Health Clinics to Receive More than $2 Million

TYLER � Tyler’s Total Healthcare Center and Bethesda Health Clinic will each receive an equal share of an estimated $2.6 million payment in damages and transferred assets of Doctors Memorial Hospital, Inc. (DMH). That’s under an agreed judgment negotiated by the Texas Attorney General�s Office. Officials say both health care providers were selected for the funding because of their longstanding commitment to serving East Texas� indigent population.

�Total Healthcare Center and Bethesda Health Clinic are not just world-class clinics and pillars of the Tyler community � they are institutions that have demonstrated remarkable commitment to serving financially disadvantaged Texans,� Attorney General Abbott said. �By allocating remaining assets to Total Healthcare Center and Bethesda Health Clinic, we have ensured that more than $2 million worth of charitable resources will remain in Tyler and will help support two of the community�s finest institutions.�

In 2009, the Attorney General�s Office filed an enforcement action against DMH, its directors and officers. A review by the Charitable Trusts Section indicated that the hospital�s board of directors approved paying full salaries and benefits to Chief Executive Officer Olie Clem and his daughter, Lisa Blaine, the Chief Operations Officer. Officials say that was despite the fact that the charitable hospital had closed its doors on August 31, 2000. In addition to their post-closure salaries and benefits, the two senior employees also received $550,000 in severance payments. According a news release from the attorney general’s office, after DMH closed, its board of directors continued paying Clem and Blaine full salaries and benefits for four years � and authorized severance packages so that both former executives received full salaries and benefits for two additional years.

To resolve the State�s legal action, DMH and its directors and officers agreed to distribute its remaining assets to Total Healthcare Center and Bethesda Health Clinic to fund indigent health care in the Tyler area. Additionally, former executives Clem and Blaine agreed to repay $675,000, which will also be distributed to the two health care clinics upon the wind up of the receivership. The former hospital�s temporary receiver will file a certificate of termination for DMH after the hospital�s debts are paid and its assets are distributed.