Medical staff and hospital workers were saddened, though not particularly surprised, when the owner of Mission Hospital of Huntington Park announced last week that hospital operations were being suspended.
It had been clear for years that Mission Hospital and its sister hospital Community Hospital of Huntington Park shared the same cash flow problems as its clients, mostly working class and indigent.
Indeed, financial cracks began to surface shortly after Tenet Healthcare Corp. in 2005 sold Mission and Community to Karykeion Inc., described at the time as a group formed by hospital physicians. Within three months some unionized hospital workers voted to authorize a strike if the company didn’t straighten out its payroll problems. They said some checks had been bouncing and others weren’t even distributed.
Over the next two years, additional cash flow problems periodically surfaced. Nurses like Gail Scanland said her ward would periodically run out of supplies, because vendors would refuse to ship until bills were paid. There even were occasions in recent months where staff workers said they had to borrow items from other hospitals in the area.
“I’ve been here through four or five owners and this is the worst I’ve ever seen,” said Scanland, a licensed vocational nurse for 41 years at the hospital,
The two hospitals, with 157 licensed beds, are largely reliant on Medi-Cal and other government programs to cover patient care costs. In fiscal 2006-07, they received around $10.5 million from the state’s Disproportionate Share Hospital Unit program, which attempts to make up the difference for the cost of care of indigent and Medi-Cal beneficiaries. The hospitals reported a $3.4 million loss to state regulators for calendar year 2006.
Hospital Chief Executive Dennis Coleman declined to comment on the hospital’s financials beyond what was mentioned in a March 13 press release. Karykeion’s current sole owner, Dr. Edward Rubin, could not be reached for comment.
About 100 of the hospital’s unionized employees were mailed notices of the pending suspension two weeks earlier under the California WARN Act. Coleman said he hopes to be able to fill vacancies at Community with Mission workers.
Mission specialized in pediatric and obstetrical patients, whereas Community handles adult acute care cases.
PortBlue Wins L.A. Contract
PortBlue Corp. has been selected by 75 hospitals in Los Angeles County to provide a system that will enable emergency management officials to track available hospital beds and resources in the event of a disaster.
The Los Angeles-based software developer’s Web-based system also will allow hospitals to track bed usage throughout the year though that is not the system’s primary attraction.
“Our experience with Internet connectivity actually has been very good during recent emergencies,” said company founder and Chief Executive Paul Dimitruk, noting that the software can even run on laptop computers offsite. “Even if a hospital loses its own (regular) connection to the Internet, there are a variety of alternatives they can use to stay connected.”
A five-year contract to use the software is being funded by a $1 million U.S. Dept of Health & Human Service hospital preparedness grant, and being coordinated by the county’s Emergency Management Services Agency.
Participating hospitals, including Cedars-Sinai, Providence Saint Joseph and UCLA, formed a committee and evaluated several programs over the past year. A number of vendors have emergency management programs in the wake of the Katrina and Rita hurricanes in 2005, which overwhelmed many emergency services along the Gulf Coast.
This is PortBlue’s second large contract for its software. A group of hospitals in Florida’s Miami-Dade and Broward counties already deploy it, as do hospitals in five other states.
Dakim Secures Investment
Dakim Inc., a Santa Monica developer of cognitive fitness technology for seniors, has raised $10.6 million in funding led by Galen Partners, a Stamford, Conn.-based private equity firm specializing in healthcare investing.
The Series C funding will enable expansion of its M-Power Cognitive Fitness System product line, which launched in November 2006. The hardware/software system for clinical and group home settings offers games, puzzles and other stimulating activities designed to aid active seniors maintain normal brain function as well as help individuals diagnosed with dementia.
The company plans to launch a new version of the system later this year for home users.
Staff reporter Deborah Crowe can be reached at [email protected], or at (323) 549-5225, ext. 232.
