Baptist Health Care will purchase the 531-bed West Florida Hospital from HCA for $245 million. The deal, announced Thursday, is still subject to financing and regulatory approvals, but it is expected to be finalized by the end of the year.
When the deal is finalized, West Florida Hospital will be renamed Baptist Hospital, and together with nearby Baptist Medical Park— 9 Mile will give Baptist Health Care a larger presence in north Pensacola. "We've been trying to get a footprint in that area for 10 years," Baptist Health Care President and CEO Al Stubblefield says. "We tried to get a (certificate of need) to put a hospital just north of where this hospital is unsuccessfully four different times. This is a way to be able to branch out into that growing part of our market without having to invest in a new hospital."
West Florida Hospital is about 30 years old but recently underwent an expansive renovation. "It's got brand new operating rooms, a front lobby, exteriors. Physically it is in great shape," Stubblefield says.
Baptist and HCA officials say West Florida Hospital and the 492-bed Baptist Hospital provide too many redundant services for a competitive market serving about 250,000 people. "It just made sense with the thought that streamlining some of the services and personnel technology and equipment would bring some economy of scale to the area," says Kendrick Doidge, vice president of marketing and public relations at HCA's West Florida Healthcare.
Stubblefield agrees. "Basically you have two 500-bed, full-service hospitals, two open heart programs, two cancer programs, two neurodiagnostic and neurosurgical programs, and two trauma programs," he says. "The hospital we are acquiring is running 30% occupancy and yet they're trying to keep all of those high-end programs up and going. We estimate there is $50 million to $60 million in costs that we can take out of the system in the first full year of consolidation."
Stubblefield says there will be some job losses but he doesn't anticipate mass layoffs. "The business plan calls for about 300 less employees when the dust settles than what we have combined today," he says. "But that is an 18-month window and we expect the vast majority of that to happen through attrition in that time frame."
When the sale is completed, HCA's West Florida Healthcare will be left with four hospitals in Fort Walton, Panama City, Tallahassee, and Niceville.
Elected leaders in Portland, OR, have unanimously pledged to become one of the first cities in the country to offer health insurance. The City Council voted 5-0 for a resolution that convenes a working group to figure out how to provide coverage for preschoolers and children in public schools—Portland has an estimated 12,000 children without health insurance. But because backers haven't begun to work out the details, it's unclear how much the city would have to spend on the insurance or how it would pay for the plan.
Mercy Hospital Clermont in Batavia, OH, has received a $50,000 grant to help support the new intensive care unit at the facility. The grant is part of a $670,000 campaign to support the ICU plus a new atrium and main entrance.
When problems forced the closure of Martin Luther King Jr.-Harbor Hospital, the Los Angeles County government leaders blamed their own employees. When the hospital ended inpatient and emergency operations a year ago, county supervisors promised to "wipe the slate clean" of problem employees. But a review of personnel data and disciplinary appeals shows that at least 22 employees with significant disciplinary histories at King either still work at what remains of the facility, or have been reassigned to other county hospitals. It is not known exactly how many problem employees from King are on the job.
Atlanta-based Grady Memorial Hospital is expected to announce a new CEO to run the troubled medical center in August, and will bring the new leader on board in September, officials said. Pete Correll, head of the hospital board of directors, acknowledged that the hospital missed its self-imposed deadline to name a new chief officer in June and said the search has proved more difficult than expected. Some candidates were deflected by the Georgia law requiring that the names of finalists for such public positions be made public, and others did not want current employers to know they were looking only to be passed over, he said.
Indiana is allowing uninsured state residents to buy into its Healthy Indiana Plan, which was previously available only to low-income residents. The buy-in is available to people ages 19-64 who have been without insurance for at least six months and who are not offered employer-based coverage. The Healthy Indiana Plan includes several benefits, including preventative health services such as mammograms, prostate exams and flu shots, and a health savings account. But people who do not meet low-income requirements will have to pay a monthly rate to buy into the plan, which for them will not be subsidized by the state or federal government.
The Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board has approved St. Francis Hospital & Health Center's transfer of ownership application to MSMC Investors. MSMC is buying the Catholic hospital in south suburban Blue Island, IL, and was the only company to step forward to purchase St. Francis after the hospital announced it would close in April amid rising numbers of uninsured patients who cannot pay their medical bills and other issues. SSM Health Care, St. Francis' parent, and MSMC said in a joint statement that they hope to finalize the transaction July 30.
New York City's Health and Hospitals Corporation has agreed to increase the monitoring of patients at a public psychiatric ward in Brooklyn. The agreement came after a videotape surfaced showing a patient collapsing onto a floor at Kings County Hospital Center after waiting nearly 24 hours to be seen, and lying there for about an hour before somebody came to her aid. The agency agreed to the stepped-up monitoring to settle a lawsuit filed by the New York Civil Liberties Union and others. The lawsuit accuses the public hospital of keeping psychiatric patients in filthy conditions, systematically neglecting them, and drugging them into submission.
Eighteen patients who had operations at Duke hospitals in 2004 have sued North Carolina-based Duke University Health System. The patients charge that Duke committed fraud and negligence in connection with the patients' exposure to surgical instruments mistakenly washed in elevator hydraulic fluid. The suit asks that Duke and other defendants pay an undisclosed amount in compensatory and punitive damages. The plaintiffs are among more than 3,600 patients of Durham Regional or Duke Raleigh hospitals who were operated on with the tainted surgical tools.
Massachusetts Sen. Edward M. Kennedy's office has begun convening a series of meetings involving an array of healthcare specialists to begin laying the groundwork for a new attempt to provide universal healthcare. Those involved in the discussions said Kennedy believes it is extremely important to move as quickly as possible on overhauling the healthcare system after the next president takes office in January. Kennedy was an early endorser of Senator Barack Obama, and if he is elected Kennedy's effort to identify points of agreement among senators could smooth the way for the new administration to press ahead on universal healthcare.
