An Alameda Health System follow-up on Delvecchio Finley, and based on Oakland News Now‘s original reporting of the AHS lawsuit against the Alameda County Board of Supervisors for allegations that…
AHS is essentially suing the Alameda County Board of Supervisors because it controls ACERA – which AHS’s lawsuit says is siphoning off pension funds and illegally using the money to plug the County’s own deficits.
The first Oakland News Now post reported that…
The CEO of Alameda Health System, Delvecchio Finley, resigned right before Thanksgiving amid recent labor turbulence and turmoil on the public health organization’s board that has seen its trustees forcibly replaced by the Alameda County Board of Supervisors.
Finley’s resignation was submitted and accepted by the board of supervisors in closed session. They did not indicate whether the resignation was requested or expected, whether it is linked to the forced AHS board departures, the AHS lawsuit against the County Board of Supervisors, or what Finley’s future plans might be.
The Alameda County Board of Supervisors had fired AHS board of trustee members who oversee the health system. The two Supervisors leading the firing were Supervisor Richard Valle and Supervisor Wilma Chan.
Now, it’s learned that Delvecchio Finley resigned to take the position of President and Chief Executive Officer of Atrium Health Navicent in Atlanta, Georgia (Mr. James Jackson of Oakland was appointed Interim CEO of AHS January 25th 2021). Also, Delvecchio Finley is originally from Atlanta. The Atrium Health Navicent press release announcing Mr. Finley’s return reported…
Finley is the quintessential success story. Raised in public housing in Atlanta, he saw healthcare as a pathway to serving others and promoting equity for disadvantaged communities. He received his bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Emory University, in Atlanta, and a master’s degree in public policy from the Sanford Institute for Public Policy at Duke University, in Durham, North Carolina. Through hard work and a solid educational foundation, Finley quickly established himself within the healthcare industry, becoming a first-time CEO in his mid-30s.
“I am deeply honored to have the opportunity to join and lead Atrium Health Navicent and further its traditions of providing high-quality care for the community, while being part of Atrium Health, one of the nation’s leading health systems,” said Finley. “With Atrium Health Navicent being a safety-net health system for central and south Georgia, I look forward to advancing its many accomplishments and collaborating with partners throughout the community in the future. The ‘for all’ mission and approach to compassionate care resonates deeply with me, and I cannot wait to get started.”
In Finley’s most recent position, he turned around Alameda Health System in his first year, reversing a $60 million operating loss and achieving a $27 million gain. Alameda Health System is a nine-site system with more than $1 billion in annual revenues. There, he also oversaw a $668 million, multi-phase construction project which included a new, 9-story acute care bed tower at one of the system’s hospitals and was an instrumental part of the Alameda Health System Foundation capital campaign that exceeded its fundraising goal by 50 percent. He also previously served as CEO of Los Angeles County/Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, in Torrance, California.
Macon Georgia’s Ashlyn Webb Writes Sloppy Hit Piece On Delvecchio Finley, Ignoring The Alameda Health System Lawsuit
For reasons best known to her, Ashlyn Webb, a reporter for 13WMAZ who joined the organization January 2019, and literally right out of the University of Georgia, wrote in “A closer look at Navicent’s next CEO and his most recent job in California” that Delvecchio Finley “said the system was “underfunded and under-resourced” and that AHS still owed $100 million to Alameda County.”
Carter also used a quote from Sheleka Carter, a Sexual Assault Response Counselor at Highland Hospital, and a vocal Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 1021 member who remarked that “Ultimately, it was the unfair labor practices happening at the bargaining table. Not wanting to sit across the table with us, and actually perform fair bargaining. Retaliatory practices for employees standing up for their jobs and their patients. Many nurses not given the proper PPE.”
But Ashlyn Webb obviously failed to read the Alameda County Grand Jury Report, which included this major-league-shocking claim that a member of the Alameda County Board of Supervisors was at an SEIU / Alameda Health System labor negotiation meeting “dressed in the uniform of the involved labor union.” In that account, noted on page 9 of the grand jury report, the Alameda County Grand Jury wrote:
Political pressure by some county supervisors has interfered with AHS operations and efforts to control costs. The grand jury heard evidence of a county supervisor appearing at a hearing concerning a contentious AHS labor negotiation dressed in the uniform of the involved labor union. Another example occurred after AHS voted to defer approximately $20 million in seismic work at Alameda Hospital, the result of which would have been to reduce services. The grand jury heard testimony that a county supervisor’s public opposition was a significant factor in AHS reversing its decision and incurring that cost.
It’s obvious to anyone that Delvecchio Finley left the Alameda Health System because he was not truly in control of it; like the Oakland Coliseum and its joint powers authority that has deliberately ignored having its full, allowed, contingent of 20 members of the business community on it, leaving the majority voices representing the governments of Oakland and Alameda County, the Alameda Health System was so over-politicized by Alameda County it was ungovernable by any CEO. Delvecchio Finley rightfully jumped ship.
Ashlyn Webb failed to report that Alameda Health System sued the County of Alameda for taking of funds that would have changed its financial picture. In other words, Ms. Webb could have helped explain what happened to the $144 million that showed up as a cash deficit. The first Oakland News Now post on the Alameda Health System was in November 30, 2020; her post was dated December 8, 2020 at 7:36 PM.
Stay tuned. I am Zennie Abraham.