Prospect Medical Holdings’ dire financial straits were well-documented , even before the owner of Roger Williams Medical Center and Our Lady of Fatima Hospital declared bankruptcy on Jan. 11.
But its cash flow woes are even worse than previously aired in public. The national hospital chain operator owes more than $1 billion to more than 100,000 creditors, but has just $3.4 million cash on hand, Paul Rundell, Prospect’s chief restructuring officer, wrote in testimony ahead of a federal bankruptcy court hearing in Dallas on Tuesday.
Ahh, well that’s definitely not going to help. However, that seems to have been a long systemic problem for this network, and it looks like they are still hemorrhaging money through their emergent care.
"Our hospitals overall in Connecticut are still operating at a negative margin,” CHA Vice President of Policy Paul Kidwell said, adding that deficit was an improvement from 2022.
The report found expenses for the hospitals rose by a combined $1 billion.
Kidwell said it’s because the reimbursement rates are too low, forcing the hospitals to make up for those losses on charges for patients with private insurance.
Sen. Heather Somers (R-Groton) said the state should also educate the public on when they should go to urgent care centers and other facilities, not emergency rooms.
Emergency rooms are often the most expensive form of care, and Connecticut’s facilities are also overcrowded."
While he could be telling the truth and the negative margins could be a result of the actual economics of healthcare and payment (rather than profit-taking shenanigans), the quoted guy there is an executive from a lobbying group.