Rennova Health Inc (RNVA)

[SoNosey]

[FWIW]: PAYROLL DELAYED AT BIG SOUTH FORK MEDICAL CENTER
By IH Staff - June 3, 2019

Employees at Big South Fork Medical Center did not receive their paychecks on Friday, as scheduled.

An internal email, obtained by the Independent Herald, was distributed to BSFMC employees at about 5:30 p.m. on Friday, informing them that paychecks would not be released until after 5 p.m. on Monday, “due to issues with receipt and transfer of funds to our local bank account.”

A separate email, sent Monday evening, said that payroll would be delayed until late in the day on Tuesday.

BSFMC employees are paid biweekly.

Friday’s development came two days after BSFMC’s sister hospital, Jamestown Regional Medical Center, was informed by the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services that its Medicare provider agreement was being terminated due to that hospital’s ongoing financial woes.

While there have been reports of unpaid vendors at the Oneida hospital, sources inside the facility have said that BSFMC will not be impacted by the troubles at Jamestown Regional.

However, employees already nervous about the goings-on at Jamestown took the delayed payroll as a sign of the first chinks in the armor at the Oneida facility.

“We haven’t received any kind of statement about Jamestown or the happenings there,” said one employee who spoke to the IH on condition of anonymity. “I felt like they owed us an explanation or reassurance at least. We’ve been short on supplies and things, too. We’ve lost vendors due to nonpayment. It’s been a very scary few months.”

Multiple BSFMC employees who spoke to the IH on the same condition of anonymity said that their Social Security withholdings have not been paid to the IRS. That has also been an issue at Jamestown Regional, as revealed by a CMS survey that was conducted last month.

“I had heard rumors about (Social Security withholdings not being paid) a few weeks ago,” said an employee who wished to remain anonymous, adding that they had checked and none of their Social Security withholdings have been paid to the IRS since 2017.

Another employee reported similar findings.

At Jamestown Regional, six employees told CMS surveyors that their Social Security withholdings had not been paid to the IRS. Administrators told the survey team that quarterly tax returns had been filed on time though payments had not been made, and a payment plan was being worked out with the IRS.

Separately, the IH learned that recent rumors of stroke victims being diverted from BSFMC due to a lack of key medication that is often referred to as “clot-busting drugs” were unsubstantiated.

“We’ve never ran out of medications,” said an employee who spoke to the IH. “We’ve never been on diversion and we’ve always had what we needed to get the job done. I hope that never happens. Our community desperately needs our hospital to make it.”

http://ihoneida.com/2019/06/03/payroll-delayed-at-big-south-fork-medical-center/