This community opinion was contributed by Robert Bernosky. The opinions expressed do not necessarily represent BenitoLink or other affiliated contributors. BenitoLink invites all community members to share their ideas and opinions. By registering as a BenitoLink user in the top right corner of our home page and agreeing to follow our Terms of Use, you can write counter opinions or share your insights on current issues. Lea este articulo en español aquí.
As reported by Benitolink, I have initiated a recall campaign against my Hazel Hawkins Hospital board member. It’s not something that I really want to do, but as a concerned citizen with a finance background and both private industry and public service, I feel like it is my duty to serve.
One of the premises of my campaign is that Hazel Hawkins Hospital needs regime change. I think the rank and file employees, including the medical professionals and staffers are fantastic. But the HHH board and Administration have become arrogant, insensitive, and there may be a competency issue. And I want you and them to know: It kills me to write that! I have long relationships with many of them, but they are either not listening to the many of us that have spent a lot of time and money studying over the HHH situation for the last 18 months or have been incorrectly convinced that their efforts are legally secret.
Regarding being secretive, as the nearby picture shows, HHH is denying my requests to know how much they have spent on certain legal fees. Why is this important? Because when reviewing other legal fees, I found that the hospital paid for legal fees twice. Not only was HHH paying employees to manage expenses, they were also paying their consultants, at an average cost of almost $500 per hour, to manage accounts payable. As you may recall, the “gotcha” in the movie “The Firm” that Tom Cruise’s character found was the overbilling of clients. The gotcha here includes not only paying $18,316.00 in duplicate billing (in one month!) but also paying employees what they earn plus the $500.00 per hour B. Riley Financial Advisors is paid. Of course the person at the top to oversee everything is earning $450,000 per year, and the error here is only half a months pay to her, so maybe it is trivial to everyone involved.
In this case, on May 22, 2023, HHH wired the law firm of Hooper, Lundy and Bookman $68,660.65. A review of the transaction reflects that it was for the payment of Invoices 306187 and 30622. As the nearby picture shows, the problem is that there are at least 19 duplicate timekeeping entries in both invoices.
This recall is about other people being able to see what is happening at Hazel Hawkins Hospital, bringing accountability and trust to an institution that we need to preserve.
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