Month: June 2013

Letter to MMC from USM ACSUM Chapter

Letter to MMC President from USM ACSUM Chapter on Hospital Tiering.

On May 23rd my chapter voted to send a letter to Maine Medical Center about the tier rating issue. Yesterday, my chapter board put this together and I am sending it off.

Richard Peterson, CEO
Maine Medical Center
22 Bramhall Street
Portland, Maine  04102

May 23, 2013

 

Dear Mr. Peterson,

I am writing today in behalf of my union members to express our deep concern over the lowering of MMC’s tier rating from 1 to 2, per the Maine Health Management Coalition’s evaluation process. Most of our members- indeed most of the USM community- rely on MMC for hospital care when needed.

Our members are among the lowest paid at the University. The additional fees triggered by our insurance are a burden. Some will choose other local hospitals. However, some do not have a choice – depending on their health needs.

We are extremely disappointed by this situation. This is a violation of basic trust. We were expecting excellent health care. Now we are told that the care is below par, significantly enough to change status. Our confidence has been shaken.

We expect you to address the issues of quality and cost immediately. This situation is unacceptable.

 

Sincerely,

 

Gail Wartell
Chair, USM ACSUM

Negotiations 2013

Negotiations Update

 

Your negotiations team met on Monday June 3, 2013. The main purpose of this team meeting was to go over the results of the negotiations survey that was sent out to members a few weeks ago and to start work on our comprehensive issues/proposals list for the start of bargaining along with other negotiations related business.

We targeted future dates on which the majority of the team would be available and sent these to the University negotiations team for their review in determining the best one for the official start of negotiations between ACSUM and the University. We will notify you when we have come to an agreed upon start date.

We feel that we had a very productive meeting and are looking forward to the start of negotiations.

 

Dale Kuczinski

ACSUM Chief Negotiator