Health centers’ employees want to address board

Physicians and employees who are critical of Chief Executive Officer Tony Weber are hoping to speak to Golden Valley Health Centers’ board of directors Thursday.

Board members who oversee the community health clinics in Stanislaus and Merced counties have not said whether they will hear the vocal employees at Thursday’s meeting. Board members and top managers have not responded publicly to the harsh critiques of the CEO.

“We can’t comment,” board Chairman John Price said Wednesday. “It’s a personnel issue, and we have policies and procedures for that. … Our board meetings are not public meetings, but we have never turned anybody away who wanted to talk with the board.”

Weber has not returned messages from The Modesto Bee, and Golden Valley did not respond to a request Wednesday to speak with a spokesman for administration.

In May, Weber succeeded retired Executive Director Michael Sullivan, who was with the nonprofit organization for 40 years. But the new CEO has not won over a significant portion of the staff.

About 150 people, including doctors, Golden Valley employees and community members, signed Dr. Liza Pham’s open letter sent to the board last week. Pham charged that Weber had created a hostile work environment and had fired staff members who did not support his directives.

Patient safety concerns

Among those terminated were former Chief Medical Officer Silvia Diego and Alma Garcia, who managed the Sixth Street clinic in Modesto. Diego said they did not comply with Weber’s orders to schedule more patients at the often-crowded clinic because they were concerned about patient safety. Staff members said they expect wrongful-termination lawsuits will be filed against Golden Valley.

Weber’s critics have said the tensions began soon after he arrived. They claim Weber took action against staff members who opposed his hiring and had drawn attention to events in his background.

The CEO was one of the defendants in a 2007 whistleblower lawsuit filed in federal court in Fresno. The plaintiff accused Family Healthcare Network, Weber and a chief operating officer, Harry Foster, of fraud in obtaining grant funds from federal government agencies and how the money was spent.

Weber is a former chief financial officer for Family Healthcare, which has clinics for the underserved in Tulare and Kings counties.

Sharman Wood, a former grants management coordinator, claimed the defendants prepared applications for grant money with the stated intent to hire additional staff and increase the hours at two health clinics.

The competitive grants were awarded, but the defendants did not use the funds to expand clinic services, the lawsuit said. The money was used to cover operating expenses, Wood claimed.

According to court documents, the plaintiff and Family Healthcare agreed to settle the case to avoid the costs of prolonged litigation. The defendants agreed to pay $400,000 to the U.S. government. The federal government gave $100,000 to Wood for bringing the action under the False Claims Act.

Wood, who resigned in March 2004, was not the only employee who had been concerned about falsified grant applications and grant reports. According to court documents, a Family Healthcare vice president, Teresa Mora-Macias, wrote a letter about services not being expanded at the clinics. Weber is said to have replied that he “was not comfortable with it, but that was what Harry (Foster) had instructed him to do.”

In her complaint, Wood quoted Weber as saying: “We do not need to worry about accuracy or specific grant requirements, as we do not need to adhere to them.”

Weber also has a bankruptcy on his record. In a 2004 filing in the U.S. bankruptcy court in Fresno, Weber and his wife reported owing $289,325 to creditors, including a $184,500 home mortgage, credit card bills and vehicle loans. The Webers reported assets worth $264,050. The bankruptcy case was discharged and terminated in May 2007.

‘Centers, brand suffering’

Pham said she believes Golden Valley’s board should appoint another CEO. “Golden Valley Health Centers are suffering, even the brand is suffering,” the pediatrician said. “It is absolutely time that they listen to us.”

Weber has wanted to serve patients who recently enrolled in the Medi-Cal program through the expanded eligibility in the Affordable Care Act. Some physicians counter that it’s difficult to care for the current number of patients, and Weber’s orders to serve six new patients per day are unreasonable.

Two of the four doctors who normally staff the Sixth Street clinic in Modesto are on leave, and the staff hears constant complaints from regular patients who can’t get appointments, an employee said.

“It’s ridiculous,” the employee said, asking not to be identified for fear of being fired. “People are coming in yelling at us that they need their pain medication. … I am ready to go on stress leave because of it.”

This story was originally published December 10, 2014 at 8:20 PM with the headline "Health centers’ employees want to address board."