Rust Belt Hospital Closures Kick Economically Fragile Areas Hard When They’re Already Down
Hospitals are closing at startling rates in rural and economically depressed areas that are already struggling to recover from financial downturns. Other hospital news comes out of New York and Florida.
The Associated Press:
Hospital Closings Hit Hard On The Edge Of The Rust Belt
Carrie Jones is looking for work for the first time in two decades. She's even more worried about what will happen to her psychiatric patients. "Where are they going to go?" Jones said. "We're honestly like their family." Jones is among nearly 1,100 employees being laid off at Ohio Valley Medical Center in Wheeling and sister facility East Ohio Regional Hospital in nearby Martins Ferry, Ohio. (Ra, 9/8)
The New York Times:
Phone Service Problems Leave More Than A Dozen Hospitals Unable To Take Calls
More than a dozen hospitals in and around New York City lost phone service on Friday night, hampering their ability to answer the incoming calls of relatives who were seeking to speak with patients or check on their status. Hospital officials said that there was no danger to patients and that they were making contingency plans, though some were advising outside callers to reach patients on their cellphones. (Vigdor, 9/7)
Tampa Bay Times:
Johns Hopkins All Children’s Faces Record State Fines
State regulators intend to hit Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital with some of the largest fines levied against a Florida hospital in recent memory, delivering a stinging rebuke to the prestigious institution. The fines will add up to $804,000. Four of them are for $197,000 — each more than twice as much as any other individual fine the state Agency for Health Care Administration has levied on a hospital since 2010, a Tampa Bay Times analysis of published state records shows. (McGrory and Bedi, 9/7)
