Hospitals and Doctors Financials not Improving

<p> The only bright spot in the report were the stocks with the “for profit” companies which were rising.  The number with a negative return almost <a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/Six43VSL-TI/AAAAAAAAQHs/rpGi-Xv9He4/s1600-h/image%5B12%5D.png"><img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="60" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/Six44EoEciI/AAAAAAAAQHw/p9Iv1cT1__A/image_thumb%5B8%5D.png?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; margin-left: 0px; border-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; border-right: 0px" title="image" width="164" /></a>doubled from last year’s first quarter report for those not in the profit business.  I see the partnership thing here in Orange County all day long and I have also posted about a company that helps locate shared space.  This seems like a good place for another link.  </p> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/06/share-medical-space-find-or-share.html"><font size="2">Share Medical Space – Find or Share Medical Office Space Online…</font></a></h4> <p>Here’s one other that might be of help for physicians, the No Insurance club.</p> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2009/04/no-insurance-club-interview-with-chad.html"><font size="2">The No Insurance Club – Interview with Chad Harris, Director</font></a></h4> <p>This is an entire revolving circle, which goes from research and development, bringing a product to market, seeing the doctors, getting the treatment <a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/Six45DATFCI/AAAAAAAAQH0/_H98zYT_F8g/s1600-h/image%5B10%5D.png"><img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="54" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/Six45vGMQaI/AAAAAAAAQH4/tCAwcadQvbQ/image_thumb%5B6%5D.png?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; margin-left: 0px; border-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; border-right: 0px" title="image" width="151" /></a>and being able to put some kind of a lid on all of it.  Other than outsourcing everything how do we solve the issues?  Do we finally just set one big budget dollar and live with it?  </p> <p>Once a company has outsourced, there little and no chance of a return, just economic facts, unfortunately.  The related reading below has monthly recaps on the “Desperate Hospitals” series.  BD  </p> <blockquote> <p>Hospitals are suffering through the recession, many of them cutting staff for the first time, but some for-profit hospitals are doing surprisingly well, speakers said Friday at the annual South Florida Healthcare Summit.</p> <p>More than 200 people attending the conference in Davie heard what was basically a grim financial outlook for their industry.</p> <p><strong>Caroline Rossi Steinberg, a trends specialist with the American Hospital Association, said 43 percent of hospitals surveyed reported a negative net return for the first quarter, compared with 26 percent for the same period last year.</strong> </p> <p><strong>Many doctors are also hurting, Steinberg said. Sixty-five percent of hospitals surveyed said they had seen increased numbers of doctors seeking employment, partnerships or help in purchasing equipment.</strong></p> <p>Hospitals were cutting overtime and expensive contract workers. They were also using the economic crisis to squeeze wage reductions out of their staffs, which agreed to them ``for fear of losing their jobs.''</p> </blockquote> <p><a href="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/breaking-news/story/1083470.html">Hospitals get grim financial news - Breaking News - MiamiHerald.com</a></p> <p><strong><u>Related Reading:</u></strong></p> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2009/05/desperate-hospitals-may-2009.html"><font size="1">Desperate Hospitals – May 2009</font></a></h4> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2009/04/desperate-hospitals-update-april-2009.html">Desperate Hospitals Update – April 2009</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2009/03/desperate-hospitals-march-2009-update.html">Desperate Hospitals – March 2009 Update</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2009/02/desperate-hospitals-february-2009.html">Desperate Hospitals – February 2009 Update</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/11/desperate-hospitals-updated-november-21.html">Desperate Hospitals – Updated November 21, 2008</a></h6> <p><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/09/desperate-hospitals-september-2008.html"><font size="1">Desperate Hospitals – September 2008</font></a></p> <h6><font color="#669966"></font></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2007/11/memorial-health-services-announces-sale.html"><font color="#669966"></font></a></h6> <a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/10/desperate-hospitals-chicago-hospital.html"><font size="1">Desperate Hospitals: Chicago Hospital Hangs For Sale Sign</font></a> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/08/desperate-hospitals-hawaii-what-is.html">Desperate Hospitals - Hawaii- What is happening to our Hospital System?</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/08/desperate-hospitals-august-29-continued.html">Desperate Hospitals - August 29 (Continued)</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/08/more-desperate-hospitals-miami-fl-and.html">More Desperate Hospitals - Miami, FL and Cape Cod, MA</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/08/hopeful-prognosis-desperate-hospitals.html">A hopeful prognosis - Desperate "California" Hospitals</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/08/desperate-hospitals-century-city.html">Desperate Hospitals - Century City Doctors Hospital (Los Angeles) begins shutting down, others file Chapter 11 to reorganize</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/08/new-new-jersey-law-to-pinpoint.html">New New Jersey law to pinpoint financially troubled hospitals - "Desperate Hospitals"</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/09/bankruptcy-bug-hits-hospitals-desperate.html">Bankruptcy Bug Hits Hospitals – Desperate Hospitals</a></h6> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:06444ebf-dd6b-4a07-a1c5-f84cac4a4def" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent">Technorati Tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Desperate+Hospitals" rel="tag">Desperate Hospitals</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/healthcare" rel="tag">healthcare</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/layoffs" rel="tag">layoffs</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/budget+cuts" rel="tag">budget cuts</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/technology" rel="tag">technology</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Health+IT" rel="tag">Health IT</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Obama+Health+Care+Plan" rel="tag">Obama Health Care Plan</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/bankruptcy" rel="tag">bankruptcy</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/ShareMedicalSpace" rel="tag">ShareMedicalSpace</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/NoInsuranceClub" rel="tag">NoInsuranceClub</a></div>

Hospitals and Doctors Financials not Improving

The only bright spot in the report were the stocks with the “for profit” companies which were rising.  The number with a negative return al...

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American Hospital Association seeking help from Congress too

<p> This is not really anything new today as we have all heard about the projects being delayed or cancelled based on not enough money, so now the AHA is swinging in to action as well.  With the current state of affairs with the economy, the resources available to hospitals are also dwindling in size.  BD  </p> <p>I have an entire series that gets updated from time to time called <strong>“Desperate Hospitals”</strong> and you can use the links below to view each update.  This is the latest update and prior posts are listed below the article.  BD  </p> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2009/01/desperate-hospitals-january-2009-update.html">Desperate Hospitals – January 2009 Update</a></h4> <blockquote> <p>The <a href="http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/gen/American_Hospital_Association_D57AC92822854681BF213DB31F02C552.html"><strong>American Hospital Association</strong></a> is lobbying for more help from the federal stimulus package being debated in Congress, arguing that <img align="right" height="176" src="http://lh5.google.com/DucknetServices/R7zqj2lNEkI/AAAAAAAADGk/oGkA0r0fnNw/image_thumb%5B1%5D?imgmax=800" width="128" />hospitals are delaying or canceling upgrades that would benefit their communities.</p> <p>Nationally, 45 percent of hospitals say they’ve delayed capital projects that had been scheduled for the next six months, and 13 percent said they’ve halted projects altogether, according to a survey by the association. Some respondents answered “yes” to both questions.</p> <p>“Making these renovations and upgrades do more than just improve care. They create jobs,” said group CEO Rich Umbdenstock. “In tough economic times, health care is especially vital.”</p> <p>“As the House considers their plan this week, we hope this survey helps them keep in mind the tremendous economic needs hospitals serve,” Umbdenstock said.</p> <p><strong>A provision in the House version of the stimulus package would help by giving incentives to banks that buy tax-exempt bonds, a key financing source for nonprofit hospitals, said AHA lobbyist Mike Rock.</strong></p> <p>“We’re hoping a provision like that can not only encourage banks to buy bonds but also in kind of a second-hand way get the market moving again,” he said in a conference call with reporters.</p> </blockquote> <p><a href="http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/stories/2009/01/19/daily46.html">Hospitals seeking help from stimulus - Business First of Columbus:</a></p> <p><strong><u>Related Reading:</u></strong></p> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/11/desperate-hospitals-updated-november-21.html">Desperate Hospitals – Updated November 21, 2008</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/08/homeless-patient-spent-hospital-money.html">Homeless patient spent hospital money on crack</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/03/pacific-health-to-buy-anaheim-memorial.html">Pacific Health to buy Anaheim Memorial</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2007/11/memorial-health-services-announces-sale.html">Memorial Health Services Announces Sale of Anaheim Memorial Medical Center</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/10/desperate-hospitals-chicago-hospital.html">Desperate Hospitals: Chicago Hospital Hangs For Sale Sign</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/08/desperate-hospitals-hawaii-what-is.html">Desperate Hospitals - Hawaii- What is happening to our Hospital System?</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/08/desperate-hospitals-august-29-continued.html">Desperate Hospitals - August 29 (Continued)</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/08/more-desperate-hospitals-miami-fl-and.html">More Desperate Hospitals - Miami, FL and Cape Cod, MA</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/08/hopeful-prognosis-desperate-hospitals.html">A hopeful prognosis - Desperate "California" Hospitals</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/08/desperate-hospitals-century-city.html">Desperate Hospitals - Century City Doctors Hospital (Los Angeles) begins shutting down, others file Chapter 11 to reorganize</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/08/new-new-jersey-law-to-pinpoint.html">New New Jersey law to pinpoint financially troubled hospitals - "Desperate Hospitals"</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/08/desperate-hospitals-as-featured-today.html">Desperate Hospitals? (As Featured today in the WSJ)</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/10/battle-of-medical-bills-where-nobody.html">The battle of the medical bills where nobody but the insurers win</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/10/hospitals-protest-new-california-rules.html">Hospitals protest new California rules on patient balance billing</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/09/cape-cod-hospital-gets-10m-gift.html">Cape Cod hospital gets $10M gift</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/09/bankruptcy-bug-hits-hospitals-desperate.html">Bankruptcy Bug Hits Hospitals – Desperate Hospitals</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/09/desperate-hospitals-september-2008.html">Desperate Hospitals – September 2008</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/09/desperate-hospitals-hospitals-in-hands.html">Desperate Hospitals: Hospitals in Hands of Voters - Arkansas</a></h6> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:a1400ef2-8936-4808-837b-08c90349593e" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent">Technorati Tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Hospitals" rel="tag">Hospitals</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/AHA" rel="tag">AHA</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/American+Hospital+Association" rel="tag">American Hospital Association</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/healthcare" rel="tag">healthcare</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/bailout" rel="tag">bailout</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Congress" rel="tag">Congress</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Health+stimulus" rel="tag">Health stimulus</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/insolvency" rel="tag">insolvency</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/desperate+hospitals" rel="tag">desperate hospitals</a></div>

American Hospital Association seeking help from Congress too

This is not really anything new today as we have all heard about the projects being delayed or cancelled based on not enough money, so now ...

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Hospital Lay Offs Will Hit an All Time High for 2009 - AMA

<p> The article from the AMA also said that layoffs started to slide down a bit toward the end of the year, not as many, which I saw too as I didn’t have the substantial material to keep up with my “<a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2009/04/desperate-hospitals-update-april-2009.html">Desperate Hospitals”</a> series.  We still have items as in Hawaii where the system is continuing to lose money.  </p> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2009/11/hospitals-in-hawaii-continue-to-lose.html"><font size="2">Hospitals in Hawaii Continue to Lose Money – Desperate Hospitals</font></a><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/08/desperate-hospitals-century-city.html"><img align="right" border="0" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/SeJhp1O8iCI/AAAAAAAAPIA/8DftHO9sHW8/image_thumb[8].png?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; margin-left: 0px; border-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; border-right: 0px" /></a> </h4> <p>In April, 2009 I had a huge list and it somewhat tapered off a bit from there.  <strong>55% at last note of the hospitals in the US are still operating in the red, take note on this number.</strong>  </p> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2009/04/desperate-hospitals-update-april-2009.html"><font size="2">Desperate Hospitals Update – April 2009</font></a></h4> <p>For the main picture in the “desperate series” I always liked to include a picture of the <strong><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/08/desperate-hospitals-century-city.html">hospital in Century City,</a></strong> which sits on the outskirts of Beverly Hills, right in the middle of Century City where big conglomerates like AIG, Shell Oil and others have their big corporate offices.  This hospital was in walking distance of these offices and yet ran out of money and closed.    It had a DaVinci robot and all the conveniences of any hospital and then some, even to ordering from Wolfgang Puck and the movie with Jack Nicholson running a hospital (The Bucket List) was partially filmed there. </p> <p>The hospital even installed <a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/02/century-city-doctors-hospital-implement.html">Open Vista for their medical records</a>, in record time too and worked with Keane from Massachusetts on the deal.  </p> <p>It was owned by doctors trying to do a good job and nobody would lend or donate enough money, sad.  You <strong>can see where healthcare falls in the line of corporate America, at the bottom of the list. </strong> In view of what happened here with this hospital, it became my poster child with the ultimate display on the big business/healthcare scene  - nobody would invest and gave a darn about healthcare and that about sums it up.  BD    </p> <blockquote> <p>Mass layoffs of hospital staff will hit an all-time peak when the final numbers for 2009 are tallied, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data released Dec. 22, 2009.</p> <p>The year ended better than it started for hospital staffing. "Things have started coming down. There's no question about that," said Patrick Carey, a Bureau of Labor Statistics economist.</p> <p>"Hospitals are continuing to struggle to serve and survive during this challenging economic time," said Howard A. Peters, senior vice president of the Illinois Hospital Assn. "Until we see a turnaround with people going back to work with good benefits including health care, this is going to continue to be a challenging time for hospitals."</p> <p>According to a survey by the American Hospital Assn. released Nov. 11, 2009, 87% of the 768 CEO respondents made changes to address economic challenges. Approximately 51% reduced staff.</p> </blockquote> <p><a href="news: Hospital layoffs likely to hit all-time yearly high :: Jan. 18, 2010 ... American Medical News">amednews: Hospital layoffs likely to hit all-time yearly high :: Jan. 18, 2010 ... American Medical News</a></p> <p><strong><u>Related Reading</u></strong></p> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2009/03/desperate-hospitals-march-2009-update.html">Desperate Hospitals – March 2009 Update</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2009/02/desperate-hospitals-february-2009.html">Desperate Hospitals – February 2009 Update</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/11/desperate-hospitals-updated-november-21.html">Desperate Hospitals – Updated November 21, 2008</a></h6> <p><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/09/desperate-hospitals-september-2008.html"><font size="1">Desperate Hospitals – September 2008</font></a></p> <h6><font color="#669966"></font></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2007/11/memorial-health-services-announces-sale.html"><font color="#669966"></font></a></h6> <a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/10/desperate-hospitals-chicago-hospital.html"><font size="1">Desperate Hospitals: Chicago Hospital Hangs For Sale Sign</font></a> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/08/desperate-hospitals-hawaii-what-is.html">Desperate Hospitals - Hawaii- What is happening to our Hospital System?</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/08/desperate-hospitals-august-29-continued.html">Desperate Hospitals - August 29 (Continued)</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/08/more-desperate-hospitals-miami-fl-and.html">More Desperate Hospitals - Miami, FL and Cape Cod, MA</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/08/hopeful-prognosis-desperate-hospitals.html">A hopeful prognosis - Desperate "California" Hospitals</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/08/desperate-hospitals-century-city.html">Desperate Hospitals - Century City Doctors Hospital (Los Angeles) begins shutting down, others file Chapter 11 to reorganize</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/08/new-new-jersey-law-to-pinpoint.html">New New Jersey law to pinpoint financially troubled hospitals - "Desperate Hospitals"</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/09/bankruptcy-bug-hits-hospitals-desperate.html">Bankruptcy Bug Hits Hospitals – Desperate Hospitals</a></h6> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:49b5b880-4d0f-4cd9-b649-1448b3fb407c" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent">Technorati Tags: <a href="http://www.example.com/Desperate+Hospitals" rel="tag">Desperate Hospitals</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/Hospital+Layoffs" rel="tag">Hospital Layoffs</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/Hospital+Budgets" rel="tag">Hospital Budgets</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/Medicaid" rel="tag">Medicaid</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/heatlhcare" rel="tag">heatlhcare</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/ecnonomy" rel="tag">ecnonomy</a>, <a href="http://www.example.com/Medical+Quack" rel="tag">Medical Quack</a></div>

Hospital Lay Offs Will Hit an All Time High for 2009 - AMA

The article from the AMA also said that layoffs started to slide down a bit toward the end of the year, not as many, which I saw too as I d...

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Medicaid payments to hospitals for their outpatient service cut – December 8th

<p> Hopefully the new President and cabinet will offer some relief in this areas.  50% of the hospitals in the US already are either bordering on insolvency or getting very close.  In the related reading below there is an entire series on Desperate Hospitals that describe how many are coping and how some have closed under economic pressure in the last few months, not a pretty picture.  BD  </p> <blockquote> <p>Just as the economic crisis is driving many workers into the ranks of the unemployed and uninsured, the Bush administration has callously decided to reduce Medicaid payments to hospitals for their outpatient services. With tax revenues collapsing, many states will be unable to pay their share of Medicaid costs, let alone make up for the loss of federal support.</p> <p>The hospitals can continue to provide such services. But they will now be reimbursed at the much lower rates for other Medicaid providers.</p> </blockquote> <p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/12/opinion/12wed2.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss&pagewanted=all&oref=slogin">Editorial - Wrong Move at the Wrong Time - NYTimes.com</a></p> <p><strong>Hat Tip:  </strong><a href="http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2008/11/with-medicaid-cuts-looming-guess-whos.html" target="_blank"><strong>Kevin, MD</strong></a></p> <p><u><strong>Related Reading:</strong></u></p> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/11/desperate-hospitals-series-11-02-2008.html"><font size="1">Desperate Hospitals Series – 11-02-2008 Update</font></a></h4> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/10/desperate-hospitals-chicago-hospital.html">Desperate Hospitals: Chicago Hospital Hangs For Sale Sign</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/08/desperate-hospitals-hawaii-what-is.html">Desperate Hospitals - Hawaii- What is happening to our Hospital System?</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/08/desperate-hospitals-august-29-continued.html">Desperate Hospitals - August 29 (Continued)</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/08/concerns-over-large-not-for-profit.html">Concerns Over Large Not-for-Profit Hospital System</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/08/desperate-hospitals-grady-financial.html">Desperate Hospitals - Grady's financial cure in question</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/08/more-desperate-hospitals-miami-fl-and.html">More Desperate Hospitals - Miami, FL and Cape Cod, MA</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/08/hopeful-prognosis-desperate-hospitals.html">A hopeful prognosis - Desperate "California" Hospitals</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/08/desperate-hospitals-century-city.html">Desperate Hospitals - Century City Doctors Hospital (Los Angeles) begins shutting down, others file Chapter 11 to reorganize</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/08/new-new-jersey-law-to-pinpoint.html">New New Jersey law to pinpoint financially troubled hospitals - "Desperate Hospitals"</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/08/desperate-hospitals-as-featured-today.html">Desperate Hospitals? (As Featured today in the WSJ)</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/10/battle-of-medical-bills-where-nobody.html">The battle of the medical bills where nobody but the insurers win</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/10/hospitals-protest-new-california-rules.html">Hospitals protest new California rules on patient balance billing</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/09/cape-cod-hospital-gets-10m-gift.html">Cape Cod hospital gets $10M gift</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/09/bankruptcy-bug-hits-hospitals-desperate.html">Bankruptcy Bug Hits Hospitals – Desperate Hospitals</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/09/desperate-hospitals-september-2008.html">Desperate Hospitals – September 2008</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/09/desperate-hospitals-hospitals-in-hands.html">Desperate Hospitals: Hospitals in Hands of Voters - Arkansas</a></h6> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:97186c44-ae42-4470-af25-9750578a105e" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent">Technorati Tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Desperate+Hospitals" rel="tag">Desperate Hospitals</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Medicaid" rel="tag">Medicaid</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/healthcare" rel="tag">healthcare</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/budget+cuts" rel="tag">budget cuts</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/outpatient+services" rel="tag">outpatient services</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/hospitals" rel="tag">hospitals</a></div>

Medicaid payments to hospitals for their outpatient service cut – December 8th

Hopefully the new President and cabinet will offer some relief in this areas.  50% of the hospitals in the US already are either bordering ...

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Massachusetts Desperate Hospitals - MetroWest Medical Center's vital signs are weak

<p>According to the article, there’s still time to save the hospitals and no plans on closing at this point, but it’s the same thing faced all over the US, no money, and 50% of the hospitals in the US border on solvency, and sure hate to see that number rise by any means.<a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/SQtbbARBOvI/AAAAAAAAJv4/kaaEj2ekbvg/s1600-h/image%5B3%5D.png"><img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="117" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/SQtbcjiOCrI/AAAAAAAAJv8/_H5n8PgavVg/image_thumb%5B1%5D.png?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; margin-left: 0px; border-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; border-right: 0px" title="image" width="156" /></a>  Growing the business saddled with low reimbursements is not getting the job done.</p> <p>Unfortunately, there’s a lot of related reading on this matter on the series I did called <strong>“Desperate Hospitals”</strong> over the last couple months.  BD</p> <p>FRAMINGHAM — MetroWest Medical Center executives held a meeting with legislators and business leaders yesterday to tell them the institution's two hospitals are losing money and need help remaining viable.</p> <p>While there are no plans to close the Framingham Union and Leonard Morse campuses, executives said the two facilities lost a combined $4.2 million this quarter, including operating expenses that ended $360,000 in the red.</p> <p><strong>"This institution is unfortunately under financial duress," said Joseph Mullany, regional president for parent company Vanguard Health Systems.  "<u>The more I grow the business, the more I lose,"</u> he said. "So something has to change."</strong></p> <p><strong><u>Related Reading:</u></strong></p> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/10/desperate-hospitals-chicago-hospital.html">Desperate Hospitals: Chicago Hospital Hangs For Sale Sign</a></h4> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/08/desperate-hospitals-hawaii-what-is.html">Desperate Hospitals - Hawaii- What is happening to our Hospital System?</a></h4> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/08/desperate-hospitals-august-29-continued.html">Desperate Hospitals - August 29 (Continued)</a></h4> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/08/concerns-over-large-not-for-profit.html">Concerns Over Large Not-for-Profit Hospital System</a></h4> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/08/desperate-hospitals-grady-financial.html">Desperate Hospitals - Grady's financial cure in question</a></h4> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/08/more-desperate-hospitals-miami-fl-and.html">More Desperate Hospitals - Miami, FL and Cape Cod, MA</a></h4> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/08/hopeful-prognosis-desperate-hospitals.html">A hopeful prognosis - Desperate "California" Hospitals</a></h4> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/08/desperate-hospitals-century-city.html">Desperate Hospitals - Century City Doctors Hospital (Los Angeles) begins shutting down, others file Chapter 11 to reorganize</a></h4> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/08/new-new-jersey-law-to-pinpoint.html">New New Jersey law to pinpoint financially troubled hospitals - "Desperate Hospitals"</a></h4> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/08/desperate-hospitals-as-featured-today.html">Desperate Hospitals? (As Featured today in the WSJ)</a></h4> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/10/battle-of-medical-bills-where-nobody.html">The battle of the medical bills where nobody but the insurers win</a></h4> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/10/hospitals-protest-new-california-rules.html">Hospitals protest new California rules on patient balance billing</a></h4> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/09/cape-cod-hospital-gets-10m-gift.html">Cape Cod hospital gets $10M gift</a></h4> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/09/bankruptcy-bug-hits-hospitals-desperate.html">Bankruptcy Bug Hits Hospitals – Desperate Hospitals</a></h4> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/09/desperate-hospitals-september-2008.html">Desperate Hospitals – September 2008</a></h4> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/09/desperate-hospitals-hospitals-in-hands.html">Desperate Hospitals: Hospitals in Hands of Voters - Arkansas</a></h4> <p><a href="http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/lifestyle/health_and_environment/x2081380321/MetroWest-Medical-Centers-vital-signs-are-weak?view=print">http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/lifestyle/health_and_environment/x2081380321/MetroWest-Medical-Centers-vital-signs-are-weak?view=print</a></p> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:24dab377-e1ee-4781-8349-af83f8cb2536" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent">Technorati Tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Hospitals" rel="tag">Hospitals</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Bankruptcy" rel="tag">Bankruptcy</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Desperate+Hospitals" rel="tag">Desperate Hospitals</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Budgets" rel="tag">Budgets</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Heatlh+Insurance" rel="tag">Heatlh Insurance</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Finances" rel="tag">Finances</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Insolvency" rel="tag">Insolvency</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Heatlhcare" rel="tag">Heatlhcare</a></div>

Massachusetts Desperate Hospitals - MetroWest Medical Center's vital signs are weak

According to the article, there’s still time to save the hospitals and no plans on closing at this point, but it’s the same thing faced all ...

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Desperate Hospitals – Updated November 21, 2008

<p>This is an update of some of the hospitals in the news either filing for bankruptcy, trying to recover from bankruptcy, working to maintain and stay open, and other drastic cut backs by those trying to avoid getting to the bottom with their algorithms for planning and projections, which we hope works.  BD  </p> <p><strong>In the meantime, we have insurers with extra cash cows like Blue Cross opening up Venture Capital Organizations to invest their profits</strong>, but it doesn’t appear that hospitals will make the list as they are looking for returns on money invested. <a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/SSh5y4tQXCI/AAAAAAAAJ98/3RssaOj_ITU/s1600-h/image%5B3%5D.png"><img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="173" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/SSh5z6uLBVI/AAAAAAAAJ-A/mx3CRQ4Q_oU/image_thumb%5B1%5D.png?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; margin-left: 0px; border-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; border-right: 0px" title="image" width="152" /></a> </p> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/11/bluecross-blueshield-create-new-venture.html"><em><font size="1">BlueCross BlueShield Create New Venture Capital Organization</font></em></a></h4> <p><em><font size="1">Sandbox Industries will be the responsible party to manage the 116 million dollar fund.  Interesting that their first investment was an EHR/data integrator health service.  The information management portion consolidates and integrates data through the HL7 format.  They also offer services to other entities outside of healthcare to include banking, hospitality and others. </font></em></p> <p><em><font size="1">As areas keep expanding, first we had the Blue Cross Bank and now the <strong>Blue Cross/Blue Shield Venture Capitalists</strong>.  This investment was 5 million so there’s 101 million left in the till, what will be next, wish we could just get the claims paid.  BD</font></em>  </p> <p><strong>In the meantime we are seeing large institutions dropping clinical trial service,</strong> and smaller hospitals scrambling to get on the “hospital branding” bandwagon, but for some <strong>that option might be coming a little too late</strong>, as the branding that has already taken place has established major medical facilities in their own rights at present, so again, to do so now could be a little late in the game and it might be more productive to work with one of the major branded facilities at this point.  </p> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/11/mayo-clinic-says-goodbye-to-clinical.html"><font size="1">Mayo Clinic Says Goodbye to clinical services in the US</font></a></h4> <h6> <p>This also means some folks will be losing jobs as well.  The unit has been in place since 1991 and has provided information on over 1,000 trials.  This is just one more sign of how the face of the pharmaceutical business is changing.</p> <h6><font size="2">Here’s the list of news for this week and unfortunately the related reading of past posts keeps growing.  BD</font></h6> </h6> <p> <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/23/nyregion/thecity/23disp.html?_r=1&oref=slogin">In Long Island New York</a></p> <blockquote>LONG ISLAND COLLEGE HOSPITAL has stood at the northwestern corner of Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, overlooking the harbor for 150 years, so its presence in the surrounding neighborhoods cannot be boiled down to a single anecdote. It has been there for births and deaths and the large and small crises in between: a case of a school principal with whooping cough, say, or a professor with a sprained ankle. Now it is the hospital that is in danger. Continuum Health Partners, the company that runs it, says the hospital is in deep debt and facing bankruptcy, and has sought to close its maternity and pediatric units, among others. For neighbors, the uncertainties are deeply unsettling: Will the hospital still be there in two months? If so, what will be left? If not, what will this corner of Brooklyn do without it?</blockquote> <p><a href="Integra Hospital Plano LLC, the Plano rehabilitation hospital that opened about a year and a half ago with plans to be the flagship for a chain of rehabilitation hospitals, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.">In Plano, TX</a> </p> <p>Integra Hospital Plano LLC, the Plano rehabilitation hospital that opened about a year and a half ago with plans to be the flagship for a chain of rehabilitation hospitals, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.</p> <p><a href="Integra Hospital Plano LLC, the Plano rehabilitation hospital that opened about a year and a half ago with plans to be the flagship for a chain of rehabilitation hospitals, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.">In Baton Rouge, LA</a> </p> <p>Integra also filed bankruptcy protection for Integra Hospital Baton Rouge LLC located in Baton Rouge, La. and its affiliated Plano-based health companies — Integra Hospital Management LLC and Integra Healthcare Holdings Ltd.</p> <p><a href="http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2008/11/judge_dismisses_carraway_bankr.html">In Birmingham, AL</a></p> <p>The federal bankruptcy judge overseeing the bankruptcy filing of Physicians Medical Center Carraway dismissed the case this morning, saying there was not much more to do other than to allow the hospital's two secured creditors to liquidate the assets.</p> <p><a name="more"></a></p> <p>Physicians Medical Center Carraway filed for bankruptcy protection Oct. 20 and had all patients transferred to other hospitals two days later. Employees were paid for the time they worked, but most of the 1,000 employees lost their jobs on the day of filing.</p> <p><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=av_gMkiT2a60&refer=us">In Woonsocket, Rhode Island</a></p> <p>The hospital, 14 miles (23 kilometers) north of Providence, is operating under a court-appointed supervisor, who’s seeking a buyer to keep the facility open. </p> <p>“This is, by far, the worst I’ve ever seen in all the years I’ve been in business,” said Ronald Del Mauro, chief executive officer of West Orange, New Jersey-based <a href="http://www.saintbarnabas.com/">Saint Barnabas Health Care System</a>, which operates six hospitals and nine nursing homes. </p> <p><a href="http://www.dailyrecord.com/article/20081121/OPINION02/811210370/1005/NEWS01">In Morristown, New Jersey</a></p> <p>Since 2002, Horizon Healthcare Services, Inc. -- parent company of Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey -- has reported cumulative profits in excess of $1 billion. That represents a 41 percent increase over 2002 reported net income. Horizon also had accumulated $1.6 billion in reserves as of the end of last year.</p> <p>During this same period, Newton Memorial Hospital has experienced steady declines in net operating revenue and a significant operating loss for 2007 in excess of $5 million and a projected loss for 2008 of the same magnitude. A perfect storm of state and federal budget cuts, unfavorable market dynamics and rising costs have contributed to these negative financial results.</p> <p><a href="http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/179/story/321545.html">In Hammonton, New Jersey</a> </p> <p>HAMMONTON - The community around William B. Kessler Memorial Hospital must loan it $5 million by mid-January to keep the doors open, the once-bankrupt hospital's new administration said Wednesday. </p> <p>Federal law requires each loan be $25,000 or more, said Brian Sacco, a spokesman for new chief executive officer Jim Rossi.</p> <p>Rossi's marketing firm plans weekly announcements of fundraising progress. Leaders of nonprofit organizations in town, people who are no strangers to fundraising, said they're hopeful but skeptical.</p> <p><a href="http://www.candgnews.com/Homepage-Articles/2008/11-12-08/RG-BEAUMONT.asp">In Beaumont, Texas</a></p> <p>ROYAL OAK — Beaumont Hospitals will eliminate 500 positions, cut pay to executives and salaried physicians and slow construction projects to help reduce costs as the hospital system expects to report a $22 million loss in annual revenue at the end of this year.</p> <p>“What we’ve found is that hospitals are no longer recession proof,” said Ken Matzick, president and CEO of the hospital system.</p> <p><strong><u>Related Reading:</u></strong></p> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/11/hospital-branding-is-most-expensive.html"><font size="1">Hospital Branding – Is the Most Expensive Always the Best?</font></a></h4> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/11/desperate-hospitals-series-11-02-2008.html"><font size="1">Desperate Hospitals Series – 11-02-2008 Update</font></a></h4> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/10/desperate-hospitals-chicago-hospital.html">Desperate Hospitals: Chicago Hospital Hangs For Sale Sign</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/08/desperate-hospitals-hawaii-what-is.html">Desperate Hospitals - Hawaii- What is happening to our Hospital System?</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/08/desperate-hospitals-august-29-continued.html">Desperate Hospitals - August 29 (Continued)</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/08/concerns-over-large-not-for-profit.html">Concerns Over Large Not-for-Profit Hospital System</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/08/desperate-hospitals-grady-financial.html">Desperate Hospitals - Grady's financial cure in question</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/08/more-desperate-hospitals-miami-fl-and.html">More Desperate Hospitals - Miami, FL and Cape Cod, MA</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/08/hopeful-prognosis-desperate-hospitals.html">A hopeful prognosis - Desperate "California" Hospitals</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/08/desperate-hospitals-century-city.html">Desperate Hospitals - Century City Doctors Hospital (Los Angeles) begins shutting down, others file Chapter 11 to reorganize</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/08/new-new-jersey-law-to-pinpoint.html">New New Jersey law to pinpoint financially troubled hospitals - "Desperate Hospitals"</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/08/desperate-hospitals-as-featured-today.html">Desperate Hospitals? (As Featured today in the WSJ)</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/10/battle-of-medical-bills-where-nobody.html">The battle of the medical bills where nobody but the insurers win</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/10/hospitals-protest-new-california-rules.html">Hospitals protest new California rules on patient balance billing</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/09/cape-cod-hospital-gets-10m-gift.html">Cape Cod hospital gets $10M gift</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/09/bankruptcy-bug-hits-hospitals-desperate.html">Bankruptcy Bug Hits Hospitals – Desperate Hospitals</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/09/desperate-hospitals-september-2008.html">Desperate Hospitals – September 2008</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/09/desperate-hospitals-hospitals-in-hands.html">Desperate Hospitals: Hospitals in Hands of Voters - Arkansas</a></h6> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:591ad541-6f5a-4bbc-92fd-e29d67e5881e" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent">Technorati Tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Insolvency" rel="tag">Insolvency</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Hospitals" rel="tag">Hospitals</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Desperate+Hospitals" rel="tag">Desperate Hospitals</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Healthcare" rel="tag">Healthcare</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Bankruptcy" rel="tag">Bankruptcy</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Prime+Healthcare" rel="tag">Prime Healthcare</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Health+Insurance" rel="tag">Health Insurance</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Economy" rel="tag">Economy</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Chapter+11" rel="tag">Chapter 11</a></div>

Desperate Hospitals – Updated November 21, 2008

This is an update of some of the hospitals in the news either filing for bankruptcy, trying to recover from bankruptcy, working to maintain ...

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Hospital News – California and Pennsylvania Money Issues

<p> In California hospitals need to retrofitted to meet earthquake standards by the years 2013 and 1015 and most surveyed felt they were not going to be able to meet the deadline, which could in time force more closures.  In Pennsylvania more hospitals are sliding into the red, big jump of over 20% with an erosion retaining staff and health IT initiatives being put on hold.  Also worth noting is the situation in Arizona where the capitol buildings may<a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/SnKNZqbpebI/AAAAAAAAZMY/2eQNBI2NQoo/s1600-h/image%5B4%5D.png"><img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="122" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/SnKNaw4V7pI/AAAAAAAAZMc/BON_q09tJAo/image_thumb%5B2%5D.png?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; margin-left: 0px; border-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; border-right: 0px" title="image" width="178" /></a> need to be sold and leased back as funds are running out.  BD    </p> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2009/07/arizona-may-sell-government-buildings.html"><font size="2">Arizona May Sell Government Buildings Including the State House, Senate, and a Hospital</font></a> </h4> <blockquote> <p><a href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/07/30/BA6B191LLK.DTL">A majority of California hospitals</a> won't be able to meet state-mandated deadlines for seismic retrofitting because of the nation's credit crunch and their own deteriorating revenues, according to a report issued Thursday by the California Hospital Association.</p> <p>Under state law, the state could force hospitals to close if they fail to meet the deadlines. About a third of the state's 430 hospitals responded to the survey. </p> <p><a href="http://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/stories/2009/07/27/daily49.html">Pennsylvania’s general acute-care hospitals</a> are continuing to struggle with the ongoing recession, according to the <strong>Hospital & Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania</strong> trade group.</p> <p>The survey also found the percentage of hospitals with a negative total margin increased from 31 percent to 55 percent over the same period.</p> <p>“With more than half of Pennsylvania’s hospitals experiencing [losses], up from one-third just a year ago, we are seeing an erosion of hospitals’ ability to retain staff, invest in health-care technology, and make capital improvements — severely affecting hospitals’ core mission to provide care for patients 24 hours a day, seven days a week.”</p> <p><strong><u>Related Reading:</u></strong></p> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2009/04/desperate-hospitals-update-april-2009.html">Desperate Hospitals Update – April 2009</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2009/03/desperate-hospitals-march-2009-update.html">Desperate Hospitals – March 2009 Update</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2009/02/desperate-hospitals-february-2009.html">Desperate Hospitals – February 2009 Update</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/11/desperate-hospitals-updated-november-21.html">Desperate Hospitals – Updated November 21, 2008</a></h6> <p><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/09/desperate-hospitals-september-2008.html"><font size="1">Desperate Hospitals – September 2008</font></a></p> <h6><font color="#669966"></font></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2007/11/memorial-health-services-announces-sale.html"><font color="#669966"></font></a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/08/desperate-hospitals-hawaii-what-is.html">Desperate Hospitals - Hawaii- What is happening to our Hospital System?</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/08/desperate-hospitals-august-29-continued.html">Desperate Hospitals - August 29 (Continued)</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/08/more-desperate-hospitals-miami-fl-and.html">More Desperate Hospitals - Miami, FL and Cape Cod, MA</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/08/hopeful-prognosis-desperate-hospitals.html">A hopeful prognosis - Desperate "California" Hospitals</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/08/desperate-hospitals-century-city.html">Desperate Hospitals - Century City Doctors Hospital (Los Angeles) begins shutting down, others file Chapter 11 to reorganize</a></h6> </blockquote> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:6c5f38cd-47c2-4b76-9ac3-fcc83dfacc92" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent">Technorati Tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/hospitals" rel="tag">hospitals</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/desperate+hospitals" rel="tag">desperate hospitals</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/healthcare" rel="tag">healthcare</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/healthcare+reform" rel="tag">healthcare reform</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/economy" rel="tag">economy</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/budgets" rel="tag">budgets</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/health+IT" rel="tag">health IT</a></div>

Hospital News – California and Pennsylvania Money Issues

In California hospitals need to retrofitted to meet earthquake standards by the years 2013 and 1015 and most surveyed felt they were not go...

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Southwest Atlanta Hospital closes for the 3rd time in 4 years

<p> Currently all services are outpatient, no in this case nobody will need to be moved, this hospital would definitely be in the “desperate hospital” listing.  The reason for the closure, no money.  <a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/SXOLI4YEq_I/AAAAAAAAN4w/L9vgAKiKKbE/s1600-h/image%5B4%5D.png"><img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="155" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/SXOLKzjAKsI/AAAAAAAAN40/l77YP-2qQp8/image_thumb%5B2%5D.png?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; margin-left: 0px; border-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; border-right: 0px" title="image" width="265" /></a> Since 2004, the hospital has filed for bankruptcy twice.  BD </p> <blockquote> <p>A historic Atlanta hospital, citing the credit crunch, announced Friday that it would close, the third time it has shut down in the past four years.</p> <p>Southwest Atlanta Hospital had already shuttered its emergency room and had been operating only an urgent-care center since the fall. The closing was scheduled for Friday evening.</p> <p>The hospital’s current owner, Georgia Medical Provider Financial Corp., said in a statement that it was unable to obtain funding to revive the facility. Southwest was seeking to become a hospital specializing in surgical services.</p> <p>“We’re operating in an economic environment that’s unlike any this nation has seen in recent memory,” said Sandra Crayton, Southwest’s chief executive, in a statement. “We simply could not obtain the credit we needed to stay on the path of rebuilding Southwest Hospital.</p> </blockquote> <p><a href="http://www.ajc.com/services/content/printedition/2009/01/17/swhospital0117.html">Southwest Atlanta Hospital to close doors | ajc.com</a></p> <p><strong><u>Related Reading:</u></strong></p> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/11/desperate-hospitals-updated-november-21.html">Desperate Hospitals – Updated November 21, 2008</a></h6> <h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2007/11/memorial-health-services-announces-sale.html"></a></h6> <a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/10/desperate-hospitals-chicago-hospital.html">Desperate Hospitals: Chicago Hospital Hangs For Sale Sign</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/08/desperate-hospitals-hawaii-what-is.html">Desperate Hospitals - Hawaii- What is happening to our Hospital System?</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/08/desperate-hospitals-august-29-continued.html">Desperate Hospitals - August 29 (Continued)</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/08/more-desperate-hospitals-miami-fl-and.html">More Desperate Hospitals - Miami, FL and Cape Cod, MA</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/08/hopeful-prognosis-desperate-hospitals.html">A hopeful prognosis - Desperate "California" Hospitals</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/08/desperate-hospitals-century-city.html">Desperate Hospitals - Century City Doctors Hospital (Los Angeles) begins shutting down, others file Chapter 11 to reorganize</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/08/new-new-jersey-law-to-pinpoint.html">New New Jersey law to pinpoint financially troubled hospitals - "Desperate Hospitals"</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/09/cape-cod-hospital-gets-10m-gift.html">Cape Cod hospital gets $10M gift</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/09/bankruptcy-bug-hits-hospitals-desperate.html">Bankruptcy Bug Hits Hospitals – Desperate Hospitals</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/09/desperate-hospitals-september-2008.html">Desperate Hospitals – September 2008</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/09/desperate-hospitals-hospitals-in-hands.html">Desperate Hospitals: Hospitals in Hands of Voters - Arkansas</a></h6> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:15e12da1-efc2-47d0-871f-655e57dcf10a" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent">Technorati Tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Insolvency" rel="tag">Insolvency</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Hospitals" rel="tag">Hospitals</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Desperate+Hospitals" rel="tag">Desperate Hospitals</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Healthcare" rel="tag">Healthcare</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Bankruptcy" rel="tag">Bankruptcy</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Health+Insurance" rel="tag">Health Insurance</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Economy" rel="tag">Economy</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Chapter+11" rel="tag">Chapter 11</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Layoffs" rel="tag">Layoffs</a></div>

Southwest Atlanta Hospital closes for the 3rd time in 4 years

Currently all services are outpatient, no in this case nobody will need to be moved, this hospital would definitely be in the “desperate ho...

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Desperate Hospitals – February 2009 Update

<p>Here is this months listings of hospitals either laying off, closing selling, bankruptcy, or cutting back in order to survive.  This is from news around the web this month.   If  I missed any, please feel free to let me know.  The related reading has additional posts from the recent past and a few other individual stories.  BD  </p> <p>A couple of the most desperate situations are the potential closings of 2 hospitals in Queens, NY and also the poor folks in the Pittsburgh area who’s paychecks bounced and still have not been paid for their last couple of weeks.  BD </p> <p> <a href="http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-hospital21-2009jan21,0,5770580.story">In Burbank, CA</a>  </p> <blockquote> <p><strong>Burbank's Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center said Tuesday that it had laid off 95 of its 2,517 employees and closed four hospital programs as a result of rising costs at a time of economic turmoil.</strong> <br />Providence spokeswoman Patricia Aidem said the cutbacks marked the end for units offering urgent care, foot care for diabetics and treatment for workplace injuries -- as well as a transitional-care unit, which prepares patients for care elsewhere.<img align="right" height="106" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/SXOLKzjAKsI/AAAAAAAAN40/l77YP-2qQp8/image_thumb[2].png?imgmax=800" style="display: inline; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px" width="181" /> </p> </blockquote> <p> <a href="http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/6221693.html">In Galveston, Texas</a></p> <p>GALVESTON, Texas — Reconstruction work has been halted for the foreseeable future at Shriners Hospital for Children-Galveston, which has been closed since Hurricane Ike caused significant damage, an official with Shriners Hospitals for Children said Tuesday.</p> <p><strong>"We had a significant amount of damage and can't afford to repair it," Ralph Semb,</strong> president and CEO of Tampa, Fla.-based Shriners Hospitals for Children, told The Associated Press.</p> <p> <a href="http://www.mlive.com/business/index.ssf/2009/02/report_michigan_community_hosp.html">In Michigan, Community Hospitals in Trouble</a></p> <h3><font size="2">Report: Michigan community hospitals on brink of fiscal crisis</font></h3> <p>Rising levels of Medicaid caseloads, uncompensated care and patients who lack health insurance of any kind are adding up to financial losses and pushing Michigan's community hospitals toward a fiscal crisis, a new industry association report concludes.</p> <p><a name="more"></a></p> <p><strong>The state's 144 community hospitals swung to an average total operating margin of negative 2.9 percent</strong> during the third quarter of 2008, the Michigan Health & Hospital Association found in its report, <em>Michigan's Health Care Safety Net: In Jeopardy</em>, released today. </p> <p>The report also found that hospitals absorbed a record level of uncompensated care in 2008, surpassing the prior year's record of more than $2 billion in bad debt, charity care and losses on care provided to Medicare- and Medicaid-insured patients. </p> <p><a href="http://www.ocregister.com/articles/hospital-health-purchase-2301895-bastone-joseph">In Laguna Beach, CA</a></p> <p>St. Joseph Health System has reached a $35.7 million deal to purchase South Coast Medical Center in Laguna Beach, officials announced Friday.</p> <p>In November, after multiple efforts to sell the money-losing hospital, owner Adventist Health announced that St. Joseph was the preferred bidder. The news relieved residents who feared the hospital might shut down. But the deal stalled, with Adventist Health saying in January that terms were still being worked out after a delay from the holidays. </p> <p>Peter Bastone, chief executive of Mission Hospital, which is part of St. Joseph Health, said the purchase decision was not easy given the economic climate.</p> <p>"With this purchase, we will be able to serve more patients in need and, through outreach activities, improve quality of life in the South Orange County coastal communities," Bastone wrote in an update to city officials Friday.</p> <p>Bastone said the emergency room will stay open and a new name will be selected for the 208-bed hospital. It will be licensed under Mission Hospital.</p> <p>The purchase must be approved by the state Attorney General's Office, which oversees the sale of nonprofit hospitals. Bastone said that process takes roughly three months.<img align="right" src="http://lh5.google.com/DucknetServices/R7zqj2lNEkI/AAAAAAAADGk/oGkA0r0fnNw/image_thumb[1]?imgmax=800" style="display: inline; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px" /> </p> <p><a href="http://www.katc.com/Global/story.asp?S=9806286" title="http://www.katc.com/Global/story.asp?S=9806286">In Baton Rouge, Louisiana</a></p> <p>BATON ROUGE, La. -- The state health department, Iberville Parish and other creditors want the federal bankruptcy court in Baton Rouge to take over a struggling southeast Louisiana hospital.</p> <p>State officials say Judge Douglas Dodd called a hearing Monday on whether to appoint a Chapter 11 trustee for 80-bed River West Medical Center in Plaquemine. </p> <p>Chief Executive Officer Bryan Bogle did not immediately return a call Saturday to his home. The state advanced $150,000 last month, when River West was unable to cover paychecks for 65 of its 250 workers. Bogle blamed the economy and an insurance dispute after Hurricane Gustav closed inpatient services for 45 days. </p> <p>Earlier this week, Bogle said he was again short of payroll cash, but hoped the parent corporation, Shiloh Health Services, would cover it.</p> <p><a href="http://www.yournabe.com/articles/2009/02/06/queens/doc498cb05c6dab0895402557.txt" title="http://www.yournabe.com/articles/2009/02/06/queens/doc498cb05c6dab0895402557.txt">In Queens, New York</a></p> <p>Despite efforts by hospital owners and state representatives to engineer a bailout for Caritas, and a groundswell of support by employees and community members, the Queens-based hospital corporation will file for bankruptcy and expects to shutter Mary Immaculate and St. John's Queens hospitals. </p> <p><strong>After a week of frantic negotiations failed, the cash-strapped St. John’s Hospital in Elmhurst and Mary Immaculate Hospital in Jamaica announced they would file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and close down over the next few weeks. <br /></strong>The board of Caritas, the company that runs the two hospitals, voted Thursday to seek protection from its creditors under Chapter 11 and also voted to file a closure plan at the direction of the state Department of Health. <br />Vincent Arcuri, a board member at Caritas, said the state did not come through with the $36 million the hospitals needed to implement a restructuring plan. <br />“It appears that all of the legislators and all the local elected officials were waiting for the Washington stimulus package,” he said. “But even under those circumstances, that money couldn’t find its way through probably before April or May.”</p> <p><a href="http://www.khou.com/business/stories/khou090129_mp_shriners-burn-hospital.17362136.html">In Houston, Texas</a></p> HOUSTON -- With Shriners Burn Hospital closing, there is no longer a major burn center for children in the Houston area. <p></p> <p>"These children take a lot of time, effort, nursing care, sedations, medications, and dressings. They are resource intense, and no, we don't have the capacity to do that right now," said Dr. Kevin Lally, who works at the hospital.</p> <p><a href="http://legal-ledger.com/item.cfm?recID=11454">In Minnesota</a></p> <p><strong>“Minnesota hospitals are in a dismal financial situation,’’ MHA President Lawrence Massa testified on Tuesday at</strong> a hearing of the House’s Health and Human Services Finance and the Health Policy committees. He noted a recent association survey found net income for hospitals falling from a positive 4.8 percent in the third quarter of 2007 to a negative 2.5 percent for the same quarter in 2008. </p> <p>Massa contended that if state lawmakers adopt Pawlenty’s plan, the total impact, including federal matching dollars, could result in as much as $691 million in cuts to state hospitals. That “would diminish the care we’re able to give our patients,” he said. “The reductions would result in hospitals reducing many of the other services we have historically provided to our communities for no compensation. </p> <p>“Many community services like free blood pressure testing at health fairs and even education and training of our future care givers could simply disappear.</p> <p><a href="http://www.thesomervillenews.com/main.asp?SectionID=2&SubSectionID=2&ArticleID=513&TM=58898.21">In Somerville, MA</a></p> <p>Representatives from the Cambridge Health Alliance gathered on Tuesday night to outline its proposed service cutbacks for community members and listen to their concerns. <br />The meeting came on the heels of an announcement that, due to cuts in state funding, <strong>CHA will eliminate 300 jobs across the network and will consolidate and eliminate some services. Major changes in Somerville include the elimination of the Addictions and Detox Unit and inpatient services at Somerville Hospital. <img align="right" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/SQ4N55C1L9I/AAAAAAAAJxQ/s3z5NqLeL1Y/image_thumb[4].png?imgmax=800" style="display: inline; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px" /> <br /></strong>Other changes include the closure of six primary care centers, including two in Somerville.</p> <p><a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29169630/">In Los Angeles, CA</a></p> <p><strong>Meanwhile, the board of supervisors planned to sell Rancho Los Amigos hospital</strong> as part of a cost-cutting plan to privatize or close clinics and shift primary care over to privately run nonprofit clinics. <br />But the board gave Rancho a reprieve earlier this month based on a report from county CEO William Fujioka that predicted the proposed federal economic stimulus package could provide the funding to save it. <br />The medical center's future remains uncertain. <br />Stress on the county's already fragile healthcare system increased in 2006 when King-Harbor Hospital in Willowbrook was shut down.</p> <p><a href="http://kdka.com/local/Brownsville.TriCounty.Hospital.2.935484.html">In Brownsville, TX</a></p> <p>Thursday after failing to make payroll the week before, was losing $550,000 a month when it defaulted on a $3 million line of credit, according to a federal lawsuit filed by a Texas financing company. <br /><strong>The hospital notified the state health department that it was closing on Thursday afternoon.</strong> Presidential Healthcare Credit Corp. of San Antonio, filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court late Friday against Brownsville Health Services Corp., which ran the hospital. <br />Presidential Healthcare's lawsuit is based on a January audit of the hospital's books. Among other things, the audit determined Brownsville Health Services was "not a viable operation" and was losing about $550,000 a month, and that the company's "financial reporting is nonexistent."</p> <p><a href="http://www.socialistalternative.org/news/article14.php?id=1029">In Cambridge, MA</a></p> <p>The economic crisis is wreaking havoc on homeowners, jobs, education, and social services across the country. Now, in Massachusetts, vital health care services are under attack from budget cuts carried out by the Democratic Party governor Deval Patrick. As a result, Cambridge Health Alliance (CHA), one of the largest health care providers in the Boston area, recently announced plans for deep cuts, closures, and layoffs. On Wednesday, January 28, the administration at the Cambridge Health Alliance which includes Cambridge, Somerville and Whidden Memorial (Everett, MA) Hospitals, announced massive cuts and layoffs which will affect the communities and workers in these cities.</p> <p>Cambridge Hospital will shut its inpatient pediatric floor, its Step Down unit and a large adult inpatient Psychiatric unit called “Cahill 3.” </p> <p><strong><u>Related Reading:</u></strong></p> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/11/desperate-hospitals-updated-november-21.html">Desperate Hospitals – Updated November 21, 2008</a></h6> <h6></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2007/11/memorial-health-services-announces-sale.html"></a></h6> <a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/10/desperate-hospitals-chicago-hospital.html"><font size="1">Desperate Hospitals: Chicago Hospital Hangs For Sale Sign</font></a> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/08/desperate-hospitals-hawaii-what-is.html">Desperate Hospitals - Hawaii- What is happening to our Hospital System?</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/08/desperate-hospitals-august-29-continued.html">Desperate Hospitals - August 29 (Continued)</a></h6> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2009/01/southwest-atlanta-hospital-closes-for.html"><font size="1">Southwest Atlanta Hospital closes for the 3rd time in 4 years</font></a></h4> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/08/more-desperate-hospitals-miami-fl-and.html">More Desperate Hospitals - Miami, FL and Cape Cod, MA</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/08/hopeful-prognosis-desperate-hospitals.html">A hopeful prognosis - Desperate "California" Hospitals</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/08/desperate-hospitals-century-city.html">Desperate Hospitals - Century City Doctors Hospital (Los Angeles) begins shutting down, others file Chapter 11 to reorganize</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/08/new-new-jersey-law-to-pinpoint.html">New New Jersey law to pinpoint financially troubled hospitals - "Desperate Hospitals"</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/09/bankruptcy-bug-hits-hospitals-desperate.html">Bankruptcy Bug Hits Hospitals – Desperate Hospitals</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/09/desperate-hospitals-september-2008.html">Desperate Hospitals – September 2008</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/09/desperate-hospitals-hospitals-in-hands.html">Desperate Hospitals: Hospitals in Hands of Voters - Arkansas</a></h6> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:cb23a372-e14e-4601-8140-af52ae9b83aa" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent">Technorati Tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Insolvency" rel="tag">Insolvency</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Hospitals" rel="tag">Hospitals</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Desperate+Hospitals" rel="tag">Desperate Hospitals</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Healthcare" rel="tag">Healthcare</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Bankruptcy" rel="tag">Bankruptcy</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Health+Insurance" rel="tag">Health Insurance</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Economy" rel="tag">Economy</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Chapter+11" rel="tag">Chapter 11</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Layoffs" rel="tag">Layoffs</a></div>

Desperate Hospitals – February 2009 Update

Here is this months listings of hospitals either laying off, closing selling, bankruptcy, or cutting back in order to survive.  This is from...

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Desperate Hospitals Series – 11-02-2008 Update

<p>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 <a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/08/california-and-balance-billing.html"><img align="right" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/DucknetServices/SGvfIRldGEI/AAAAAAAAH_c/6CMJGxVedps/image_thumb[2].png?imgmax=800" style="display: inline; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px" /></a>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.  </p> <h6><strong><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/10/hospitals-protest-new-california-rules.html">Hospitals protest new California rules on patient balance billing</a>                </strong></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/08/california-and-balance-billing.html">California and Balance Billing</a></h6> <p>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.  </p> <p>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.<strong>  </strong><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/10/battle-of-medical-bills-where-nobody.html"><strong>Low reimbursements from insurance payers are usually quoted as the main cause and effect of the problem with our hospitals in the US</strong></a><strong>.  BD</strong>  </p> <p><a href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/11/01/state/n142407D49.DTL&type=health"><strong>Redding hospital lays off 150 workers - California</strong></a></p> <p>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.<strong> A lender has already declared the hospital in default.</strong> Dionne says Shasta Regional would have closed if Prime Healthcare Services of Southern California had not stepped in as the hospital's new managers.</p> <p><a href="http://www.insidebayarea.com/dailyreview/localnews/ci_10875406"><strong>San Leandro Hospital a key issue - California</strong></a>  </p> <p>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.  </p> <p>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. </p> <p>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<strong> 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."</strong></p> <p><a href="http://www.wavy.com/Global/story.asp?S=9274931&nav=23ii"><strong>Virginia hospital cuts staff by more than half</strong></a></p> <p>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.</p> <p>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 <img align="right" src="http://lh5.google.com/DucknetServices/R7zqj2lNEkI/AAAAAAAADGk/oGkA0r0fnNw/image_thumb[1]?imgmax=800" style="display: inline; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px" />doing so, and the hospital plans to keep providing critical care.</p> <p>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.</p> <p><a href="http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/atlanta/stories/2008/10/29/southwest_atlanta_hospital.html"><strong>Southwest Atlanta Hospital no longer taking emergencies</strong></a></p> <p>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.</p> <p>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.</p> <p>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.</p> <p>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.</p> <p><a href="http://www.bizjournals.com/birmingham/stories/2008/10/20/daily3.html"><strong>Carraway will close, file for bankruptcy – Alabama</strong></a></p> <p>Physicians Medical Center Carraway is closing and has filed for bankruptcy protection for the second time in two years on Monday.</p> <p>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.</p> <p>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.</p> <p><a href="http://www.courant.com/business/hc-johnson1031.artoct31,0,5437285.story"><strong>Johnson Memorial Lays Off 55 Ahead Of ECHN Merger – Connecticut</strong></a></p> <p>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. <br />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 <a href="http://www.courant.com/topic/us/maryland/montgomery-county-%28maryland%29/rockville-%28montgomery-maryland%29-PLGEO100100101010980.topic">Rockville</a> General Hospital and would maintain the 96-bed Johnson Memorial as a separate entity.</p> <p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/SQ4N5Czy5-I/AAAAAAAAJxM/9o9KnNHt438/s1600-h/image%5B8%5D.png"><img align="left" alt="image" border="0" height="124" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/SQ4N55C1L9I/AAAAAAAAJxQ/s3z5NqLeL1Y/image_thumb%5B4%5D.png?imgmax=800" style="border-right-width: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin-left: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; margin-right: 0px" title="image" width="145" /></a>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.</p> <p><a href="http://www.southwestiowanews.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=20177201&BRD=2703&PAG=461&dept_id=555123&rfi=6"><strong>Hospital seeks bank qualified debt to help with replacement facility – Iowa</strong></a></p> <p>Later during the public hearing Eller said he thought the hospital was facing the worst case.</p> <p>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. </p> <p>"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."</p> <p><a href="Civista asks for loan to avoid bond default"><strong>Civista asks for loan to avoid bond default - Maryland</strong></a></p> <p>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.</p> <p>"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."</p> <h3><a href="http://www.dutchnews.nl/news/archives/2008/10/lelystad_hospital_on_verge_of.php">And one in the Netherlands…</a></h3> <p>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.</p> <p>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. </p> <p>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.</p> <p><strong><u>Related Reading:</u></strong></p> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/10/desperate-hospitals-chicago-hospital.html">Desperate Hospitals: Chicago Hospital Hangs For Sale Sign</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/08/desperate-hospitals-hawaii-what-is.html">Desperate Hospitals - Hawaii- What is happening to our Hospital System?</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/08/desperate-hospitals-august-29-continued.html">Desperate Hospitals - August 29 (Continued)</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/08/concerns-over-large-not-for-profit.html">Concerns Over Large Not-for-Profit Hospital System</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/08/desperate-hospitals-grady-financial.html">Desperate Hospitals - Grady's financial cure in question</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/08/more-desperate-hospitals-miami-fl-and.html">More Desperate Hospitals - Miami, FL and Cape Cod, MA</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/08/hopeful-prognosis-desperate-hospitals.html">A hopeful prognosis - Desperate "California" Hospitals</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/08/desperate-hospitals-century-city.html">Desperate Hospitals - Century City Doctors Hospital (Los Angeles) begins shutting down, others file Chapter 11 to reorganize</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/08/new-new-jersey-law-to-pinpoint.html">New New Jersey law to pinpoint financially troubled hospitals - "Desperate Hospitals"</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/08/desperate-hospitals-as-featured-today.html">Desperate Hospitals? (As Featured today in the WSJ)</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/10/battle-of-medical-bills-where-nobody.html">The battle of the medical bills where nobody but the insurers win</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/10/hospitals-protest-new-california-rules.html">Hospitals protest new California rules on patient balance billing</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/09/cape-cod-hospital-gets-10m-gift.html">Cape Cod hospital gets $10M gift</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/09/bankruptcy-bug-hits-hospitals-desperate.html">Bankruptcy Bug Hits Hospitals – Desperate Hospitals</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/09/desperate-hospitals-september-2008.html">Desperate Hospitals – September 2008</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/09/desperate-hospitals-hospitals-in-hands.html">Desperate Hospitals: Hospitals in Hands of Voters - Arkansas</a></h6> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:e087426a-2e84-4bd3-b98e-c2db1ba49b0e" class="wlWriterSmartContent">Technorati Tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Insolvency" rel="tag">Insolvency</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Hospitals" rel="tag">Hospitals</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Desperate+Hospitals" rel="tag">Desperate Hospitals</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Healthcre" rel="tag">Healthcre</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Bankruptcy" rel="tag">Bankruptcy</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Prime+Healthcare" rel="tag">Prime Healthcare</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Health+Insurance" rel="tag">Health Insurance</a></div>

Desperate Hospitals Series – 11-02-2008 Update

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 ...

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Hospital Admissions are Down – ER Doctors are Fired – Texas Medical Association

<p> With all the stress today with hospitals endeavoring to take care of patients in the economy today, these figures no doubt are being examined and re-examined and hospitals are looking for ways to stay in business.  These efforts include layoffs, closing facilities, etc.  You can read about those efforts in my monthly posts on <strong><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2009/03/desperate-hospitals-march-2009-update.html">Desperate Hospitals.</a></strong>  </p> <p>This story is somewhat looking at another side of the entire crisis, is there pressure on the ER physicians to admit more patients?  Every business, and hospitals included pretty much know what their bottom line is today, in other words the bare necessities to pay the bills and keep the doors open without going into the red.  </p> <p></p> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:5737277B-5D6D-4f48-ABFC-DD9C333F4C5D:5223a301-9693-4069-b5d5-a8a7640356c0" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent"><div id="08696b99-7bb2-4058-b10f-12da013c130c" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; display: inline;"><div><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-5HC0E4gAI&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0" target="_new"><img alt="" galleryimg="no" onload="var downlevelDiv = document.getElementById('08696b99-7bb2-4058-b10f-12da013c130c'); downlevelDiv.innerHTML = "<div><object width=\"296\" height=\"222\"><param name=\"movie\" value=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/S-5HC0E4gAI&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&hl=en\"><\/param><embed src=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/S-5HC0E4gAI&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&hl=en\" type=\"application/x-shockwave-flash\" width=\"296\" height=\"222\"><\/embed><\/object><\/div>";" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/Sd0Jc5QFg8I/AAAAAAAAPCM/49Q2BAPRxYQ/video92db4431aede%5B3%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-style: none"></a></div></div></div> <p></p> <p>After watching this video, is the pressure mounting to the point to where we might be having to look at <strong>“creative admissions”?</strong>  It sounds like the physicians here were put into a Catch 22 position, as when the business intelligence reports were analyzed, the group was then told some of their admissions were not required, so a new group was brought in to do a better job?  There have been recent stories in the news where some hospitals created billing fraud to pad the bottom line too, so I hope this is certainly not a trend.  </p> <p><strong>I can’t think of any doctor in his right mind that would want to admit a patient to the hospital if not needed by their illness.</strong>  On the other hand the hospitals are working to try to stay in business too, so what gives here?  <strong>It looks like we are back once again to money.</strong>  If the funds were available, patients were being treated, hospitals were not under financial pressure, <strong>would this be taking place?</strong>  I think we can all pretty much figure that one out.  <strong>It appears to be creating a battleground here that really should not exist</strong> and is outside the realm of good patient and healthcare. BD</p> <p><strong><u>Related Reading:</u></strong></p> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2009/04/closing-chemotherapyoutpatient-clinic.html"><font size="1">Closing the Chemotherapy/Outpatient Clinic In Las Vegas and nowhere to go – University Medical Center</font></a></h4> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2009/04/schwarzenegger-and-celebrities-lobby.html"><font size="1">Schwarzenegger and Celebrities Lobby for Better Health Care</font></a></h4> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2009/04/help-your-hospital-new-york-budget-cuts.html"><font size="1">Help Your Hospital – New York Budget Cuts threaten Hospital Funds</font></a></h4> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2009/04/consolidation-in-health-insurance.html"><font size="1">Consolidation in Health Insurance Carriers – Who will be the king of risk management?</font></a></h4> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2009/03/desperate-hospitals-march-2009-update.html">Desperate Hospitals – March 2009 Update</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2009/02/desperate-hospitals-february-2009.html">Desperate Hospitals – February 2009 Update</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/11/desperate-hospitals-updated-november-21.html">Desperate Hospitals – Updated November 21, 2008</a></h6> <p><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/09/desperate-hospitals-september-2008.html"><font size="1">Desperate Hospitals – September 2008</font></a></p> <h6><font color="#669966"></font></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2007/11/memorial-health-services-announces-sale.html"><font color="#669966"></font></a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/08/desperate-hospitals-hawaii-what-is.html">Desperate Hospitals - Hawaii- What is happening to our Hospital System?</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/08/desperate-hospitals-august-29-continued.html">Desperate Hospitals - August 29 (Continued)</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/08/more-desperate-hospitals-miami-fl-and.html">More Desperate Hospitals - Miami, FL and Cape Cod, MA</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/08/hopeful-prognosis-desperate-hospitals.html">A hopeful prognosis - Desperate "California" Hospitals</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/08/desperate-hospitals-century-city.html">Desperate Hospitals - Century City Doctors Hospital (Los Angeles) begins shutting down, others file Chapter 11 to reorganize</a></h6> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:9a719536-2ae5-46d3-a7a7-607a4ed34315" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent">Technorati Tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/hospital" rel="tag">hospital</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/budget+cuts" rel="tag">budget cuts</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/healthcare" rel="tag">healthcare</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/funding" rel="tag">funding</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/layoffs" rel="tag">layoffs</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/desperate+hospitals" rel="tag">desperate hospitals</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Texas+Medical+Association" rel="tag">Texas Medical Association</a></div>

Hospital Admissions are Down – ER Doctors are Fired – Texas Medical Association

With all the stress today with hospitals endeavoring to take care of patients in the economy today, these figures no doubt are being examin...

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Desperate Hospitals – May 2009

<p> <strong>More Public Hospitals Will Face Bankruptcy</strong> </p> <p><u> <a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/bankruptcy/2009/05/07/downturn-may-send-public-hospitals-into-bankruptcy/">From the Wall Street Journal:</a></u></p> <p>He predicted that private investors or religious orders may step in to take these hospitals off financially strapped municipalities’ hands. That’s where a <a href="http://www.uscourts.gov/bankruptcycourts/bankruptcybasics/chapter9.html">Chapter 9 bankruptcy</a> filing potentially comes in, Pillari said. Not only does it provide a framework for municipalities to sell their assets and pay off <a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/ShoqD_Uy3dI/AAAAAAAAP3g/nJpeb4T0jJY/s1600-h/image%5B3%5D.png"><img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="118" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/ShoqHVelVNI/AAAAAAAAP3k/uoeVSh5njJU/image_thumb%5B1%5D.png?imgmax=800" style="border-right-width: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin-left: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; margin-right: 0px" title="image" width="118" /></a>their debts, but it also takes some political pressure off municipality officials.</p> <p>As a result, municipalities are left with a tough choice to make – do they continue covering their hospitals’ losses even as their other debts pile up and their tax revenues dwindle? “You have this horrible confluence of events for public hospitals. If you continue to fund the ballooning losses, the county or city can put itself out of business,” Pillari said. </p> <p>Also, one video worth watching is from the Texas Medical Association, admissions were down so the ER staff was fired.  It makes a point of where a real catch 22 comes into play with the search for revenue and time to take care of patients.</p> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2009/04/hospital-admissions-are-down-er-doctors.html"><font size="2">Hospital Admissions are Down – ER Doctors are Fired – Texas Medical Association</font></a></h4> <p>This video as well which shows the situation in Las Vegas, again money.</p> <h4><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2009/04/closing-chemotherapyoutpatient-clinic.html"><font size="2">Closing the Chemotherapy/Outpatient Clinic In Las Vegas and nowhere to go – University Medical Center</font></a></h4> <p>If I missed any hospitals that should be included, please feel free to add comments too.  BD </p> <p>________________________________________________________</p> <p><strong><u>On with the listings….</u></strong></p> <blockquote> <p><a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-ap-in-hospitalpaycuts,0,1117805.story">In Elkhart, IN</a></p> <p>ELKHART, Ind. - The hospital in the northern Indiana city of Elkhart is cutting staff salaries, blaming the area's high unemployment rate that has resulted in fewer people with employer-sponsored health insurance. <br />Elkhart General Hospital President Gregory Lintjer says its more than 2,000 employees will see a 4 percent cut, while executives will take an 8 percent cut. The cuts were effective on Wednesday. <br />The hospital says the move will save $2.4 million this year or the equivalent of 88 jobs</p> <p><a href="http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/43213627.html?index=1&c=y">In Baton Rouge, LA</a></p> </blockquote> <blockquote> <p>NEW ORLEANS — LSU’s $491.8 million claim for federal replacement costs of Charity Hospital is “without merit” and should be rejected, a team of activist lawyers told FEMA in a filing late Thursday.</p> <p>LSU ignored state law by closing the hospital and appealing to the Federal Emergency Management Agency on March 11, the administrative filing states. It also alleges post-Hurricane Katrina expert damage reports are “improperly tainted by conflicts of interest.”</p> <p><a href="http://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/stories/2009/04/20/daily28.html">In St. Louis, MO</a></p> </blockquote> <blockquote> <p>The family of a former Shriner has donated $5.1 million to <a href="http://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/related_content.html?topic=Shriners%20Hospitals%20for%20Children">Shriners Hospitals for Children</a> in St. Louis, which will name a surgical suite in the donor’s honor.</p> <p>Edward Luxemberg, a member of the Shriners fraternity and manager of the Cahokia, Ill., <a href="http://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/related_content.html?topic=Union%20Electric">Union Electric</a> plant, passed away in 1965. His niece and trustee, Marjorie Schroeder, managed the trust assets until her death in 2007 at age 105. Schroeder was a retired St. Louis City elementary school teacher.<a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/ShoqKADbDnI/AAAAAAAAP3o/VdMEdAbNOPE/s1600-h/image%5B7%5D.png"><img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="112" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/ShoqN--3bFI/AAAAAAAAP3s/u6dBWAj7o8I/image_thumb%5B3%5D.png?imgmax=800" style="border-right-width: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin-left: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; margin-right: 0px" title="image" width="157" /></a> </p> <p><a href="http://www.readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=136128">In Reading, Pennsylvania</a></p> <p>Reading Hospital laid off 106 employees Wednesday in the final phase of its plan to reduce what had been a 6,400-employee work force, the hospital announced in a press release. <br />The layoffs represent about 1.6 percent of the hospital's positions.</p> <p><a href="http://www.projo.com/news/content/BZ_ROGER_WILLIAMS_MEDICAL_LAYOFF_05-05-09_IME_v9.3184382.html">In Providence, RI</a></p> <p>Over the last several weeks, the hospital laid off 17 of its 1,700 employees, all but one or two of them full time, said spokesman Brett Davey. The layoffs are a response to a drop in demand for patient services and a $920,000 loss from October through March, the first six months of the hospital’s fiscal year, he said. Roger Williams’ total operating budget is $150 million.</p> <p>Lifespan announced in March that it was freezing the pay of all nonunion employees and that its top executives had accepted pay cuts. The hospital network includes includes Rhode Island Hospital, Miriam Hospital, Newport Hospital and Bradley Hospital. None of its 11,800 workers was laid off. </p> <p>South County Hospital eliminated 20 jobs and trimmed the pay of seven top administrators. St. Joseph Health Services, which includes Our Lady of Fatima Hospital, in North Providence, and St. Joseph Hospital for Specialty Care, in Providence, eliminated 36 positions and cut pay of all of its non-union employees.</p> <p><a href="http://www.wptz.com/money/19360808/detail.html">In Burlington, Vermont</a></p> <p>Southwestern Vermont Health Care has laid off three executives as the Bennington hospital grapples with financial troubles. </p> <p>Administrators say more cost cuts are expected, according to the Bennington Banner. </p> <p>In an e-mail to staff on Friday, interim CEO Dr. Mark Novotny wrote that the hospital is facing a difficult financial situation, including an unexpected shortfall in revenues.</p> <p><a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-wed-loyola-layoff-may13,0,3887598.story">In Chicago, Illinois</a></p> <p>The Loyola University Health System in west suburban Maywood on Tuesday said it will eliminate more than 440 jobs, or about 8 percent of its workforce, amid the recession and an economic downturn causing an influx of patients who cannot pay their bills. <br />The cost of patients who cannot pay has increased 73 percent, to $31.3 million from $18.1 million, from a year earlier for the nine months ended March 31. <br />"We have been hit by a number of things," Dr. Paul Whelton, chief executive of Loyola University Health System, said in an interview. "We are having more trouble with charity care, and the money we are getting [from patients] is more slow to come in. But we have a mission to provide care in our communities and we are going to stick to it."</p> <p><a href="http://www.mercurynews.com/alamedacounty/ci_12386023">In San Leandro, CA</a></p> <p>SAN LEANDRO — No one should be surprised that San Leandro Hospital's emergency, medical, surgical and intensive care services may close this year.<a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/ShoqPwNMK7I/AAAAAAAAP3w/HRV7LshFe-8/s1600-h/image%5B13%5D.png"><img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="160" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/ShoqRdC3CnI/AAAAAAAAP30/_xKCDvgRY_A/image_thumb%5B7%5D.png?imgmax=800" style="border-right-width: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin-left: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; margin-right: 0px" title="image" width="137" /></a> </p> <p>After all, ending general acute care there was part of a highly publicized November 2007 pact between Sutter Health — the giant not-for-profit network of Northern California hospitals and medical facilities — and the Eden Township Healthcare District. The district owns the hospital.</p> <p>And, last November, a consultant told district directors that the district is unlikely to have the multimillion-dollar income needed to run San Leandro Hospital when Sutter's hospital lease is up in 2010.</p> <p><a href="http://www.cenlamedia.com/alb/index.php/site/article/judge-orders-plaquemine-hospital-closed/">In Plaquemine, Louisiana</a></p> <p>PLAQUEMINE, La. (AP) - A federal bankruptcy judge has ordered a Plaquemine hospital to close.</p> <p>A court-appointed official assigned to monitor River West Medical Center said that the hospital’s financial problems were compromising patient safety. The 80-bed acute-care hospital was closed Friday and all of its 90 employees lost their jobs.</p> <p>The remaining five patients were either transferred or discharged.</p> <p>The hospital’s closure came two weeks after a group of doctors announced they had acquired River West’s physical facilities and planned to transform it into a locally owned, not-for-profit hospital.</p> <p><a href="http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/stories/2009/05/18/daily7.html">In Rancho Cordova, CA</a></p> <p><a href="http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/gen/Sutter_Health_89E7F7B2F9F64880BEDB961990B09FC4.html"><strong>Sutter Health</strong></a>, which runs many of the Bay Area’s largest hospitals and medical groups, is cutting 121 information technology jobs at its Information Services department in Rancho Cordova, near Sacramento.</p> <p>Sutter, a 26-hospital system based in Sacramento, said the move came in response “to the continued economic downturn affecting the health-care industry and all California employers.</p> <p>Hospital-based EHR installations other than Peninsula Medical Center’s will be on hold “until sometime after 2009,” officials said Monday. Sutter plans to speed up completion of its EHR rollout to affiliated physician organizations, however, where about 80 percent of its health-care services are delivered.<a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/ShoqSJGEuFI/AAAAAAAAP38/Z1WXX9Ijqq0/s1600-h/image%5B18%5D.png"><img align="right" alt="image" border="0" height="125" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_v3zjJigoAPE/ShoqTEtoEiI/AAAAAAAAP4A/w8UzoNae08o/image_thumb%5B10%5D.png?imgmax=800" style="border-right-width: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin-left: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; margin-right: 0px" title="image" width="142" /></a> </p> <p><a href="http://www.healthcarefinancenews.com/news/new-hampshire-hospitals-hurting">In New Hampshire</a></p> <p>CONCORD, NH – Eighty-five percent of New Hampshire hospitals are experiencing declining financial health as a result of the recession, despite implementing cost-saving measures such as reducing administrative expenses and cutting staff.</p> <p>According to a survey by the New Hampshire Hospital Association, a majority of the state’s hospitals reported increases in the number of uninsured patient visits to their emergency departments (60 percent), uncompensated care (70 percent) and the number of patients covered by Medicaid or other public programs for low-income populations (53 percent).</p> <p><a href="http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_12405649?nclick_check=1">In Watsonville, CA</a></p> <p>WATSONVILLE - Watsonville Community Hospital laid off 39 workers Monday in a move designed to cut costs in a tough economic climate.</p> <p>Officials said the layoffs are the result of an analysis that showed the hospital could restructure to operate more effectively and efficiently.</p> <p>"The decision to eliminate positions is always difficult and was made with great care to ensure that there will be no impact on the quality of care provided for our patients and to minimize the number of employees affected," said Chief Executive Officer Jae Dale in a written statement.</p> <p><strong><u>Related Reading:</u></strong></p> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2009/04/desperate-hospitals-update-april-2009.html">Desperate Hospitals Update – April 2009</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2009/03/desperate-hospitals-march-2009-update.html">Desperate Hospitals – March 2009 Update</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2009/02/desperate-hospitals-february-2009.html">Desperate Hospitals – February 2009 Update</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/11/desperate-hospitals-updated-november-21.html">Desperate Hospitals – Updated November 21, 2008</a></h6> <p><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/09/desperate-hospitals-september-2008.html"><font size="1">Desperate Hospitals – September 2008</font></a></p> <h6></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2007/11/memorial-health-services-announces-sale.html"></a></h6> <a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/10/desperate-hospitals-chicago-hospital.html"><font size="1">Desperate Hospitals: Chicago Hospital Hangs For Sale Sign</font></a> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/08/desperate-hospitals-hawaii-what-is.html">Desperate Hospitals - Hawaii- What is happening to our Hospital System?</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/08/desperate-hospitals-august-29-continued.html">Desperate Hospitals - August 29 (Continued)</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/08/more-desperate-hospitals-miami-fl-and.html">More Desperate Hospitals - Miami, FL and Cape Cod, MA</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/08/hopeful-prognosis-desperate-hospitals.html">A hopeful prognosis - Desperate "California" Hospitals</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/08/desperate-hospitals-century-city.html">Desperate Hospitals - Century City Doctors Hospital (Los Angeles) begins shutting down, others file Chapter 11 to reorganize</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/08/new-new-jersey-law-to-pinpoint.html">New New Jersey law to pinpoint financially troubled hospitals - "Desperate Hospitals"</a></h6> <h6><a href="http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2008/09/bankruptcy-bug-hits-hospitals-desperate.html">Bankruptcy Bug Hits Hospitals – Desperate Hospitals</a></h6> <p></p> <p></p> </blockquote> <p></p> <p></p> <p></p> <p></p> <p></p> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:883f9fae-8e5d-4e8c-828b-cc7affb43311" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent">Technorati Tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Desperate+Hospitals" rel="tag">Desperate Hospitals</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/healthcare" rel="tag">healthcare</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/layoffs" rel="tag">layoffs</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/budget+cuts" rel="tag">budget cuts</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/technology" rel="tag">technology</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Health+IT" rel="tag">Health IT</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Obama+Health+Care+Plan" rel="tag">Obama Health Care Plan</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/bankruptcy" rel="tag">bankruptcy</a></div>

Desperate Hospitals – May 2009

  More Public Hospitals Will Face Bankruptcy   From the Wall Street Journal: He predicted that private investors or religious orders ma...

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