Doctors and nurse practitioners at have resigned after concerns they raised about their CEO were not addressed by health system executives.
Four healthcare providers -- a physician, a podiatrist, and two NPs -- submitted letters of resignation last week after calling for Tara Ramlochan, MSN, RN, to step down as CEO of , Meade's parent company. The providers alleged that Ramlochan provided patient care without a license, and violated HIPAA protocols by entering patient charts.
"We've been talking to the board for over six months, and they kept promising that they were going to do something," Christine Donnelly, MD, former medical director of Artesian Valley Health System and one of the providers who quit, told 番茄社区. "The board just ignored us."
Merrill Hoover, MSN, FNP-BC, a former nurse practitioner at Artesian Valley Health who also resigned, said that Ramlochan often got involved in patient care as CEO. She allegedly wrote prescriptions, ordered labs and tests, and went into patient charts.
"She would walk into the ER when I was treating patients, and start yelling out orders," Hoover told 番茄社区. On several occasions, Hoover said, Ramlochan directed hospital staff on patient care, dictating, for instance, that a patient needed more fluids or a certain pain medication.
Hoover also said that Ramlochan had several HIPAA violations. "If she doesn't herself get into the computer record of a patient, she will ask someone to do it for her so she can review it."
There were other instances in which Hoover found Ramlochan's behavior questionable. The CEO once called Hoover and said that because the hospital census was low, she should admit every patient she saw in the emergency room. Hoover, who joined Artesian Valley Health in 2019, stated that Ramlochan frequently berated her in the work place and threatened her job.
Hoover and Donnelly approached the health system's executive board with these concerns, yet none were addressed, the two said. An internal investigation did not result in any consequences for Ramlochan. The providers also submitted complaints against their CEO to the Kansas Board of Nursing, and Hoover said the board has since opened an investigation, which 番茄社区 confirmed.
In addition to the allegations made by former Meade employees, Ramlochan has also faced complaints from former nursing home employees about not allocating enough funding for staffing, and withholding COVID-19 stimulus funds.
In a statement to 番茄社区, Ramlochan said that all allegations against her were untrue. The CEO added that Donnelly requested her husband be made chief operating officer of the hospital, and when Ramlochan refused, Donnelly began to make claims against her.
Donnelly responded that she offered her husband's help pro bono when the hospital administrator became busy, but never requested a permanent position for him.
"Here at AVHS, care is uninterrupted," Ramlochan said in an interview. "Patient quality care remains our number one priority."
Ramlochan added that "no money is mismanaged here." She said she reports to the board, works in collaboration with her chief financial officer, and has a number of auditors that oversee hospital finances.
Carrie Padgett, former nursing home administrator at Lone Tree Retirement Center at Artesian Valley Health, alleged that she was not made aware that her nursing home received stimulus funds during the pandemic. When Padgett asked the health system's chief financial officer where the money went, she was told it was funneled into the health system's clinic accounts.
Padgett left her job in July, before the most recent group of resignations.
Five employees at Meade, including both Hoover and Donnelly, initially submitted letters of resignation. However, one provider withdrew the resignation request.
Ramlochan became the permanent CEO of Artesian Valley Health in July 2018 after a brief stint as interim chief of nursing. She has more than 12 years of leadership experience, and has worked across a number of medical specialties, including orthopedics, critical care and pediatrics.
In a statement to the media, Artesian Valley Health System said all of its emergency rooms, clinics and hospitals are fully staffed. Hospital administrators are currently searching for replacements for the providers who resigned.
This story has been updated with comments from Ramlochan.