News Briefs

Pa. Hospital & Healthsystem Association says economy worse than in Dec.
- - -

Grady is among many Georgia hospitals that have suffered under the failing economy. More than half of Georgia hospitals have cut staff or considered it, and more than one-third have reduced services or contemplated such a move, according to a recent survey by the Georgia Hospital Association.
- - -

About 44 percent of the hospitals surveyed by Novation, a Texas-based company that manages contracts between suppliers and 14,500 health providers, are seeing declines in their surgery loads. Nearly half of them plan to reduce staffing, and 69 percent expect to delay or cancel equipment purchases, Novation said in a report released Feb. 26.

The stock analysis firm Longbow Research said in January that nearly half of the 30 hospitals it surveyed in 10 states, including California, had reported lower admission rates during the last three months of 2008 compared with the same period a year earlier.

One of the survey's most telling findings was a 24 percent drop in admissions among patients with private or employer-based insurance. Hospitals rely on that population to balance out losses they incur when treating the uninsured or people covered by lower-paying government programs such as Medicare.

“The acute-care hospital industry is facing difficult head winds,” said analysts for Longbow, which is based in Independence, Ohio.
- - -

GREENWOOD, SC — Citing the downturn in the economy combined with lower inpatient volumes, Self Regional Healthcare officials today announced plans to proportionately reduce labor expenses in the coming months through attrition and planned staffing decreases.

This staff reduction could ultimately affect from 170 to 200 hospital employees, which represents 8.5 percent of Self Regional’s staff.
- - -

The Iowa Hospital Association says the down economy is having an impact on the state's 117 hospitals. I.H.A. spokesman Scott McIntyre says the economy is hitting hospitals hard on a couple of fronts.

McIntyre says the amount of charity care and bad debt has gone up by 13-percent, and the economy had eaten away at hospital investments, which has reduced hospital margins below one percent. McIntyre says the increase in charity care reflects the increase in unemployment.

He says more people are losing their jobs and losing their health insurance and needing more help from hospitals. McIntyre says hospitals experience big losses with Medicare and Medicaid -- but the federal stimulus package does have some Medicaid money in it.
- - -

Southern NJ hospital ends full service operations

A southern New Jersey hospital is ceasing operations as an acute care facility.

Kessler Memorial Hospital in Hammonton closed Thursday, just days after it appeared the financially troubled facility appeared to have a buyer.

But an apparent agreement to sell the hospital to cardiovascular surgeon B. Reddy Dandolu for $7.5 million fell through.

Hospital officials say there is a tentative agreement with AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center to establish satellite emergency services at Kessler, and the hospital emergency room is treating walk-in patients.

Officials issued a statement saying that "every effort will be made" to ensure that employees receive all pay they are due. A payroll shortfall prevented them from being paid last week.

The 106-bed hospital, which opened in 1964, was Hammonton's largest employer with 400 workers.