Advocate Health Care, the Chicago area's biggest hospital operator, is exploring a partnership with Rockford (IL) Memorial Hospital. It's the latest effort by the hospital operator to reach beyond the Chicago area. In November, Advocate confirmed it is exploring a potential partnership with BroMenn Healthcare System.
A $100 million financing deal between Boston-based hospital chain Caritas Christi Health Care and Ascension Health of St. Louis is on hold, leaving Caritas without needed capital. At the same time, Caritas Christi plans to lay off about 160 workers—1.2% of it workforce of 13,000—to cut expenses. The two moves make a financial turnaround for the Archdiocese of Boston's six-hospital chain more challenging for chief executive Ralph de la Torre.
An Allegheny County, PA, judge set a deadline of December 5 for University of Pittsburgh Medical Center to pay a settlement to a former secretary who sued Magee-Womens Hospital for wrongful termination and a violation of the state's Whistleblower Law. Donna Kovacs and UPMC reached a settlement for an undisclosed amount in November as the trial was beginning. But the two sides have been squabbling since then about provisions in the settlement.
The death of an 89-year-old woman on the roof of University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Montefiore is prompting several investigations, and the hospital could face fines, a change in its accreditation status, and a lawsuit from the woman's family. Pittsburgh police, the state Health Department, and the hospital itself will examine how the woman, who suffered from dementia and heart problems, was able to wander unnoticed from her 12th-floor room and go to the roof. Her body was found there by a maintenance worker. Within 45 days, UPMC is expected to issue a report and action plan to The Joint Commission.
Washington Adventist Hospital got the green light from Montgomery County, MD, to move its Takoma Park hospital six miles away to White Oak. The new 48-acre campus is in the heart of the hospital's primary service area and has major interconnecting roads that make it more accessible to patients in Montgomery and Prince George's counties, officials said.
Louisiana State University has announced that it probably will close its Baton Rouge charity hospital in favor of a partnership with an existing hospital. LSU's decision comes after years of efforts to acquire land for a new hospital that would replace the deteriorating Earl K. Long Medical Center. Instead, indigent patients in the area will be served by a new outpatient clinic scheduled to open next year. Patients requiring hospitalization will be admitted to Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center.