McKesson’s Charity Man
Here is a nice little punch in the stomach this morning. How many of you have heard or work with the company called McKesson? If you don’t, here is their little sound bite on their own website:
McKesson helps health care providers improve business health and deliver better care to patients. As a pharmaceutical distributor and health care information technology company, McKesson provides systems for medical supply management, clinical workflow, practice management, pharmacy automation and care management.
Sounds like everything that has destroyed healthcare, right? Well, the company made news recently because the CEO decided to take a pension pay cut. Isn’t that cool? He cares about his reputation and the plight of the common man and didn’t want to come off looking greedy. Here is his story:
CEO John Hammergren received $51.7 million in compensation for fiscal 2013, including a big increase in the value of his pension benefit as well as $11.5 million in incentive pay. In a letter to the chairwoman of McKesson’s compensation committee, Mr. Hammergren said he was voluntarily reducing his pension benefit because it had become “a source of distraction” for the company. He cut his pension benefit by $45 million as the company revamped its incentive-compensation program for top executives, in the wake of complaints from activist investors. His pension benefit still amounts to $114 million after the reduction, but that will be a fixed amount in cash, not subject to big potential moves that can result from changes in the company’s assumptions over factors like interest rates.
Hmmm. $114 million. I know, it still not enough to live on but it’s a start. Think of that today while you grind it out in the clinic, burning out at warp speed. 🙂
The Chairman of the PCPCC is a McKesson/ClaimCheck parasite. The AAFP loves the PCPCC. Go figure.
I’m sure not all of the McKesson folks are to blame. Many with the company for less than 10 years are just oblivious as to how their company became so successful. If they were around in the early days of ClaimCheck, they really are leaches. AAFP may be oblivious too. Obliviousness, got us into this mess.
Parasite. He is the personification of our current health care crisis. Fat cat administrators cashing in on the patients, doctors and calling it quality care while they race to the bank to cash their goddam bonuses. Look up parasite or leech, both apply.
McKesson is responsible for docs making less than half of what they did nearly 20 years ago. They own ClaimCheck software that started downcoding and bundling our codes essentially stealing much of our income going back to the mid-90s. I hardly think of their CEO as a person of charity. Much of his income was stolen in the first place. Oh but that’s all been fixed by the big managed care settlements in federal court in Miami and other places. A billion or so dollars was paid out by many of the big insurers, the majority of it going into settlement funds and now used to help subsidize purchasing EMR and technology systems that the likes of McKesson sells. What nice folks they are, and our organized medicine leadership for allowing this set of events to unfold in the first place. And now you know “the rest of the story”.
Damn, I didnt know any of that. Worse still, none of it is surprising.
I would be (slightly) less appalled by this if they actually had a good product, but I would have to say that McKesson HIM is one of the worst CPOEs out there…
How many years of education does he have? What is the chance he will be sued by a patient? Is his pay based on 6 employee reviews. Does he have to type his own meeting minutes and thought process during that meeting? Are his employees lobbying to do his work for lessor pay? Drives me nuts.
File undeer “Why health care is so expensive.”
So he opted for a fixed cash amount, over something that might fluctuate and possibly be devalued later? Yeah, very charitable indeed. Oh well, that should still keep him in beer & cigarettes. It’s nice being able to support swell companies like this.