Prime Healthcare, the company that operates Shasta Regional Medical Center, posted its first quarter 2009 financial and utilization data summary report, showing an increase in utilization from fourth quarter 2008 but at a level far lower than under the previous operator.
The percentage of staffed beds used in the first quarter of 2008 was 89 percent, and fell to 19 percent for the fourth quarter of 2008 (the first quarter of operations by Prime Healthcare) before recovering slightly to 32 percent for the most recent quarter. First quarter operating losses were over $3.3 million, on net revenue of $18.6 million.
By comparison, Mercy Medical Center had a first quarter 2009, utilization rate of 61 percent and an operating profit of $6.5 million on net revenue of $74.5 million.
Steven Hamner, chief financial officer of Medical Properties Trust (MPW), Shasta Regional’s owner, indicated in a first quarter conference call that MPW does not expect Shasta Regional to be profitable in 2009, but Ed Aldag, chief executive officer of MPW, stated that Prime Healthcare had successfully turned around a similar hospital in two years. Aldag also addresses potential changes in Medicare reimbursement.
Additional details on Medicare reimbursement were found at modernhealthcare.com:
For 2010, the CMS proposes a 2.1 percent annual inflation increase in Medicare payments to acute-care hospitals, which would be largely wiped out by a 1.9 percent decrease in inpatient prospective payments intended to remove the effects of hospital coding practices, according to a proposed rule in the Federal Register.
…CMS officials said the law requires them to impose an additional 6.6 percent in cuts by 2012.
