- Posted at the Healthcare Renewal Blog on June 3, 2013 -
Sound Shore Medical Center (New Rochelle, NY) is filing for bankruptcy protection:
Montefiore Medical Center is offering to buy Sound Shore Health System for $54 million plus furniture and equipment, according to the latter’s bankruptcy filing — which also reveals just how far the troubled Westchester health network had fallen into the red.
Sound Shore Medical Center in New Rochelle, Mount Vernon Hospital and five related entities have about $200 million in debts owed to more than 3,000 creditors, while possessing only $159.6 million in assets, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court documents show. Sound Shore filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Wednesday as the first step in discharging its debts and selling itself to the Montefiore system.
Why were they in the red?
You can read the full article "Westchester hospitals' sale price over $54 million; Hospitals' debt about $200M" in The Journal News for yourself at this link: http://www.lohud.com/article/20130530/NEWS/305300081/Westchester-hospitals-sale-price-over-54-million?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|News&gcheck=1, but there's this interesting passage:
... Beginning in 2006, the hospitals saw falling patient volume and a change in their case mix. That led to “significant” losses in recent years, negative cash book balances and bills paid more than 225 days late. A 2011 electronic medical record and billing system conversion caused major delays in billing and cash collection that still haven’t been fully solved.
(This passage has a familiar ring to it; e.g., see SEC Count 9 at "Florida Hospital gets an 'F' on Informatics" at http://www.ischool.drexel.edu/faculty/ssilverstein/cases/?loc=cases&sloc=miami.)
A 2011 EHR and billing conversion? It's now 2013.
How many hospital IT personnel does it take to
-- SS
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