Hospitals Face Losses, Some Close

The Associated Press reports that hospitals are beginning to buckle under the weight of “tight credit, higher borrowing costs, investment losses and a jump in patients - many recently unemployed or otherwise underinsured - not paying their bills.” In response, there have been “more hospital closings...as well as layoffs, other cost-cutting and scrapping or delaying building projects.”

Tha A.P notes that “In November, Moody's Investors Service changed its 12- to 18-month outlook from 'stable' to 'negative' for nonprofit and for-profit hospitals, citing 'prospects of a protracted recession,' bad debt and the credit crunch.”

The article also notes that “many cash-strapped states already have begun cutting payments for poor people covered by Medicaid.” Tim Goldfarb, CEO of Gainesville-based Shands Healthcare--which just announced that it would be closing a hospital--said that “Florida started cutting Medicaid reimbursements two years ago, when its economy started to slow,” and that “he fears another huge cut next year.” Mr. Golfarb also reported that “his system, Florida's second-largest provider of charity care, this year has seen bad debt jump 20 percent from patients with no insurance.” Read full story here.