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Originally Posted by Scott Terry:

Originally Posted by Keith Larson:

I have also done a quick look for recent hospital closings.  I could find several...and many more that are closing maternity wards.  But I couldn't find any that the healthcare insurance law was a factor.  Actually just the opposite.

Three currently profitable hospitals up for sale because of projected impact of Obamacare.

http://washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/beltway-confidential/obamacare-firesale-three-catholic-hospitals-sale-pennsylvania

One is too many.

Being up for sale is not the same as closing.  The CEO has said that the law has had some minor influence on the sale.  But he has also said that the group has have had for many years looked at the possibility of merging with other health care facilities to help costs...and none could be found.  A sale to a larger group had better possibilities.

There are some concerns with hospitals because the Medicare formula payments that doctors now experience will be applied to the hospitals themselves under the law.  But on the other hand, the costs of caring for the uninsured are closing hospitals and some services inside.

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Originally Posted by Keith Larson:


Being up for sale is not the same as closing.  The CEO has said that the law has had some minor influence on the sale.  But he has also said that the group has have had for many years looked at the possibility of merging with other health care facilities to help costs...and none could be found.  A sale to a larger group had better possibilities.

Agreed on the first sentence, not on the rest.

“Health care reform is absolutely playing a role. Was it the precipitating factor in this decision? No, but was it a factor in our planning over the next five years? Absolutely,”  Cook (the CEO) added.

In other words, they have 3 currently profitable hospitals today.  However, because of Obamacare, they're going to need to sell them ... their financial health is not sustainable because of this expensive, intrusive monster.

And when the government makes it difficult for hospitals to operate ... well ... they can't operate.

This is just one bellwether of what's coming down the pike.

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From the Catholic News Service on the sale of hospitals:

CEO denies health reform prompted possible sale of Catholic hospitals

By Nancy Frazier O'Brien
Catholic News Service

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The head of a Catholic health system has denied reports that the decision to put three hospitals in northeastern Pennsylvania up for sale was a result of the health care reform bill passed in March.

"Discussions about mergers, acquisitions and strategic partnerships have been conducted in our health care community for years -- long before the passage of the (Patient Protection and) Affordable Care Act," said Kevin Cook, president and CEO of Mercy Health Partners, in an Oct. 10 statement. "Our decision announced last week was due to many factors."

Cook said "the rationale for our initiative has been mischaracterized by certain politicized media outlets and severely distorted by some special-interest groups."

Mercy Health Partners is comprised of Mercy Hospital in Scranton, Mercy Special Care Hospital in Nanticoke, Mercy Tyler Hospital in Tunkhannock and several outpatient facilities. It is part of Catholic Healthcare Partners, based in Cincinnati.

"This is a challenging time for Mercy Health Partners, our staff and our community," Cook said in an Oct. 8 news release. "We do, however, continue to be encouraged by the potential of health care reform to improve coverage and access to care in our country."

Cook said in the original announcement that the health system was "committed to selecting a buyer who will continue the commitment of our sponsors, the Sisters of Mercy, to improving the health of the community and who will honor our organization's values."

Reports that health reform had forced the closing of a Catholic hospital surfaced after Cook told Scranton television station WNEP Oct. 6 that health reform "is absolutely playing a role" in the decision to explore the sale of one or all of the hospitals.

"Was it the precipitating factor in this decision? No, but was it a factor in our planning over the next five years? Absolutely," Cook added. He said health reform changes could mean lower federal reimbursements for the Scranton-area hospitals, which have already suffered from underutilization.

Mercy Sister Marie Parker, vice president for mission services at Mercy Health Partners, told WNEP, "There is always sadness and mourning when you think of letting go of anything, but the Sisters of Mercy are strongly supportive of this decision because we do understand the realities of health care and we do think it's best for the community."

Claiming that "three Scranton-area Catholic hospitals are shutting down because of Obamacare regulations that are set to go into effect soon," the website CatholicVote.org said it had developed a radio ad calling on Pennsylvania voters to reject the re-election bids of Democratic Reps. Paul Kanjorski and Chris Carney, who voted in favor of the final health reform package.

Visitors to the site, a project of an organization called Fidelis, were asked to donate money to pay for airing the radio ad in the Scranton area.

The website also criticized Sister Carol Keehan, a Daughter of Charity who is president and CEO of the Catholic Health Association, saying she was "trying to bully Kevin Cook into changing his story about why his hospitals are closing because she knows what a political powder keg the headline 'Catholic hospitals closing because of Obamacare' will be in this critical election season."

Sister Carol told Catholic News Service Oct. 12 that she had not talked with Cook and did not know him personally.

She said she spoke out in an Oct. 8 statement only to affirm the decisions made by the system after they explained the reasons why the hospitals were put up for sale and to reaffirm that the distortions were dishonest.

In that statement, Sister Carol said Mercy leaders had "determined that their own resources were insufficient to meet the needs of the community going forward."

"According to hospital leaders, for more than two decades Scranton-area hospitals have faced lower-than-average reimbursement and a dwindling population base, resulting at times in empty hospital beds and duplicative services," she added.

The CHA leader said "reports that health reform is the primary motive behind the sale are completely false, misleading and politically motivated."

Sister Carol said it was "also important to note that health reform does not in any way imperil the ability of Catholic hospitals to operate as they always have -- in accordance with their values and in full compliance with the religious and ethical directives of Catholic health care."

In the final days of the debate over health care reform, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Catholic Health Association disagreed about whether the final version of the bill, along with an executive order by President Barack Obama, would forbid federal funding of abortion and adequately protect the conscience rights of health care providers and institutions.

The USCCB ultimately urged members of Congress to reject the health reform legislation, while CHA, the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, heads of a number of women's religious orders and the national Catholic social justice lobbying group Network called for its passage.

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You can see/hear what he originally said ...  straight from the horse's mouth ... Cook himself ... here (not from CNS):

http://www.wnep.com/news/countybycounty/wnep-mercy-ceo-responds-health-care-controversy,0,323434.story

So either he lied the first time ... or the second after it hit the news.

(If you're a CEO and you're trying to sell your hospitals, I understand the backpeddling.)

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Most endangered hospitals are rural hospitals and urban ones in areas with excess hospital beds and a lot of poor, uninsured patients.

Hospitals are reporting that donations and investment returns are down, patient visits are flat and profitable diagnostic procedures and elective surgeries are declining as people with inadequate insurance delay care. But those patients are turning up later at ERs, seriously ill, making it tough for hospitals to lay off nurses and doctors.

All those problems are aggravating long-standing stresses: stingy reimbursements from commercial insurers, even-lower payments that generally don't cover costs for Medicare and Medicaid patients, and high labor and technology costs.

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Originally Posted by Scott Terry:
You can see/hear what he originally said ...  straight from the horse's mouth ... Cook himself ... here (not from CNS):

http://www.wnep.com/news/countybycounty/wnep-mercy-ceo-responds-health-care-controversy,0,323434.story

So either he lied the first time ... or the second after it hit the news.

(If you're a CEO and you're trying to sell your hospitals, I understand the backpeddling.)

What he said was it was a factor...but not the precipitating one.  That's not changed...or in doubt.  But a local election and right pundits assertion that it was THE reason or even a major factor is nothing like what he said.

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Originally Posted by Keith Larson:

Originally Posted by Scott Terry:
You can see/hear what he originally said ...  straight from the horse's mouth ... Cook himself ... here (not from CNS):

http://www.wnep.com/news/countybycounty/wnep-mercy-ceo-responds-health-care-controversy,0,323434.story

So either he lied the first time ... or the second after it hit the news.

(If you're a CEO and you're trying to sell your hospitals, I understand the backpeddling.)

What he said was it was a factor...but not the precipitating one.  That's not changed...or in doubt.  But a local election and right pundits assertion that it was THE reason or even a major factor is nothing like what he said.

"Precipitating" means "what's hastening the decision?"

They are profitable today so they're not hastened to sell today.   But because of Obamacare, their future is not in projected to be in good shape.  That's why they're deciding to sell now ... when they're profitable.

When he was asked if Obamacare was a factor for the future, his reply was "Absolutely."

His words, not a pundits.

So either he meant them.  Or he didn't.

He's a CEO.  He wants to sell the hospitals.  He wants to get the most money he can for them.  And he'll get more money for them if he sells them now, when they're profitable, than later when Obamcare makes them unprofitable.

If he'd thought about it beforehand, it's not likely he would have communicated that the reason he wants to sell them is because they don't have a profitable outlook (makes them harder to sell).

So I understand the reason he's backpeddling.

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"According to hospital leaders, for more than two decades Scranton-area hospitals have faced lower-than-average reimbursement and a dwindling population base, resulting at times in empty hospital beds and duplicative services," she added.

Doesn't sound like it's been profitable for a long time.  Talks have been going on for years.  Geisinger...a large healthcare company was considering a merger, but claims there are too many hospitals in the area to be profitable.  Community Health Systems is a possible buyer, but the employees dislike that employer and they would lose their Catholic designation if that sale happens.

What the CEO said was that the decision to seek merger or sale happened well before the healthcare law was enacted...so it wasn't a reason for precipitating the search.  But, yes, it is one of the many factors that has to be considered in continuing with the process.