Becker's Hospital Review

18 CFO / FINANCE Michigan hospital preps to lay off 194 workers as closure looms By Ayla Ellison S turgis (Mich.) Hospital is planning to close by the end of July if it is unable to quickly secure new funding or find a buyer, MBiz reported June 28. The rural hospital said in a notice filed with that state that it will begin laying off 194 employees around July 9 as it begins scaling back services. Unless funding or a buyer is secured by early July, the hospital will close around July 23, according to the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Act notice cited by MBiz. Sturgis Hospital said it is seeking capital and exploring business combinations with healthcare companies and investment groups to avoid closure. The hospital has been seeking a buyer since 2018, according to the report. Sturgis Hospital COO and CFO Bobby Morin said there's a chance the hospital could avoid shutting down if the state budget, which will be finalized by July 1, provides the hospital with bridge funding until other financing is secured. n New York hospital to lay off staff, outsource revenue cycle functions By Ayla Ellison C laxton-Hepburn Medical Center in Ogdensburg, N.Y., is cutting approximately 5 percent of its 800-person workforce as it makes changes aimed at improving revenue cycle functions. The 115-bed hospital said June 27 that it is planning to outsource revenue cycle functions to improve its financial performance and ensure the hospital's continued viability. Multiple revenue cycle deficiencies remain unresolved, which impacts Claxton-Hepburn Medical Center's financial position and exposes it to patient complaints, the hospital said. " Over the last 18 months, the CHMC administration has been transparent with the Service Employees International Union and the hospital's revenue cycle team members," the hospital said. "We have made good-faith efforts to correct what we determined were severe deficiencies in our processes. Despite these and other efforts, our progress was limited." Making the decision to outsource revenue cycle functions was difficult, but it is in the best interest of the hospital and the community it serves, the hospital said. n HCA, Steward make for 2nd called-off hospital deal within days of FTC challenge By Molly Gamble H CA Healthcare and Steward Health Care System have abandoned their proposed deal involving five Utah hospitals. e decision comes 13 days aer the Federal Trade Commission challenged the transaction. e FTC unanimously voted to file lawsuits June 2 to block two separate hospital transactions, one involving Saint Peter's Healthcare System and RWJBarnabas Health — two New Jersey health systems — and the other involving HCA and Steward. Saint Peter's and RWJBarnabas called off their proposed deal June 14. "For the second time in a week, parties who proposed an anticompetitive hospital merger have called their deal off aer the FTC filed a complaint to block the deal," FTC Bureau of Competition Director Holly Vedova said in an agency statement. "is transaction, like the RWJBarnabas Health/Saint Peter's transaction that was abandoned two days ago, should never have been proposed in the first place. is should be a lesson learned to hospital systems all over the country and their counsel: e FTC will not hesitate to take action in enforcing the antitrust laws to protect healthcare consumers who are faced with unlawful hospital consolidation." Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA announced plans to acquire five Utah hospitals from Dallas-based Steward Health Care in September. Under the proposed acquisition, the five hospitals would become part of HCA Healthcare's mountain division, which has 11 hospitals throughout Utah, Idaho and Alaska. e FTC alleged the acquisition would eliminate the second-and fourth-largest healthcare systems in Utah's Wasatch Front region, where approximately 80 percent of the state's residents live. By filing suit to challenge the deal, the transaction was halted pending an administrative proceeding with an administrative trial set to begin Dec. 13. n

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