Prague hospital runs short of supplies as financial troubles deepen

[TexasTowelie]

PRAGUE — Less than two years ago, a group of investors and managers said they could give four struggling rural hospitals a chance to thrive, with new buildings and new services to attract patients.

On Tuesday, nurses at Prague Community Hospital told their city council that they are reaching into their own pockets to buy supplies like toilet paper and are diverting patients to other hospitals because they don't have a working CT scanner or the equipment necessary to run basic blood tests. A nurse practitioner said she had to put off her own medical care after she found out she didn't have health insurance, even though premiums had been deducted from her checks.

At the standing-room-only special meeting, registered nurse Becky Podest choked up while describing the hospital's financial condition, which she said had worsened under management company Empower HMS.

“The company that's running us is not allowing us to get any supplies,” she said. “Without supplies, I can't take care of my people, so I'm asking for help from anyone.”

Read more: https://newsok.com/article/5618304/prague-hospital-runs-short-of-supplies-as-financial-troubles-deepen

Related article:
Late paychecks hit 'lives and livelihood' of KC-based rural hospital chain's (EmpowerHMS) employees
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100211585660

[wasupaloopa]

1. They most likely have billing problems plus many uninsured patients. Medical facilities

can only operate on the income they generate. The cost of professionals, nurses, supplies and facilities is about at break even point. Any revenue that is left on the table through poor billing practices or services without reimbursement sinks a clinic or hospital.

I was a controller of a medical clinic

[TexasTowelie]

2. Unfortunately, it is looking more like a situation

where the CEO of the corporation was using the hospitals as a personal slush fund.

A similar situation occurred in the town where I live. While the CEO was flying around in private jets, buying expensive vehicles, and living in an exclusive gated community, he did everything possible to ruin the hospital (e.g., selling the CT-Scan to a private shell corporation he set up, then leasing the scanner back to the hospital at a ridiculous markup). This particular owner has a track record of buying hospitals, extracting the assets, and declaring bankruptcies dating back to the 1990s. The only difference is that EmpowerHMS has acquired about a dozen hospitals and they all crashed simultaneously, while the owner of the hospital where I live would only have 3 or 4 hospitals running at one time and he would shift the money around like a shell game. Unfortunately, the owner was a lawyer who knew how to manipulate the system because he really deserves to be in jail.