Becker's Hospital Review

11 CFO / FINANCE Michigan hospital rejects woman's heart transplant, recommends she raise $10K By Kelly Gooch A er rejecting a 60-year-old woman's request for a heart transplant for lack of "a more secure financial plan," Grand Rapids, Mich.-based Spectrum Health recommended that she start a $10,000 fund- raiser to come up with the money, according to a Detroit Free Press report. e recommendation came via a Nov. 20 let- ter from a nurse with Spectrum Health's Heart & Lung Specialized Care Clinics. In the letter, the nurse told Hedda Martin of Grand Rap- ids that the multidisciplinary heart transplant committee determined she is "not a candidate at this time for a heart transplant due to need- ing a more secure financial plan for immuno- suppressive medication coverage." Immunosuppressive drugs help prevent a per- son's body from rejecting a new heart or other transplanted organ. e nurse also told Ms. Martin the transplant committee "is recom- mending a fundraising effort of $10,000." e letter was reportedly posted on social media by the patient, sparking backlash from some commentators over the committee's de- cision. According to the report, some com- mentators on Twitter compared the commit- tee to a "death panel." A Spectrum representative was not available to speak with Detroit Free Press on Nov. 25. e health system posted a statement on its website stating that Spectrum does not com- ment on specific patient situations due to pri- vacy, but it "cares deeply about every patient that enters its doors." "While it is always upsetting when we cannot provide a transplant, we have an obligation to ensure that transplants are successful and that donor organs will remain viable. We thought- fully review candidates for heart and lung transplant procedures with care and compas- sion, and these are oen highly complex, diffi- cult decisions," Spectrum said. "While our primary focus is the medical needs of the patient, the fact is that trans- plants require lifelong care and immunosup- pression drugs, and therefore costs are some- times a regrettable and unavoidable factor in the decision-making process. We partner with our patients throughout their care and work closely with them to identify opportunities for financial assistance. Our clinical team has an ongoing dialogue with patients about their el- igibility, holding frequent in-person meetings and inform patients in-person to ensure they fully understand their specific situation," the health system added. As of Dec. 21, a GoFundMe page set up by Ms. Martin's son had raised $31,090 for the anti-rejection drugs. n CHS to divest 4 hospitals, exit South Carolina By Ayla Ellison F ranklin, Tenn.-based Community Health Systems plans to sell all of its hospitals in South Carolina. CHS entered a definitive agreement in October to sell Mary Black Health System, a two-hospi- tal system based in Spartanburg, S.C., to Spar- tanburg Regional Healthcare System. On Nov. 19, CHS said it signed a definitive agreement to sell its four other hospitals in South Carolina to the Medical University Hos- pital Authority in Charleston, S.C. The trans- action, which is expected to close in the first quarter of 2019, includes the following hospi- tals: 82-bed Chester Regional Medical Center; 225-bed Springs Memorial Hospital in Lan- caster; 396-bed Carolinas Hospital System in Florence; and 124-bed Carolinas Hospital Sys- tem-Marion in Mullins. The six South Carolina hospitals are among several facilities with combined revenue of $2 billion that CHS intends to sell. n California DOJ approves CHI-Dignity merger, with conditions By Ayla Ellison T he California Department of Justice conditionally approved the proposed merger of Englewood, Colo.-based Catholic Health Ini- tiatives and San Francisco-based Dignity Health on Nov. 21. Here are five things to know: 1. Under the California Justice Department's conditions, the combined system, called CommonSpirit Health, is required to maintain emergen- cy services and women's healthcare services for 10 years. 2. To make any changes to emergency or women's healthcare services during years six through 10, CommonSpirit will be required to no- tify the Justice Department to determine how the changes will affect the community. 3. CommonSpirit is also required to allocate $20 million over six fiscal years to create and implement a Homeless Health Initiative to support services for patients experiencing homelessness. 4. Starting in 2019, CommonSpirit's California hospitals are required to alter their financial assistance policies to offer a 100 percent discount to patients earning up to 250 percent of the federal poverty level. 5. CHI and Dignity signed a definitive agreement to merge in December 2017, and the organizations worked to close the transaction throughout 2018. The new $28.4 billion health system will include more than 700 care sites and 139 hospitals. n

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