Rep. Schaaf cries foul over hospital group's poll
The Missouri Hospital Association targeted a local state representative race with a telephone poll this week that the incumbent sees as misleading.
The statewide group, which represents Heartland Health and other hospitals, launched an intense lobbying effort in Jefferson City this spring against Rep. Dr. Rob Schaaf, R-St. Joseph.
Dr. Schaaf had attached controversial transparency and competition provisions to Insure Missouri, a failed effort from Gov. Matt Blunt to expand Medicaid eligibility.
Now the organization is testing the waters in Dr. Schaaf’s backyard.
“In the 28th District, we have commissioned a poll,” said Daniel Landon, the hospital association’s senior vice-president of governmental relations. “We need to identify what issues are important to voters of St. Joseph and we’re trying to find the positives or negatives for either candidate.”
Heartland’s Chief Executive Officer Lowell Kruse sits on the board of trustees of the association, of which multiple political action committees have contributed to Democratic challenger Mark Sheehan’s campaign in the 28th House District race.
Mr. Landon said the association routinely pays for polling during elections and simply is participating in the political process, but Dr. Schaaf dubbed it as an attempt to unseat him.
Pollsters are asking callers in Buchanan and Andrew counties if they would be more or less likely to vote for Dr. Schaaf if they knew he had voted to increase his own pay when he supported increased Medicaid provider reimbursements, said David Burns, a Heartland employee who was one of about a handful of people to notify Dr. Schaaf they’d taken part in the poll.
Questions also included which candidate he would support in the 28th District election and what his opinion was of Heartland Health, he said.
“In my head I was thinking, ‘When is she going to start asking about Sheehan?’” said Mr. Burns, a St. Joseph independent voter who’s supporting Dr. Schaaf.
Mr. Burns said the poll lasted between five and eight minutes and that the female caller rushed through many of the questions, which also touched on the presidential election.
“It seemed suspicious,” he said. “Hindsight is 20/20, but it seemed unprofessional.”
When asked, Mr. Landon declined to provide the specific poll questions to the News-Press, but said polling likely wouldn’t last more than a week and that the association hadn’t yet decided whether it would make the results public.
“We’re collecting this information for ourselves,” he said.
Dr. Schaaf defended his vote to up doctor reimbursements for Medicaid, but clarified that he stopped seeing most of his Medicaid patients about two years ago because the reimbursements weren’t enough to foot his actual costs.
He described any increase that he’s received on the few Medicaid patients he kept as miniscule.
To phrase the question without that information is “misleading and deceptive. That’s push-polling is what they’re doing,” Dr. Schaaf said.
Push-polling is a political maneuver to campaign under the pretense of a poll, but the information never will be collected or analyzed.
“What’s the implication ...?” He asked. “If they find out that this plays well, does that mean they’ll use that in an ad campaign against me? You don’t ask a question like that if you’re not willing to use it.”
Mr. Sheehan said the Missouri House Democratic Campaign Committee may survey the 28th House District in the future on his behalf, but he wasn’t connected to this week’s polls.
“I’m still shocked at the enemies he’s made across the state,” Mr. Sheehan said. “... I don’t know what to do about that.”
Alyson E. Raletz can be reached at alysonraletz@npgco.com.
This story has 13 comments. Click here to join in on the discussion.
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I received one of these survey calls, and I found it to be very misleading. I kept telling the lady that I did not understand the wording of the questions. It was always about Schaaf and it was always IF he was doing this or that. I kept saying to the lady "are you saying that he is doing that ?" "What are you saying?" "These questions don't make any sense to me and I am uncertain as to how to answer them." They seemed to imply that he was doing certain things without coming out and saying it. I thought this was a very strange survey at the time and certainly slanted.
Posted by lmij2 on August 21, 2008 at 8:30 a.m. (Suggest removal)The questions were all about Schaaf and I recall one about Heartland. Sheehan was mentioned but there were not the same questions about him as there were Schaaf. Now after reading the article in the paper it all makes sense.
I think everyone can see Rep Schaaf's true colors when he states that he stopped seeing his medicaid patients two years ago because " Medicaid reimbursement didnt cover his actual costs." But yet he is constantly bad mouthing Heartland and all those good employees out there who do a great job for the community. What if Heartland just " stopped seeing any Medicaid patients" like Dr Schaaf has ? Who would provide for them then ? Does Rep Schaaf understand that Heartland gave away FOURTEEN MILLION DOOLARS of unreimbursed care to medicaid patients and those who could not pay? Yes Rep Schaaf does know that but doesnt really care about the people in his district. Looks like he does care about giving his doctor friends a raise. Get off Heartlands' back Rep Schaaf and start seeing Medicaid patients again. Maybe that will bring you credibility..
Posted by heritage on August 21, 2008 at 8:48 a.m. (Suggest removal)i adore sheehan, but decided long ago to cast my vote for schaaf because of his work to bring more competition to the area hospital environment by changing some of the exclusionary practices which heartland enjoys today.
Posted by devinbroncs123 on August 21, 2008 at 9:05 a.m.This comment was removed by the site staff.
Posted by lmij2 on August 21, 2008 at 9:22 a.m. (Suggest removal)Any readers who think that Rep Schaafs' vendetta against Heartland doesnt affect each employee out there is Naive.
Posted by devinbroncs123 on August 21, 2008 at 9:55 a.m. (Suggest removal)Thats like saying Russias policy toward the government of Georgia doesnt directly affect the people of Georgia.
And by the way, this communitys " yahoos" are being taken very good care of by the good nurses and staff out there. My family and I have received excellent care there many times. And independent surveys prove that most of the community thinks so too. Its always the complaints of a few that overshadow the good feelings of many. We should all start recognizing and rewarding the positive experiences we have with all businesses and persons. Now that may make this a better world.
I just got out of the Heartland for a dirt bike accident. They did a GREAT job. I never said it wouldn't affect the employees out there, did I? I am sure the independent surveys have good results. This is about business, not standard of care. Read my post again. HEARTLAND OWNS ST JOE JUST LIKE COX OWNS SPRINGFIELD! Look what happened down there. Most of the docs were bought out because they were losing patients to cheaper care at the hospital. It's simply a Mom and Pops thing we are talking about. Not standard of care. So let's leave that out of it.
Posted by missouri_mule on August 21, 2008 at 10:16 a.m. (Suggest removal)Medicaid USUALLY only pays 5% to 10% of the total bill that they recieve..... so if he bills $95 for a doctors visit, he MAY recieve 10 bucks..... that a bunch of crap!
Posted by devinbroncs123 on August 21, 2008 at 10:23 a.m. (Suggest removal)Thank you for your support. Medicaid is BS and it needs repaired. You can't blame the guy for wanting more, he's getting less.
Posted by Sun23 on August 22, 2008 at 7:30 a.m. (Suggest removal)Dr. Schaff is a politician. Polling is part of the game. If he doesn't like it, perhaps he should find something else to occupy his time. I understand there are Medicaid children in this community who need medical care.
Posted by devinbroncs123 on August 22, 2008 at 8:54 a.m. (Suggest removal)Yes there are Medicaid children in this community. Dr. Schaaf is a Famnily Practitioner. Maybe they should see a pediatrician??? That's where my kids go.
Posted by falcon on August 22, 2008 at 1:18 p.m. (Suggest removal)Dr. Schaaf clearly will be running against Heartland, not against Mark Sheehan. Mark is a nice man, articulate and well-read, but he has no voting record. Heartland brings a lot of baggage to a candidate; ask David Jones. Politically, it's a wise decision for Dr. Schaaf to run against Heartland and monopolization.
Posted by apmastrangelo on August 22, 2008 at 3:51 p.m. (Suggest removal)Heartland, its board, and the hospital association, should concern themselves with improvement of patient care and expanding the availability facilities.
Posted by Sooner1 on August 22, 2008 at 3:57 p.m. (Suggest removal)The motives behind their actions is transparent, pathetic, and no one is or should be fooled.
I don't think Dr. Schaaf has to worry---look what happened when MHA/Mr. Landon campaigned for the tobacco tax---not too good of a record.
Look closely at Dr. Schaaf's record. Insure Missouri was going to be a big money-maker for hospitals by allowing them to double dip---improve their reimbursement to Medicare levels AND get the DSH Monies. If I was MHA/Mr. Landon I would be screaming about that one all right. OUCH!
Yea, Dr. Schaaf helped get the Docs a raise in Medicaid, though it does not meet the Medicare level---a level that currently has physicians leaving Medicare due to an inability to cover the physician's overhead. Yea, Dr. Schaaf is helping to make Doctors rich with Medicaid---that's why so many docs are willing to see all the Medicaid they can---Landon and the MHA are doing themselves a big disservice by playing dirty pool---unfortunately for Mr. Landon and the highly paid MHA executives the good people of St. Joe know when they smell a rat.
This "Giving Themselves a raise" doesn't just lend themself to this arena---Peter Kinder is trying to do the same thing to Sam Page, another physician legisator. DON'T BUY THIS CRAPOLA----just ask Medicaid recipients how hard it is to find a doctor.
Ironic that Mr. Landon and his bullies/allies don't have polls in every town that has a hospital.
St. Joe's voters can see right through this pile of crapola from the Missouri Hospital Association.
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