catholic healthcare west

SPOTLIGHT: Turning food dollars to good

Anne Zieger — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 01:57:21 -0400

At Santa Cruz, CA-based Dominican Hospital, patients are served fresh fruits and vegetables from the hospital's own 4,000-square-foot garden. The garden, which produces 3,000 pounds of produce annually, is part of an environmentally-friendly food program run by parent system Catholic Healthcare West. CHW says that the eco-friendly food program directs resources to environmentally-friendly practices, rather than traditional food-production systems that might not take such considerations into account. Article

IL considering bill limiting charges to uninsured

Wed, 04 Jun 2008 06:59:56 -0400

The state of Illinois is considering a bill that would set limits on what hospitals would be allowed to charge and collect from eligible uninsured patients. Under the terms of the bill, which was passed by the state House and is expected to pass the Senate, hospitals could charge no more than 135 percent of the costs for medically necessary care for eligible patients. To meet the criteria, the patient would have to be a state resident and make no more than six times the federal poverty level, or half of that in rural or critical-access regions. For patients who met these conditions, the hospital would be prohibited from collecting more than 25 percent of a patient's income each year unless he or she had assets exceeding the income levels in the eligibility guidelines.

To learn more about the bill:
- read this Modern Healthcare piece (reg. req.)

Related Articles:
St. Louis hospitals give uninsured discounts
Catholic Healthcare West uninsureds get 35 percent refund
MN health systems pay back uninsured patients
SC court examines discounts for uninsured

HCA Midwest sticks to five-year investment plan, spending $600M

Wed, 02 Apr 2008 07:59:57 -0400

Five years ago, HCA acquired the 12-hospital Health Midwest for $1.13 billion, renaming it HCA Midwest. As part of the buy, HCA execs promised to make some heavy capital investments in the chain's aging facilities, some of which had equipment so outdated that physicians avoided them. Today, five years after the deal--at the time the largest conversion of nonprofit assets to for-profit in U.S. history--HCA seems to have lived up to its promises.

Over the last five years, the chain has sunk a whopping $600 million into capital improvements, exceeding the $450 million it had originally budgeted. Not only has the chain brought in state-of-the-art imaging technology, such as a $2 million cardiac cath lab at Overland Park Regional, it's done extensive renovations, opened new outpatient surgery centers, improved cancer, cardiac and spine care and built new facilities. What's more, the chain expects to invest another $30 million within the next year or so.

To learn more about HCA Midwest's status:
- read this Kansas City Star piece

Related Articles:
HCA's hospital building boom. Report
Catholic Healthcare West plans $9B investment. Report

CA hospitals allowed to restructure debt

Wed, 19 Mar 2008 07:59:57 -0400

A group of six California hospitals and health systems won much-needed approval to restructure or refinance outstanding debt turned into a ticking time bomb by the bond crisis. The move follows similar steps by Massachusetts bond authorities, who also are dealing with their share of hospital bond crises.

At an emergency meeting of the California Health Facilities Financing Authority, the board took steps to make refinancing easier for tax-exempt hospitals and systems ready to jump out of the gyrating bond market. One big winner was San Francisco-Catholic Healthcare West, a 39-hospital system that was able to refund up to $2.2 billion to restructure auction- or variable-rate debt. The board also approved refinancing for 417-bed Hoag Memorial Hospital of Newport Beach, $69 million for 264-bed Lucile Salter Packard Children's Hospital of Palo Alto, $314 million for four-hospital Scripps Health of San Diego, $665 million for 466-bed Stanford Hospitals and Clinics, and $625 million for 22-hospital system Sutter Health.

To learn more about the hospitals' refinancing:
- read this Modern Healthcare piece (reg. req.)

Related Articles:
Sutter bets approval for $1B bond issue. Report
MA bond authorities make transactions easier. Report
IRS cracking down on post-issue bond proceed use. Report