WakeMed faces first financial loss in years

[WorseBeforeBetter]

Last edited Thu Aug 8, 2013, 06:23 PM - Edit history (1)

Published: August 2, 2013
By John Murawski — [e-mail]

....

WakeMed, which employs about 8,500 people, has lost about $15 million in the fiscal year that ends in September. At the same time, the hospital is transitioning to a software system that will cost it $100 million. Policy changes at the federal and state level will cost WakeMed about $23 million in the coming year, hospital officials estimate, and the hospital is juggling several regional multimillion-dollar expansions.

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Up to $800 million of that loss will come from reduced Medicare reimbursements; an additional $414 million represents lost revenue from the state’s decision not to expand Medicaid coverage, which will likely mean that some who would have benefited will seek hospital care without insurance.

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The changes are already rippling through the Triangle, where Duke Raleigh Hospital recently laid off 27 people in the expectation of lower patient volumes, and WakeMed cut 31 jobs several months ago. Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem has announced it will eliminate 950 positions, many of them unfilled or temporary, while Cone Health in Greensboro plans to lay off 150 and erase 150 vacant slots.

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Despite the worrying message of Atkinson’s letter, WakeMed is adding positions to staff expansion projects. It also plans to open a $17 million emergency department in Garner in several weeks that will employ about 150 people, and a $62 million North Women’s Hospital in Raleigh that is projected to employ 442 people.

http://www.midtownraleighnews.com/2013/08/02/3078833/wakemed-faces-first-financial.html#storylink=misearch

(Starting a little WakeMed/healthcare repository here...)

[Triana]

1. This is what Fed and State-level Republicans hath wrought.

And it's damn indefensible, IMO.

[WorseBeforeBetter]

3. Yeah, it will be fascinating to watch the effects of...

no Medicaid expansion in certain states. It makes me sick to think of the jobs North Carolina is losing out on.

[Lee-Lee]

7. I know people who are actually considering moving

because they will qualify in other states.

[WorseBeforeBetter]

8. Doesn't surprise me.

Employment any hindrance? Expensive housing? What a position for someone to be forced into.

[WorseBeforeBetter]

2. WakeMed to shut down nursing homes in cost-cutting move

http://www.midtownraleighnews.com/2013/08/08/3092580/wakemed-to-shut-down-nursing-homes.html#wgt=rcntnews

[marions ghost]

4. This is disgusting, absolutely avoidable

--sock it to nursing home patients:

http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/08/07/3090015_wakemed-to-suspend-some-nursing.html

"WakeMed officials say they are victims of federal and state policy changes that will cost the hospital $23 million in lost revenue in the coming year. The biggest financial drains will come from cuts to Medicare reimbursements and from the state’s decision not to expand Medicaid coverage, which will result in poor people using the hospital without paying.

WakeMed, which employs about 8,500 people, has lost about $15 million in the fiscal year that ends in September. The company continues reviewing a range of cost-saving scenarios that could result in more announcements in the months ahead."

[WorseBeforeBetter]

5. The decision not to expand Medicaid...

is one of the things that ticks me off the most. It's not like North Carolinians need help with healthcare coverage, or JOBS (supposedly 23,000 we're losing out on because of the NC GOP). I know people who work at WakeMed and they are VERY nervous about layoffs. More charity care, more layoffs, fewer contributing to the overall economy. Lather, rinse, repeat. Republicans really don't think things through, do they?

I'll be keeping my eye on a couple of states who are expanding Medicaid -- MD, DE and WV. According to this, debate is ongoing in PA:

http://kff.org/health-reform/state-indicator/state-decisions-for-creating-health-insurance-exchanges-and-expanding-medicaid/

It'll be fascinating to watch this unfold. Fascinating and depressing. Sigh.

[marions ghost]

6. RethugliCons never understand that if you invest in people

everybody gains. The decision not to expand Medicaid was so foolish, plain cruel. Many will suffer. The Rethugs do not care. This is the crowd who calls loss of people 'collateral damage.'

It IS fascinating to see just how low they can go, how much they can destroy, and how many are turning against them as they slash and burn. Their days are numbered, but many will suffer in the meantime. There will be a backlash. I think of that Japanese tsunami--first the water is sucked back into the ocean but then the wave surges forward and swamps everything. The Rethugs have caused an earthquake in this state and they will regret it. This is not a forward direction for NC. Only regressive. It can't last when 80% of the people do not support it. But it's really going to take a huge effort to turn it around. Meanwhile they will plunder and profit.

Right let's keep an eye on those other states so we can make fact-based comparisons re Medicaid.