UPHS Inefficiency, Peterson Exits WLUC, TV and Politics Intersect, Goodbye to Cable, Ice on the Lake, Man IN the Icy Lake
The Latest from Marquette, MI by Brian Cabell
SCHEDULING AT UPHS-MARQUETTE…A patient is instructed by email to schedule an appointment with a specialist at the hospital. Seems simple. The patient calls the given phone number, responds to a few recorded cues, then waits…for ten minutes. Finally a live voice—a heavily accented woman answers and asks a few questions. Clearly, this is not the specialist’s office at the hospital…More questions, then the woman notifies the patient that she’ll be back in a few minutes…Four minutes later, she returns with more questions…Then, after some confusion, she apologizes as she again leaves the conversation for a few more minutes…
Then, finally, she’s back. The appointment has been set!…Date and time are given. Perfect! Quick question from the patient: What’s the office number at the hospital for the appointment?….A long pause, some checking around…“Uhh, 850 buh-RAG-uh Avenue…” The patient informs her that’s the address of the hospital, but he was inquiring about the office number. Again after a long pause, he’s told the address is 850 buh-RAG-uh…Okay. Enough. He thanks the lady who was pleasant enough…but then he wonders why it took nearly a half hour with an ill-informed appointment specialist to schedule an appointment at his local hospital.
Turns out, this patient is not alone.
From Janell Larson, the UPHS Director of Marketing and Communications: “I…can confirm that we do have some changes coming in the next few months related to our registration process. CEO Tonya Darner along with the executive leadership team have decided to make this transition following feedback from staff, providers, and patients, and we are optimistic that this will be a positive change for our team and patients.”
Progress, it seems. And responsive leadership.
A SURPRISE ANNOUNCEMENT at WLUC last week…Elizabeth Peterson, the highly respected, outdoors-loving, award-winning co-anchor of the TV6 Morning News and co-host of the Upper Michigan Today talk show, will be leaving TV to join the 906 Adventure Team, the rapidly growing nonprofit that gets kids outside, on their bikes, and into the woods.
Not an easy decision for her, but “I just bought into their mission,” she explains. “Challenging kids, getting them to do hard things without being overly competitive. That’s how I am. I love the woods, the wilderness, doing things that kind of scare me…And my son, it changed the trajectory of his life. He hated it (the 906 Adventure Team) the first year he was in it, he was very insecure, but then it clicked, and he realized he could do it. And now he’s a totally changed young man…”
Will she miss her high-profile job as a TV personality? “I do value my place in the community,” she admits. “I hope I was able to bring some sunshine into people’s lives every morning.” She did do that, and she also put the spotlight on some serious societal issues—sextortion, suicide, mental health—while also winning a prestigious Murrow award for her series, “Navigating the Great Lakes: Life on the Lee A. Tregurtha”.
“In the last five years, she has put out one of the best bodies of work in TV,” says Rick Rhoades, the GM of the WLUC. “I’d put her up against anybody in the nation in terms of story-telling and journalism.” Quite an endorsement that partly explains why he and the station didn’t go after her—legally and financially—for breaking her contract. “I wouldn’t have felt good doing that,” Rhoades explains. “She’s always been transparent with us about what’s important to her and what she wants to do with her life.”
Now, the search is on for her replacement on both the Morning News and Upper Michigan Today. A tough task.
And what lies ahead for Peterson? A more normal life, she says. “I won’t miss those 2:30 am wake-up calls.”
ANOTHER CHALLENGE FOR Rhoades, and this is a recurring one: Claims that the station is politically biased, most recently displayed in a Facebook post charging that WLUC was anti-Trump. Which left Rhoades stumped, but he’s used to it…“We get it from both sides all the time,” he says. “Let’s face it, national headlines are inflammatory. Politics is inflammatory. But we are very careful, we need to practice discipline….” So, does Gray Television, the corporate owner, give WLUC any political mandates? Absolutely not, Rhoades says.
OUR EVER-CHANGING TV habits…According to Bridge Michigan, cable TV lost 190,000 subscribers in Michigan last year. That’s a 15% drop…And since 2015, cable has lost more than half of its subscribers. That’s huge…And where have all these subscribers gone? To the streaming services, of course—Netflix, et al—where they can watch literally thousands of movies, TV shows, and increasingly, sports.
THERE’S MORE ICE on the Lake this winter. This recent cold spell has expanded the ice coverage on Lake Superior to 24%. That’s pretty impressive, considering that last year at this time, it was a measly three percent…Still, the overall historical trend points to less ice—the average coverage for this time of year is 32%. Reasons for the decline? Global warming, the emission of greenhouse gases…One consequence of reduced ice coverage is more intense lake effect snow: cool moisture in the atmosphere is able to mix with warm water, creating snow.
WHEN THE TEMPERATURE plummets, the natural inclination is to grit your teeth, pack on layers of clothes, and pull your knit cap down over your ears, or, better yet, to simply stay inside…Or, if you’re half-crazy (in a good way), to shed most of your clothes and take a frosty dip in Lake Superior…That was the decision last week of one Marquette resident, a self-proclaimed “cold water virgin.” He joined a dozen, more experienced members of the Marquette Cold Water Immersion group for a slow, deliberate, teeth-clenched dunking in the Lake, near the Coast Guard Station. Air temperature 23, water temperature 34…
He did it…up to his thighs for four minutes, while pondering his level of sanity…then up to his neck for one more minute, while wondering whether his chest would burst…It did not. In fact, it was all good…He emerged energized, high-spirited, healthy, determined to do it again…We’ve long heard about the positive effects of cold water immersion, but reading about it and actually doing it are two entirely different things…By the way, Marquette’s Cold Water Immersion group has 927 members on Facebook…That’s a lot of crazies (but in a good way).
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“Cold is a state of mind.”
—Bud Grant
Is TV 6 / Gray Media truly neutral? Ask Karl Bohnak.
My experience with UPHS-Marquette Central Scheduling, the Patient Advocate, the Compliance Officer and finally the VP of Operations was a 6 month exercise in frustration that finally ended in victory over fraudulent “balance billing,” by UPHS Radiology, aka Imaging Associates of Michigan. While Brian Cabell’s experience was inefficient, (he should have hung up and called back), mine led to being wrongly sent to collections in an attempt to unlawfully collect $550 I did not owe. I had a calcium score CT, was guaranteed by Central Scheduling that the entire cost was $244 out of pocket, which I accepted, and paid in advance of my CT. All paid up I was assured, but then came a legitimate appearing bill from Imaging Associates, whose customer service is in the Philippines, but has a Texas address! No email or local contact number. IAM is the contracted radiology provider for UPHS Marquette, and has an agreement with UPHS to provide the calcium score cardiac CT, which looks for coronary artery damage, without additional charge beyond the $244 paid to UPHS in advance.
I confirmed again and again with a local Central Scheduling rep and her supervisor, no balance billing was required. But they did mention they had heard of this happening to others also. I got nowhere with the Philippine reps, so I contacted the UPHS Patient Advocate, was assured I did not owe another $529 and it would be taken care of…but it was not. Another month went by and I was again wrongly billed by IAM, so I emailed Alyson Sundberg UPHS VP of Operations, who assured me I was correct and it would be taken care of by her Compliance Officer. It wasn’t, and a month later I was sent to collections, at which point I got upset.
Weeks turned into months, and UPHS passed the ball around from dept to dept while I waited for them to solve the problem they created and one which I could not resolve on my own. IAM repeatedly insisted I owed them another $529 despite UPHS assuring me I did not. Meanwhile my credit score was being threatened by the collection agency. 5 months after my prepaid CT scan I got a letter from the collection agent that “the amount owed is inaccurate” and that they were “ceasing collection efforts.” I never got an apology from IAM, UPHS or notice that the bill had been wrong and that I had no debt. I see this as a total failure of leadership. And what of the “others” who may have been unlawfully balance billed but perhaps lacked the knowledge or resolve to fight back? I suggested UPHS and IAM perform an audit to determine if others had been suckered into paying $529 they did not owe. Shame on UPHS and IAM, their radiology department.