When Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Kilmartin asked about challenges faced by The Westerly Hospital, the answer was clear. "I would say we are stressed. This hospital hasn't made a profit in 20 years," Charles Kinney, The Westerly Hospital president and chief executive officer, answered during a meeting that followed Kilmartin's tour of the 125-bed facility. Kilmartin, who was joined by Jodi Bourque, his office's healthcare advocate, is visiting hospitals throughout the state. Kilmartin said he was trying to get a sense of "the challenges faced by hospitals, especially community hospitals, as the federal healthcare reform act comes down the line." A year-to-date operating loss that was $5.2 million in April has grown to $5.7 million, Kinney said. Jeanne LaChance, the hospital's executive vice president/COO, said hopes that normally higher summer revenues might help offset the loss have been dashed. Patient volumes have remained low.
