other, and most of all, cares about the health
of this hospital system’s patients,” said medical coder Kathy Sorell, CCS. “To
throw away loyal, hard-working people and send these jobs to people with zero
connection to this community is penny wise and pound foolish. We love our
jobs and we are heartbroken at this callous decision,” added Sorell, a local
union member with 16 years of dedicated service to L+M.
By
displacing these professionals’ positions, the system claims it will save the
equivalent of one senior executive’s or 11 travel nurses’ annual salaries -
approximately $1.7 million. 2 There is no evidence that such draconian savings
are warranted when YNHHS reported total assets of $3.8 billion for 2022. 3
“Companies who are losing money or at risk of going out of business - as a last resort - may be forced to lay off employees and outsource,” said local union vice president Mitch Ross, CT.
“I understand why they may make the difficult
decision to do so if they have no other options for their survival. I don’t
believe it’s good business to lay people off just to pad the corporation’s
already healthy bottom line,” added Ross, a CT a computed tomography
technologist at L+M.
This
scheme targets union members at L+M and Westerly Hospital in Rhode Island,
while leaving many coding jobs at Yale-New Haven Health’s other facilities.
This raises significant legal concerns and may constitute a violation of
federal labor law.
“Chains are driving a race to the bottom when they choose contractors promising ‘faster, cheaper’ services than trained healthcare professionals,” said John Brady, RN, vice president of AFT Connecticut.
“By displacing its workforce,
they are not only hurting loyal employees, they are exploiting taxpayers here
at home and the replacement workers abroad. Let’s hope chain executives
recognize that by offshoring good jobs to low-wage markets, everyone loses,”
added Brady, a former emergency department registered nurse in the William
Backus Hospital in Norwich.
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More
than 1,700 acute care professionals at the Yale-New Haven Health Systems
(YNHSS)-owned Lawrence + Memorial (L+M) Hospital in New London are represented
by three AFT Connecticut-affiliated local unions.
1
https://ionanalytics.com/insights/mergermarket/shearwater-health-appoints-harris-williams-to-explore-sale/;
https://shearwaterhealth.com/contact/ (note the firm’s recruiting locations in
Manilla and Cebu, The Philippines)
2 https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/60646652;
https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/compensation-issues/travel-nurse-vs-rn-pay-gap-for-all-50-states.html
3 https://portal.ct.gov/-/media/ohs/hsp/ohs_financial-stability-report_fy-2022.pdf;
https://www.fitchratings.com/research/us-public-finance/fitch-downgrades-yale-new-haven-health-system-ynhhs-ratings-to-a-outlook-stable-28-06-2023
