2011 and 2014 Winchester 10U Cal Ripken World Series Final reports

The City of Winchester lost approx $32,000 in 2011 and $31,000 in 2014 when the City hosted the 10U Cal Ripken World Series.

To learn more, click on the following links:

2011 Final Report

2014 Final Report


Click here to view a side by side comparison between the 2011 and 2014 World Series events for expenses and revenue.

2014 vs. 2011 World Series Side by Side comparison

Perplexed by VHS's president/CEO quote on The Affordable Care Act

I wonder what research and information Valley Health System’s Mark Merrill based his quote on “The Affordable Care Act” back on July 23, 2012 in the Winchester Star?

The Winchester Star ran a story that Virginia's medicaid expansion was unlikely as the commonwealth was considering opting out of a key provision of the Affordable Care Act: expansion of Medicaid, the government-run insurance plan.

“It’s really disappointing if the Commonwealth doesn’t participate,” said Mark Merrill, president and CEO of Valley Health System, which operates Winchester Medical Center and five other hospitals in the region.

“The Affordable Care Act is better for all involved: patients, pharmaceuticals, physicians, and especially the uninsured.”

READ MORE HERE ... http://www.winchesterstar.com/article/va_medicaid_expansion_unlikely

re: Economic Research Institute

ERI Economic Research Institute is constantly updating this Form 990 Library as new images are provided by the IRS.


Valley Health System:
http://www.eri-nonprofit-salaries.com/index.cfm?FuseAction=NPO.Summary&EIN=540505979&Cobrandid=0


Shenandoah University:
http://www.eri-nonprofit-salaries.com/index.cfm?FuseAction=NPO.Form990&EIN=540525605&Year=2012

Shenandoah University Salaries for FY-6/30 2006-2011

Continuing to build on The Winchester Star's database of local salaries, below is Shenandoah University as they are ranked in the Top 5 of local employers in the City of Winchester for the 2nd Qtr of 2009.  Also included are the top 5 highest paid contractors that Shenandoah University has secured for their services rendered over recent years.

SU Top Salaries and Top Contractors (comparison from 2006-2009)

Salaries, other compensation, employee benefits had a noticeable increase from 2008.

$41,186,110 ... FY-6/30/2010

$40,783,692 ... FY-6/30/2009

$34,901,609 ... FY-6/30/2008

$34,821,188 ... FY-6/30/2007

$32,490,932 ... FY-6/30/2006

These figures are the total sum of Compensation of the current officers, directors, trustees and key employees;  Other Salaries and wages; Pension plan contributions (include section 401(k) and section 403(b) employer contributions); Other employee benefits and Payroll taxes.

Related public documents:

SU IRS990 2012

SU IRS990 2011

SU IRS990 2010

SU IRS990 2009

SU IRS990 2008

SU IRS990 2007

SU IRS990 2006

re: 60 minutes ... Hospitals: The cost of admission

60 minutes exposed what a "for-profit" hospital system is doing .. but makes one wonder are "not-for-profit" hospitals doing the same?

https://youtu.be/iEXkKV3kbb8

Hospitals: The cost of admission
December 2, 2012 4:42 PM

Steve Kroft investigates allegations from doctors that the hospital chain they worked for pressured them to admit patients regardless of their medical needs.

Steve Kroft updates a story 60 Minutes first broadcast a year ago called "The Cost of Admission." The report investigated allegations from doctors that the hospital chain they worked for pressured them to admit patients regardless of their medical needs.  

Update on "The Cost of Admission"

https://youtu.be/0DyGkA3CdcU

 

1993: Mike Wallace reports on ER docs
https://www.cbsnews.com/video/1993-mike-wallace-reports-on-er-docs/

VHS A NONPROFIT IN NEED?

With so many people enduring these difficult economic times since 2008, is Valley Health System a nonprofit that is in much need?

Please keep other nonprofits that are truly struggling in mind when you decide to give financially and to volunteer your time. Several that come to mind would be Boys and Girls Club, C-CAP, United Way, and SAAA. They could use your financial support as well as volunteer time.

Why might you ask? Were you aware that the Winchester Medical Center has tallied a 10-year profit total of $418.6 million from 2000-2010. And, also, that VHS investment and other securities had a market value of $459.2 million at the end of 2010?

Valley Health officials keep publicly promoting the bad debt and charity care that they provide, which is great, but is that not part of the mission of a “not-for-profit” facility, to serve the needy and uninsured? Wonder how come VHS officials never promote their profitability?

The following information was cited from a mid-2000s Not-For-Profit Hospital Class Action Litigation from the state of Illinios.

“Not-for-profit hospitals (NFPs) have operated free from federal and state taxes because they have promised the government that they would operate as a charity provider of health care for the uninsured and that they would not engage in business ‘directly or indirectly, for the benefit of private interests.’ In reality, some NFPs do just the opposite:

Charging their uninsured patients significantly more than those who have insurance, Medicare, or Medicaid.

 Pursuing the poor or uninsured relentlessly by aggressive and humiliating collection techniques.

 Rampantly violating federal and state prohibition against profiteering by ‘private interests,’ through either ‘connected’ board members and/or physicians whose for-profit businesses are formed and subsidized by the ‘tax-free’ organization.

“Certain NFPs, and their subsidiaries who employ the same business model, have amassed and hoarded billions of dollars in cash and marketable securities that otherwise would have been available to provide charity care to those who were contemplated by the tax exemption. Moreover, enormous property and revenues have been isolated from taxation, the effect of which has bestowed upon the NFPs greater liquidity than that possessed by most state and local governments.

“Lawsuits have been filed against NFPs asking the court simply to require the defendants to honor their obligation to provide charity care to those who need it, and to cease the cronyism to favored board members or physicians whose businesses are being unlawfully subsidized by the perverse business practices summarized above.

There is no doubt that VHS has positive impact on the regional area, but are Winchester residents feeling the effect of it not being a better neighbor in paying its real-estate taxes to the City of Winchester?

Just one example: How much more will Winchester residents’ water rates keep increasing?


The community benefit report shows that VHS’s annual community benefit for 2010 was $96.7 million, but that community covers 18 regional counties serving approximate 1.1 million individuals. The 2010 census tells us that approximately 26,000 individuals live in Winchester and 78,000 in Frederick County. Winchester and Frederick County represents approximately 9.5 percent of the regional population served by VHS.

To close, why should residents of Winchester continue to bear the lost of tax base from VHS’ campus while they make millions and millions locally while reinvesting into other regional counties and even out of state? Is this fair to the residents of Winchester?

re: Valley Health 'recalibration' to hit workers across network (NVDaily)

By Alex Bridges -- abridges@nvdaily.com

WINCHESTER -- Valley Health's efforts to "recalibrate" positions will hit salaries across the hospital network, officials said Friday.

The initiative means many workers could see their "shift differential" pay cut but, as two administrators explained, the system plans to compensate those affected employees with bonuses or other means "to make them whole."

The initiative began roughly a year ago after Elizabeth Savage-Tracy took over as Valley Health's vice president of human resources. As the new person in charge of the department, Savage-Tracy recalled taking a look the "total rewards program" to make sure it was fair, competitive and sustainable.

Total rewards includes all benefits, such as health insurance, welfare, retirement plans, as well as compensation -- base and premium pay. Premium pay includes shift differentials and career-ladder pay. Total rewards also includes "access management" -- vacation, holiday pay and other benefits.

To read the entire story, follow this link: http://www.nvdaily.com/news/2011/11/valley-health-recalibration-to-hit-workers-across-network.php

re: Some VHS workers to get raises; others could see pay cuts (NVDaily)

By Alex Bridges -- abridges@nvdaily.com


http://www.nvdaily.com/news/2011/11/valley-health-to-realign-positions.php

WINCHESTER -- Some Valley Health staff face pay cuts or may get increases as the hospital system equalizes positions among its thousands of workers.

Employees learned this week salaries may rise or fall as a result of an effort to align job titles and descriptions among the thousands of staff across the system.


Details of the initiative -- specifically who the changes affect and by how much -- were not available Thursday. More details on the effort would be available today, said Carol Weare, public relations manager for Valley Health.



Read the reamainder of the story on NVDaily:
http://www.nvdaily.com/news/2011/11/valley-health-to-realign-positions.php

Update on Lewis Gale Medical vs. Winchester Medical Center comparison

Back in November of 2009, The Pub shared a side-by-side comparison between Lewis Gale Medical Center (for-profit) in Salem City and WMC (not-for-profit).  Click on the link below to review:

http://thepibbsterspub.blogspot.com/2009/11/winchester-medical-center-lewis-gale.html


For 2010, here are a couple of hilights of the comparison:
Lewis-Gale paid $27,437,225 in taxes while WMC paid just $110,699.
Lewis-Gale recorded a profit of $34.1 million vs. WMC's $53.1 million.


Reference:
http://vhi.org/LewisGale%20Medical%20Center.html?=h6544/
http://vhi.org/Winchester%20Medical%20Center.html?=h1934/

Winchester Medical Center's profits from 2000-2010

2000 $11,917,127 
 
2001 $4,262,944 

2002 $25,868,766 
 
2003 $35,113,921 
 
2004 $46,711,931 
 
2005 $54,346,679 

2006 $57,422,789 
 
2007 $66,617,961 
 
2008 $9,500,911 

2009 $53,757,390

2010 $53,104,420
=================

$418,624,839 total profits since 2000 to 2010 for WMC.

Valley Health-backed study shows $1.24B area impact

The Winchester Star and NVDaily shared a story in today's paper that Valley Health is pumping about $1.24 billion into the regional economy this year.

There is no doubt that VHS has positive impact on the regional area but is the Winchester citizens feeling the affect of them not being a better neighbor in paying their real-estate taxes to the City of Winchester?

Just one example, how much more will the citizens of Winchester water rates keep increasing?

The report shows that VHS's annual community benefit for 2010 was $96.7 million but that community covers 18 regional counties serving approximate 1.1 million individuals.  The 2010 census tells us that approx, 26k individuals live in Winchester and 78k in Frederick County.  Winchester and Frederick County represents approx 9.5% of the regional population served by VHS.

Did this report share what VHS's current Investments and other securities were for 2010?

For the end of 2009, VHS's Investments and other Securities were as follows:

150,645,982 - Alternative Investments
  4,647,177 - Cash Equivalents
286,479,087 - Mutual Funds
 15,103,325 - Private Realty/Resource
  2,662,445 - Municipal Bonds
 24,542,903 - Common Stock
===========
$484,080,919

Now, should not the nurses and blue collar workers be better compensated?  Just review the jobs listings on the VHS website to see what some of those jobs are paying.

"As an economist, I'd have to say the market works and Valley Health has no particular interest in paying more than it has to, and they pay people what they need to pay in order to attract and retain them," Koch said.

As it's been stated, have you ever rode through VHS's parking lot and see how many out-of-state tags on the vehicles?  The blue collar worker salaries are more attractive to those who live in the neighboring state vs. the immediate local area.

The system’s employees are paid $287.5 million for their work and earn an additional $68.6 million in fringe benefits, Koch said. Average compensation of Val­ley Health employees exceeds the regional average by 20 percent.

But look at the regional area it's using for comparison.  Should it not be 20 percent more?  Have you seen what the VHS administrators are making?  Throw out the administrators and doctors salaries, and then see where those salaries would stack up with the regional area and even with the county across the mountain.

"Valley isn't paying its personnel as much as, for example, what they would earn in Frederick County, but it's paying them essentially what the market requires in order to attract really capable people."  Koch said.

Consider this, does not our local school system need additional funding?  The perception is that VHS and Shenandoah University will be partnering together to start a medical school which is great but what about our public school system?

To close, why should the citizens of Winchester continue to borne the lost of tax base from VHS’s campus while they make millions and millions locally while reinvesting into other regional counties and even out of state?  Is this fair to the citizens of Winchester?

For the record for 2010, the Winchester Medical Center had a profit or in excess of revenue of $53.1 million and the Surgi-Center had a profit of $3.6 million.

Reference most recent information available to The Pub:
Salaries for VHS from 2006-2008

VHS's 2009 Whole Group IRS990 Return

VHS Corporate's Mgmt 2009 IRS990

How many rooms booked by the visitors for the World Series?

These are the number are "booked" rooms as a result of the World Series as the individuals I spoke with stated, "These are the rooms booked for 10 days and if they lose, then the number of rooms booked will decrease."

Pool Play is through Wednesday where all 9 teams will be here.  The playoff round starts on Thursday afternoon, so 4 teams most likely be leaving/checking out on Thursday mid-day leaving 5 teams in the hotels.  After Thursday's games, 2 teams will be eliminated so one could figure that those 2 teams will be leaving/checking out on Friday mid-day.

Looks like there are 7 nights guaranteed that the 9 teams will be in hotel rooms and that's if they all checked in on August 11th and not Friday during the day before 3pm on the 12th.  Some teams could leave on Wednesday as a result of their pool play coming to an end and not qualifying for Thursday's playoff round.  5 teams will be here for at least 8 nights and and 3 teams here for at least 9 nights as I am banking on the other team being Winchester for Thursday and Friday's playoff rounds.

Bryant, AR coaches stated on Sunday "We travel pretty well, about 75"

So if you use the average of 3.2 people per room x 23 = 73.6, so that is pretty accurate for the Arkansas team.

If you figure 151 rooms x 3.2 comes out to about 483 visitors.  Make note I am sure those tournament officials are staying 1 per room so I would venture to guess 400-500 visitors (including team members and fans) is pretty much in the ballpark of who has traveled into Winchester for the World Series.

My question is this, wonder why the World Series committee did not try to put 2 teams per Winchester Hotel so that the City of Winchester could of gained more tax revenue since the City of Winchester is footing the entire bill for this World Series?


(70) rooms booked in Frederick County Hotels:

(18) Aloft at $85 per night (Mineral Area, MO)

(23) Country Inn Suites at $83 per night (Bryant, AR)

(14) Courtyard by Marriott at $99 per night (Williamette Valley, OR)

(15) Fairfield Inn at $119 per night (New Milford, CT)



(81) rooms booked in City of Winchester Hotels:

(15) Hilton Garden at $129 per night (Elk Grove, CA)

(15) Wingate Inn at $80.77 per night (Glen Allen, VA)

(13) Hampton-Inn North at $120 per night (West Raleigh, NC)

(20) Hampton-Inn University at $120 per night (Lexington, KY)

(18) George Washington Hotel at $119 per night (both tourney officials and Bel Air, MD is staying here)


Wonder how many excursions were booked by August 4th?
http://winchestervaworldseries.com/latest-news/local-excursions-offered-to-residents-and-world-series-visitors/

Good luck to all of the teams in the 10U Cal-Ripken World Series

Best of luck to all World Series teams and hope all of the visiting families enjoy their stay in Winchester.

Hope the baseball God's bless our local area with some great weather from August 13-20th.

The Winchester Star has a special web-page devoted to the World Series which can be found at the following link:  http://www.winchesterstar.com/uploads/content/WorldSeries/Home.html