Pulling the plug on the hospital

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

This hospital, a for-profit owned by Tenet last I heard, is close to having their electricity shut off because of non payment of their bills!

"The hospital said last week it had a plan to relocate patients if necessary but hoped a deal could be struck.

The St. Louis-based utility said it has been working with the hospital for several months 'to resolve issues related to payment.'

'However, we have a responsibility to our other customers to make sure that they do not subsidize those customers who choose not to pay their bills,' said a Friday statement by Ameren."

Uh, well I guess they have back up generators for six or eight hours worth of essential electricity.

STLtoday - Business - Health Care

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

Well, I found this interesting in part because the news story gave so little information. I found myself wondering and speculating about how a hospital arrives at a point where they are taking in patients, operating clinics, accepting state and federal payments and presumably private insurance payments, paying staff (one hopes), arranging surgeries and therapies, yet not paying a basic utility. What is their management thinking? What are the books saying? Are doctors admitting their patients elsewhere instead of this place which may not have electricity later this afternoon? Surely a hospital has to inspire some basic trust in its ability to provide the fundamentals.

Is the management of the for-profit hospital counting on the goodwill of the for-profit electric utility company? Are they counting on the potential bad publicity and outrage of the community at hearing patients are being forced out of their beds because the mean ol' electric company has pulled the plug on them?

Is this the way hospitals close down? Hanging on by a thread, waiting it out until the electricity is shut off, the water, the gas, delivery of food to the kitchen, of meds to the pharmacy, etc? I've never heard of a hospital going down like that and it seems very irresponsible. Aren't the employees jumping ship?

I don't know any of these answers. I haven't read or heard of this hospital's problems in the news at all until this article. They are one of the biggest providers of services to Medicaid recipients. in this city. Services to the poor used to be shared among many hospitals, but this one has made a play to go specifically for those, it appears to me (while other hospitals have found them less lucrative.) Salivating over Medicaid payments? I just wish I knew what the heck their general business plan looks like. I'm suspecting that they tried to hold off on public knowledge of their bad position by channeling any money that should have paid the electric bill, to paying their other expenses, not believing that the electricity would really get cut off before they could resolve their wider money problems. Or at least before they could squeeze the last of the blood from the turnip.

It sure seems like a petty way for a hospital to squeeze out every last dime they can get from Medicaid patients who have almost no other choice for hospitalization.

...yet my mind also looks for comparisons with the few individuals who purposely let their utilities go unpaid....

[scfr]

Is the management of the for-profit hospital counting on the goodwill of the for-profit electric utility company? Are they counting on the potential bad publicity and outrage of the community at hearing patients are being forced out of their beds because the mean ol' electric company has pulled the plug on them?

I was wondering the same things.

[sweeps]

They probably figure the electric company will go a long time before they'll shut off the power. Other suppliers wouldn't be that forgiving. Try not paying the doctors for a month and see what happens.