Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/912958
18 CFO / FINANCE Family in Shock After Receiving a $10k, 26-Year-Old Medical Bill By Alia Paavola A North Dakota family is in disbelief after receiving a roughly $10,000, 26-year-old medical bill in their deceased mother's name, accord- ing to the Jamestown Sun. Michelle Thompson received the bill from Jamestown-based North Dakota State Hospital a month after her mother, Amelia Thompson, passed away. The bill states that one of Amelia Thompson's 13 children, Jackie Thomp- son, received care at the hospital in 1986 and now that her mother passed away, the money must be paid from Amelia Thompson's remaining estate. "How can they sit on a bill for 26 years? ... Hospitals can't do that, just let their bills float around and wait until the person passes away and if they have some land, go after them," Michelle Thompson told the James- town Sun. Adam Wogsland, an attorney from Fargo, N.D., explained that hospitals and the state of North Dakota can recover debt by going after a deceased individual's estate; it is called "estate recovery." Since North Dakota paid for Jackie Thompson's hospital visit, the debt must be repaid to the state and hospital. "Under state law, if medical assistance has been granted and paid out by the estate, the state has the ability to recover that amount," said Mr. Wog- sland. Michelle Thompson plans on fighting the bill in court. n Care New England to Close Hospital After Sale to Prime Healthcare Collapses By Ayla Ellison P rovidence, R.I.-based Care New England plans to close Memorial Hospital in Pawtucket, R.I., after a deal fell through to sell the hospital to Prime Healthcare Foundation, the Ontario, Calif.-based nonprofit arm of Prime Healthcare Services. Earlier this year, Care New England announced plans to sell Memorial Hos- pital to Prime Healthcare Foundation and divest the rest of its hospitals to Boston-based Partners HealthCare. However, after it was unable to reach a final agreement with Prime, Care New England's board of directors voted Oct. 16 to close Memorial Hospital, according to WPRO News. "The magnitude of the losses at Memorial cannot be sustained and jeop- ardizes our other hospitals and provider organizations," said Charles Rep- pucci, Care New England board chairman, according to the Providence Journal. "We have exhausted our very best efforts and those of some na- tionally-recognized consultants to improve the situation without the out- comes we had hoped to achieve." It was not immediately clear when the hospital will close. Care New England told the Providence Journal it is unable to estimate how many employees will be affected by the closure until transition plans are developed. n HCA Reports $140M Hit From Hurricanes, Net Income Tumbles to $426M in Q3 By Ayla Ellison N ashville, Tenn.-based HCA Healthcare, which operates more than 170 hospitals, saw revenue increase in the third quarter of 2017, but the company's net income declined year over year. HCA's financial results were in line with the third quarter preview the company issued in October. HCA ended the third quarter of this year with net income of $426 million on rev- enues of $10.7 billion. at's compared to the same period of 2016, when the company re- corded net income of $618 million on revenues of $10.3 billion. On an Oct. 31 earnings call, HCA Chairman and CEO R. Milton Johnson said the company took an estimated $140 million hit from hurricanes Irma and Harvey. HCA has a total of 18 hospital campuses, eight freestanding emergency rooms, five surgery centers and one freestanding cancer center in the Houston and Corpus Christi, Texas, markets, which were two areas significantly im- pacted by Hurricane Harvey. e company has 50 hospital campuses, 32 surgery centers, 17 free- standing ERs and 10 diagnostic imaging centers in Florida, where several facilities felt the impact of Hurricane Irma. e Texas Medicaid Waiver program also took a toll on HCA finances. e company said it took a $50 million hit related to the program in the third quarter of this year. Mr. Johnson said the hurricanes and the Texas Medicaid waiver reduction make evaluating the third quarter results more complex. "However, if you look at the broad trends to normalize with the destruction in the hurricane affected mar- kets, we believe many of the trends are compara- ble with the first half of 2017," he said. In addition to releasing its third quarter finan- cial results, HCA announced the board ap- proved a new $2 billion share repurchase pro- gram. Including this newly announced program and the company's share repurchase program announced in November 2016, HCA has ap- proximately $2.15 billion authorized for share repurchases. n