My town is making some not-so-good changes.....

Colleen

Colleen

Senior Member
Location
Pennsylvania
The big articles in the paper lately has been about our hospital, which is a privately owned for-profit hospital (Steward Health Care), and it has filed for bankruptcy and is on the auction block. The hospital was sold in 2014 to CHS, a for-profit Tennessee company that owned, leased and operated 206 other hospitals in 29 states. CHS, facing financial troubles of its own, sold it to the for-profit Steward in 2017. Our hospital employs over 700 people and it's the largest employer in our county.

According to Reuters, Steward has more than $9 billion in total liabilities, including $1.2 billion in loans, $6.6 billion in long-term rent obligations, nearly $1 billion in unpaid bills from suppliers and $290 million in unpaid employee wages and benefits. According to our State Rep., finances have been mismanaged for years under Steward's ownership.

I've only lived here 2 years, but I know every medical facility and doctor's group is under the Steward umbrella. If the hospital folds, then a mass exodus will happen. I saw it happen when I worked for Quaker State Oil Refining Corp. and they moved out of our little town and relocated to Dallas, TX back in 1992. The whole town collapsed. That may not happen here on such a grand scale but it will surely turn everything upside down here. Doctor's will leave for greener pastures and healthcare will not be the same as it is now.

Once again, greed rears it's ugly head.

Oh, yes....the commissioners just voted in a new garbage company for the next 5 years starting in August. Right now, garbage pickup is $61/quarter. That includes recycling and yard waste. The new company will be charging $83/quarter. :(
 

Our local hospital has just announced that they have joined
forces with Kansas University hospital.....not sure I like this...ours
has been a local small hospital till recent years....liked it that way....
 
The Evil Empire in Ann Arbor has taken over a hospital and associated clinics and labs here. Doctors and other staff are bailing out in droves, replaced by lower-paid staff with less experience and often a language barrier.
 

Colleen, I can't remember if you were considering selling and downsizing and/or moving?

The hospital my town is supposed to be not for profit. But I think it is. The CEO makes mega bucks. I don't even know about Catholic hospitals anymore. When I lived in Washington state one of the hospitals was a Catholic hospital and someone told me they went to their ER but didn't have insurance. At the time, they would not turn you into a credit agency. They bothered her for payment and she set up something like 20 dollars a month, which satisfied them and she was making the payments. And at that time, I'm sure her bill was hundreds vs. thousands today.

Record profits are being made. And I'm more and more convinced that the middle person is getting squeezed worse and worse.
 
Colleen said:
The big articles in the paper lately has been about our hospital, which is a privately owned for-profit hospital (Steward Health Care), and it has filed for bankruptcy and is on the auction block. The hospital was sold in 2014 to CHS, a for-profit Tennessee company that owned, leased and operated 206 other hospitals in 29 states. CHS, facing financial troubles of its own, sold it to the for-profit Steward in 2017. Our hospital employs over 700 people and it's the largest employer in our county.

According to Reuters, Steward has more than $9 billion in total liabilities, including $1.2 billion in loans, $6.6 billion in long-term rent obligations, nearly $1 billion in unpaid bills from suppliers and $290 million in unpaid employee wages and benefits. According to our State Rep., finances have been mismanaged for years under Steward's ownership.

I've only lived here 2 years, but I know every medical facility and doctor's group is under the Steward umbrella. If the hospital folds, then a mass exodus will happen. I saw it happen when I worked for Quaker State Oil Refining Corp. and they moved out of our little town and relocated to Dallas, TX back in 1992. The whole town collapsed. That may not happen here on such a grand scale but it will surely turn everything upside down here. Doctor's will leave for greener pastures and healthcare will not be the same as it is now.

Once again, greed rears it's ugly head.

Oh, yes....the commissioners just voted in a new garbage company for the next 5 years starting in August. Right now, garbage pickup is $61/quarter. That includes recycling and yard waste. The new company will be charging $83/quarter. :(
Click to expand...
I bet those same commissioners would be in favor of stadium for a pro team. It's called OPM addiction. That's Other Peoples Money
 
Steward Health Care was in a recent news article I watched because they accept money from investors in private equity firms. Then they cut staff and eventually close neighborhood hospitals. Meanwhile, the investors take profits from the cuts. They are anything but "stewards" of health care. :(

"After falling $50 million behind on year-end rent to Medical Properties Trust, the largest hospital landlord in the U.S., the Dallas-based health system has also received backlash from state and federal lawmakers, Steward employees and concerned community members in response to the risk of hospital closures." Here's an interesting video.

 
Last edited:
Whether we like it or not, the health industry is consolidating. Huge conglomerate health care corporations are buying small to medium hospitals, not to run them, but to kill off the competition. Most doctors do not operate a sole practice anymore, most are part of group practices, associated with a health care corp. Of course, the primary goal of those health care corporations is profit.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top