DaVita's Kent Thiry is going to have a GREAT Christmas!

[Meinuk]

Just over 5 million dollars in profit from running dialysis units...just think what a non-profit could do with that five million.  But then again, why would someone like Kent Thiry work for a non profit, when there are profits to be made? You need a special kind of soulless profiteer executive talent to be able to run one of the biggest dialysis profit factories  life saving chronic care businesses in a developed country with such terrible survival statistics.  (if you are on dialysis, your best bet for survival would to be if you were French, Japanese or Australian above being an American)

For profit dialysis is a health care business model.  They study 3x a week dialysis in Business Schools and learn how to cut corners and make money for their investors - it is a great case study... too bad we have to fight to get optimal dialysis taught to doctors. 

So the next time your DaVita unit says that they can't afford tape, or they are short staffed, or they can't offer you that extra dialysis shift for your fluid overload... just remember, Kent is there for you, or he will be after his christmas vacation or his shopping spree, or whatever else he will do with the profit that he has gained from your dialysis treatment. Creating DaVita Dialysis Patient Citizens may soothe some consciences (and it is a tax write off...), but how about offering Optimal Dialysis in ALL your units?

http://www.gurufocus.com/news.php?id=115564

Chairman & Chief Exec. Officer of Davita Inc. (DVA) Kent J Thiry sells 69,996 shares of DVA on 11/29/2010 at an average price of $72.68 a share.   (69,996 x 72.68 = $ 5,087,309.28)

Davita Inc. has a market cap of $7.42 billion; its shares were traded at around $72.28 with a P/E ratio of 16.8 and P/S ratio of 1.2. Davita Inc. had an annual average earning growth of 23.5% over the past 10 years. GuruFocus rated Davita Inc. the business predictability rank of 4-star.

DVA is in the portfolios of Larry Robbins of Glenview Capital, Andreas Halvorsen of Viking Global Investors LP, Steve Mandel of Lone Pine Capital, Lee Ainslie of Maverick Capital, Pioneer Investments, Edward Owens of Vanguard Health Care Fund, Jim Simons of Renaissance Technologies LLC, George Soros of Soros Fund Management LLC, Steven Cohen of SAC Capital Advisors, Chuck Royce of Royce& Associates, Jeremy Grantham of GMO LLC.

Directors and Officers Recent Trades:

Sell: Chief Compliance Officer & SVP David T Shapiro sold 2,875 shares of DVA stock on 11/23/2010 at the average price of 72.15. David T Shapiro owns at least 4,907 shares after this. The price of the stock has increased by 0.18% since. (2875 x 72.15 = $207,431.25)

Sell: Chief Accounting Officer James K Hilger sold 4,531 shares of DVA stock on 11/22/2010 at the average price of 73.17. James K Hilger owns at least 6,500 shares after this. The price of the stock has decreased by 1.22% since. (4531x 73.13 = $ 331,533.27)

Sell: SVP & Chief People Officer Laura Mildenberger sold 6,000 shares of DVA stock on 11/19/2010 at the average price of 73.05. Laura Mildenberger owns at least 3,750 shares after this. The price of the stock has decreased by 1.05% since. (6,000 x 73.05 = $438,300.00)

Sell: Senior Vice President Thomas O Usilton sold 29,978 shares of DVA stock on 11/15/2010 at the average price of 72.29. Thomas O Usilton owns at least 11,003 shares after this. The price of the stock has decreased by 0.01% since. (29,978 x 72.29 = $ 2,167,109.60)

Sell: Chief Accounting Officer James K Hilger sold 3,309 shares of DVA stock on 11/12/2010 at the average price of 73.25. James K Hilger owns at least 6,500 shares after this. The price of the stock has decreased by 1.32% since. (3,309 x 73.25 = $242,384.25)

[Rerun]

Does anyone else feel like one of those hamsters running on a wheel just cranking out money for others?

Yet, Medicare doesn't pay enough.  BS!                   

[Meinuk]

Now Rerun, don't be mean.  If Medicare paid more, then they could all have their bonuses, and the left over money would be used to make dialysis better.  But they can't make dialysis better until your tax dollars assure that they will always be in profit.

All joking aside (and that was my sarcasm writing above) - anyone who is at a DaVita unit and given an excuse of short staffing, cost of supplies and/or inavailability of services, just remind them that their executives are doing quite well - why aren't their patients?

As for those of you who say that it is private insurance that is the profit - my reply is that the only profit should be in patient health and survival.  I am all for compensating executives who do a great job, but a paycheck worth $11,000,000 for Thiry in 2009 is excessivein an industry that pleads lack of funds and creates a patient advocacy group with a mission to lobby government for more money.

Achieving optimal dialysis-related funding
We believe quality care can only continue to improve if government rules and regulations provide for optimal funding for dialysis and related products and services. We believe this is best achieved by educating, understanding, building credibility with key government officials, and respecting the need for strong clinical returns on government expenditures.

http://www.dialysispatients.org/advocacy

DaVita is a GREAT profit model.  They even use their patients to help ensure their profits, all in the guise of improving their care.

And don't be fooled, DaVita started DPC. It was conceived as DaVita Patients Citizens, then underwent a name change - conflict of interest much?

[Sluff]

Epoman would be furious..    I still think there is a scandal just waiting to be found somewhere. Maybe some day Kent Thiry may need dialysis and I will bet he would get optimal care.

[Meinuk]

Sluff, when I get a bee in my bonnet over this, I think of Epoman.  Maybe he is being my conscience from above when I rant on about this. Maybe I have just lost too many people that I care about for PREVENTABLE reasons. Maybe He and Susie are kicking me in the butt some days... or maybe I am just getting a kick out of venting at work.

D. All of the above...

And here is a GREAT thread w/video of Thiry speaking at Stanford Business School:
http://ihatedialysis.com/forum/index.php?topic=14465.0

I did not know that DaVita had a corporate song... How much did that cost? Maybe 1,000 boxes of Sure Seals (my old unit couldn't afford them, so we bled a lot... did I mention that my DaVita unit was closed for infecting nine patients with Hepatitis C ?)  The Video and presentation materials production fees may have been one technician's salary for a year. But then again, brand development, management and integrity are expensive.... hahahahaha I just used the word integrity with the name Davita in a paragraph!

[MooseMom]

As for those of you who say that it is private insurance that is the profit - my reply is that the only profit should be in patient health and survival.  I am all for compensating executives who do a great job, but a paycheck worth $11,000,000 for Thiry in 2009 is excessivein an industry that pleads lack of funds and creates a patient advocacy group with a mission to lobby government for more money.

*splutter* *gasp* But, but, but...that's un-American!!!

[plugger]

Just a little history:

"1.  From ’91 to ’01 expenditures for End Stage Renal Disease nearly tripled, while the number of patients only doubled – yet deaths were up 123%

www.usrds.org Annual Data Report 2003 pg 172, population up 106%, deaths up 123% from ’91 to ‘01 (I should add the for-profit companies – such as Davita – were taking over this area of medicine during this time period)

"In 1991 Medicare expenditures were $5.8 billion, and non-Medicare costs from heath plans and other coverage were $2.2 billion—a total, then, of $8.0 billion from all sources (see Figure p.6 on page 17). By 2001, costs of the program had reached $22.8 billion, almost triple the earlier level of expenditures"
2003 USRDS Annual Data Report"
http://www.dialysisethics2.org/index.php/Our-Concerns/fact-sheet.html

Guess I can see from the above where the money went.

[plugger]

But I'm seeing some hope (not from DaVita - or Fresenius):

http://www.dialysisethics2.org/forum/index.php?topic=592.0

[MooseMom]

Where's Julian Assange when you really need him?

As the CKD/Dialysis population skyrockets, I'm hoping that enough patients will be totally pissed off by sub-optimal dialysis that there will be increasing pressure to make sure optimal dialysis and patient health is ALWAYS the primary goal.  If Sarah Palin really wants to talk about "death panels", she should look into dialysis in America.

[okarol]

Medicare building mansions. 

[greg10]

Anyone here from Colorado?
Well, according to Davita, you are so "hugely blessed":

"Colorado is hugely blessed to have Kent," Vlchek (a Davita executive) said of the pending move of Thiry and senior executives. "He will become a leader in the state."
"Thiry doesn't look the part of a Fortune 500 chief executive. He has the blondish, sun-kissed look of a California beach boy, belying his 53 years.", wrote the Denver post article.

Thiry and his executives had to leave behind their former residence in "Woodside, Calif., considered one of the nation's wealthiest communities. Woodside's other high-profile residents include actress Michelle Pfeiffer, folk singer Joan Baez, Apple CEO Steve Jobs and Koko, the lowland gorilla who reportedly can sign 2,000 words."

http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_12483325

Vlchek neglected to mention that since Thiry's move, Davita has been under investigation by the Colorado Department of Public Health for infecting their patients with MRSA and hepatitis due to cartridge reuse mix-ups:
"Pikes Peak Dialysis Center and Printers Place Dialysis Center, both owned by Denver-based DaVita, the mix-ups resulted in an investigation by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment."

http://www.gazette.com/articles/dialysis-102290-three-mix.html

[plugger]

Anyone here from Colorado?
Well, according to Davita, you are so "hugely blessed":

I'm from Colorado, "blessed" isn't the word I was thinking of.

It does seem the Denver Post has changed it's tune since the following:

http://www.dialysisethics2.org/index.php/More-Featured-Items/davita-proves-need-for-stark-law.html

[plugger]

Vlchek neglected to mention that since Thiry's move, Davita has been under investigation by the Colorado Department of Public Health for infecting their patients with MRSA and hepatitis due to cartridge reuse mix-ups:
"Pikes Peak Dialysis Center and Printers Place Dialysis Center, both owned by Denver-based DaVita, the mix-ups resulted in an investigation by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment."

http://www.gazette.com/articles/dialysis-102290-three-mix.html

Greg10,

Thanks for that Gazette article!  I like to collect them:
http://www.dialysisethics2.org/forum/index.php?topic=604.0

Some people collect stamps and coins - I collect articles.