The hospital has cash reserves according one one report that could help survival for another year or maybe two. What was interesting to see was the “hospital pantry” which looks like a great idea to provide patients healthy food right on their way out the door, like a small grocery store with canned goods and other food items to help people get on the right track.
The hospital is not alone with budget concerns as others in the region are looking at the same thing. I just read in the last day or so that there are thoughts that the Boston Zoo may also have to close and many animals euthanized due to lack of money. The grants for taking care of the uninsured have disappeared with the state insurance plan, which some are saying is in part what had lead to this situation. BD
Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital Shrinking Lab and Research Facilities – Not Enough Grant Money to Cover all Bases
Boston Medical Center, the state’s largest provider of medical treatment to the poor, is bracing for dramatic financial losses, which some fear will force it to slash programs and jeopardize care for thousands of poverty-stricken families.
Ironically, hospital officials blame the downturn partly on changes ushered in with the state’s groundbreaking mandatory health insurance law, which Boston Medical Center supported and that benefited many of its patients. As part of the law, the state phased out special subsidies for hospitals that treat large numbers of poor patients, a significant shock for Boston Medical Center.
About half the hospital’s 400,000 patients live below or near the poverty line, and English is not the first language of 30 percent of the patients. Its emergency room is the city’s busiest, with doctors and nurses renowned for their skill at treating victims of mayhem.
“There’s no reserves in the hospitals that I represent. These hospitals are broke with a capital B,’’ Senator Michael Knapik, Republican of Westfield, told his colleagues during a budget debate last month. “You’ve got to understand that all healthcare doesn’t begin and end in Boston.’’
Earlier this year, Boston Medical Center laid off about 250 people and took other measures to save $40 million. Hospital officials disputed the state’s contention that its costs are out of line, saying they are average compared with costs at other large Boston teaching hospitals.
At the hospital food pantry last week, believed to be the only one at a hospital in the country, patients handed staff “prescriptions’’ that their doctors had given them. Doctors refer patients for specific problems, such as needing a low-salt diet for high blood pressure, but also if they discover a family simply doesn’t have enough to eat. The shelves were piled high with canned tuna, kidney beans and black beans, unsweetened applesauce, whole grain and regular pasta, peanut butter, boxed cranberry bread, and chocolate muffin mix.
Boston Medical Center forecasts first loss in five years - The Boston Globe
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