This is one update I do not look forward to posting, but the list and updates keep growing and coming in. We have Prime Healthcare here in California buying hospitals that would otherwise be gone, and the solutions offered by Prime are not particularly attractive due to the 
current balance billing situation here as well, but when you look at the alternative of “no hospital” I guess that leaves much on the table for discussion.
Hospitals protest new California rules on patient balance billing
California and Balance Billing
Wit the downturn in the economy, hospitals are finding it increasingly hard to cover all the bases and many have already filed bankruptcy once and are perhaps ready to go at it again. This is an update of what was on the web this week along with related reading at the bottom on past posts.
Recently in the news, even those hospitals who are not facing the same dire issues, are cutting back on employees too and putting off purchases next year. Over 50% of the hospitals in the US border on insolvency. Low reimbursements from insurance payers are usually quoted as the main cause and effect of the problem with our hospitals in the US. BD
Redding hospital lays off 150 workers - California
The financially troubled Shasta Regional Medical Center in Redding is laying off 150 nurses and hospital employees, about a fifth of its total staff. Shocked employees say they received layoff notices Friday. Some were told they could reapply for their positions. Shasta Regional's Chief Executive Phil Dionne says the cuts were simply a reflection of patient volumes that area hospitals have been experiencing. The 246-bed hospital has been struggling to keep up with its bills. A lender has already declared the hospital in default. Dionne says Shasta Regional would have closed if Prime Healthcare Services of Southern California had not stepped in as the hospital's new managers.
San Leandro Hospital a key issue - California
As part of the deal to get the new hospital, Eden Township purchased the San Leandro facility and leases it to Sutter. That hospital operates at a significant loss, and Sutter is committed to keeping the acute-care department open only until June 2009. After that, it has the option to either buy the facility or end the lease and hand it back over to Eden Township.
If that happens, Eden will have to decide what to do with a hospital that, according to board Chairman Francisco Rico, is losing about $500,000 a month.
Challengers Ronald Hull and Vin Sawhney both stress that the hospital's acute-care ward must be kept open to serve the community. Rico, an anesthesiologist, said that even a nonprofit entity cannot operate at a loss, and that Sutter has spent money trying to make San Leandro Hospital more financially feasible, "but still the losses continue."
Virginia hospital cuts staff by more than half
STUART, Va. (AP) - A Patrick County hospital has cut more than half of its staff, and the county administrator says some of its accounts have been frozen.
County Administrator Jay Scudder says he understands R.J. Reynolds Patrick County Memorial Hospital had 63 employees before layoffs earlier this week, and now the staff is in the low 20s. Scudder says doctors who have been staffing the hospital have agreed to continue doing so, and the hospital plans to keep providing critical care.
The hospital has struggled for many years and filed bankruptcy in the past. A federal bankruptcy judge approved its sale to the current owners in 2003.
Southwest Atlanta Hospital no longer taking emergencies
An Atlanta hospital that has closed twice in the past four years has shut its emergency room over financial losses, replacing it with an urgent-care center.
Southwest Atlanta Hospital shuttered its emergency room because more than 95 percent of its emergency patients had minor injuries and illnesses, said Sandra Crayton, Southwest’s interim CEO.
Southwest is losing money, Crayton said. It has no patients currently in its 125 licensed beds, as of Monday. “The hospital is trying to re-establish itself,” she said. “We don’t have any resources.” A $12 million line of credit helps the hospital meet operating expenses.
Southwest has filed for bankruptcy protection twice. At the time of its first filing, in 2004, the hospital’s financial trouble had stemmed largely from low reimbursements for care; most patients were uninsured, underinsured or in government programs Medicaid and Medicare.
Carraway will close, file for bankruptcy – Alabama
Physicians Medical Center Carraway is closing and has filed for bankruptcy protection for the second time in two years on Monday.
The century-old North Birmingham hospital told its employees Monday morning it was relocating patients and will shut its doors on Tuesday. Carraway has struggled since it was bought for $26.5 million by 52 physicians in November 2006. It filed for Chapter 11 protection with the United States Bankruptcy Court of the Northern District of Alabama citing estimated assets between $10 and $50 million and estimated liabilities within that same range.
Carraway’s bankruptcy filing estimates its has between 1,000 and 5,000 creditors. The hospital’s board of Governors authorized bankruptcy proceedings on Feb. 6 “at such time as the board deemed that all reasonable options for turning around the company had been exhausted,” according to the filing.
Johnson Memorial Lays Off 55 Ahead Of ECHN Merger – Connecticut
Johnson Memorial Corp. laid off 55 staff members Thursday, reduced the hours of 49 others and will file for bankruptcy protection today as it prepares to merge with Eastern Connecticut Health Network.
The corporation, which runs the ailing Johnson Memorial Hospital, agreed Wednesday to sell the hospital's assets to ECHN in a $65 million deal subject to approval by state officials. ECHN operates Manchester Memorial Hospital and Rockville General Hospital and would maintain the 96-bed Johnson Memorial as a separate entity.
Beck said Johnson will file for bankruptcy protection under Chapter 11, which will enable the hospital to continue operating while it works out plans to pay creditors. She said Connecticut is behind many larger states that have united smaller, sometimes failing hospitals into larger hospital systems.
Hospital seeks bank qualified debt to help with replacement facility – Iowa
Later during the public hearing Eller said he thought the hospital was facing the worst case.
Eller stated, "You mentioned about your comments on bankruptcy and tax increase were the worst case scenario. I certainly accept that. I didn't understand at the time, but if you say that, I have no problem with it.
"Given that, it seems to me that you are now facing the worst case. Medicare is going bankrupt; everybody knows that. This board is moving dangerously with health care. If this hospital goes into bankruptcy this hospital will be acquired by another hospital and we will be a way station. This will put the entire community of Crawford County back, back. We don't need that. We need success."
Civista asks for loan to avoid bond default - Maryland
Stefanides said that the hospital's cash shortage is primarily due to a slumping economy in which many patients have been unable to pay their medical bills. She said the hospital has cut expenses and is seeking bad debt relief from the state's insurance commission.
"We've had a very steep increase in self-pay accounts and bad debt," Stefanides said. "Hopefully, we're seeing the bottom of this economic downturn."
And one in the Netherlands…
The IJsselmeer hospital in Lelystad will be declared officially bankrupt unless a bank or insurance company can be found to take it over by November 7, according to an official report into the hospital’s difficulties.
The hospital, which was already in financial difficulties, hit the headlines in September when it emerged that operations were being carried out in non-sterile conditions.
Six approaches to take over the hospital have already been made, including private companies and other hospitals, said advisor Leon Lodewijk, who wrote the report, in Wednesday’s Volkskrant.
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