The annual Tyrone Hospital Corporation board meeting was held Monday amid a challenging time for the facility.
\nTyrone Hospital is facing financial issues including dealing with operating losses of $2.2 million and total losses of $3.9 for the fiscal year that ended in June. It is also dealing with the ramifications of a $4 million plus jury award handed down earlier this year against the hospital and a doctor. The $3.9 million figure factors in the hospital\u2019s costs associated with the jury award.
\nAmid that background, board president Judith Norris said the hospital has set a number of goals. She said the goals include maintaining an acute care facility with an emergency room, bringing in additional staff, maintaining a commitment to quality patient care, continuing its commitment to its employees and continuing its charitable mission.
\n\u201cThat hopefully is the goal of this board to do that, so we have to look at all options,\u201d said Norris.
\nAccording to a hospital press release, Norris noted the hospital achieved some significant goals but also continued to wrestle with some challenges that have contributed to a financial slide in recent years. Norris said hospital leaders are implementing a very structured plan to help the hospital regain its footing.
\n\u201cThe board, administration, physicians, and key personnel have worked together with consultants to develop a strategic plan,\u201d said Norris. \u201cWe have also conducted community surveys, interviews, and gathered information from patient questionnaires.\u201d
\nAmong those options the hospital is looking at the possibility of a merger or a reorganizational Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
\nLast night, Tyrone Hospital officials met with representatives of Altoona Regional Medical Center. Norris said it was a first session where representatives from both hospitals met for \u201ca general discussion\u201d to see if there was \u201canything we could do collaboratively.\u201d She said nothing substantial came out of the meeting and no additional meeting had been set as of now.
\n\u201cSince Altoona has a strong presence in Tyrone\u2019s market area it is quite logical for us to make that contact,\u201d said Norris in the hospital\u2019s press release.
\nTyrone hospital officials indicated they were also open to discussions with other interested parties.
\n\u201cWe have a fine group of people working to keep this hospital in our community, employees, physicians, volunteers, development council, and hospital auxiliary members,\u201d said Norris. \u201cHowever, sometimes it takes more.\u201d
\nAs far as the bankruptcy option, the hospital\u2019s CEO Walter Van Dyke had mentioned the possibility of Chapter 11 bankruptcy in early March as an option if the facility can\u2019t find relief from the jury award in the legal system. Hosptial spokesperson Theresa Yanchetz said yesterday that no decision on bankruptcy has been made yet. Under a Chapter 11 bankruptcy, the hospital could repay its debts over time and continue to operate.
\nIn the hospital\u2019s press release, Van Dyke was quoted as saying, \u201cWe are working with an attorney to see if this would be in our best interest at this juncture. We will make a decision in the near future.\u201d
\nIn an overview of the hospital\u2019s performance George Berger, Chief Financial Officer reported that the hospital has been operating at a loss for a few years but has been able to cut its losses significantly through accomplishments that were outlined by Van Dyke at the board meeting.
\n\u201cWe have made progress but there are still some things pressuring us and holding us back\u201d said Mr. Berger.
\nThe hospital\u2019s press release said patient admissions, surgeries and emergency room visits have all declined, while the portion of the hospital\u2019s patients that are covered by Medicaid, an insurance program that pays very little, has increased.
\n\u201cOur costs are low compared to other critical access hospitals in Pennsylvania, said Berger. \u201cBut we lack the volume of patients that would be needed to pull us out of our financial slide.\u201d
\nVan Dyke said the hospital is also faced with paying $3.5 million of the $4.5 jury award in a case involving the birth of a boy at the hospital in the mid 1990s.
\nVan Dyke noted the hospital has been drawing on its reserves to fund the losses it has experienced in recent years.
\n\u201cWe can no longer squeeze our reserves,\u201d said Van Dyke. \u201cWe have to look at other actions to reverse this trend. There are a number of things we need to do strategically.\u201d
\nHe noted a need for additional physicians to help build the hospital\u2019s volume.
\n \u201cWe also need to develop a relationship with another health provider,\u201d said Van Dyke. \u201cA relationship with another health provider will position Tyrone Hospital to better meet community needs both now and in the future and will support our financial turnaround efforts.\u201d
\nIn his report to the hospital\u2019s coporation board, Van Dyke said recent accomplishments noted:
\n\u2022 recruitment of a surgeon and an emergency room physician;
\n\u2022 ongoing aggressive cost containment;
\n\u2022 converted to a critical access hospital which provides more favorable reimbursement for care provided to Medicare patient developed a swing bed program which allows patients who no longer need acute care, who meet certain criteria, to remain at the hospital for short term rehabilitation;
\n\u2022 developed a relationship with ProCare to upgrade its rehabilitation services;
\n\u2022 discontinued a contract with Quorum Health Resources for management services;
\n\u2022 closed its obstetrics services;
\n\u2022 renegotiation of a blue cross contract;
\n\u2022 reduced accounts receivable days to 55 and
\n\u2022 developed the Keystone Headache and Pain Management Center.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The annual Tyrone Hospital Corporation board meeting was held Monday amid a challenging time for the facility. Tyrone Hospital is facing financial issues including dealing with operating losses of $2.2 million and total losses of $3.9 for the fiscal year that ended in June. It is also dealing with the ramifications of a $4 million […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40633","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news-in-the-tyrone-pennsylvania-area"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40633","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=40633"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40633\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=40633"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=40633"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=40633"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}