Moody's reports negative outlook for not-for-profit hospitals

News outlets report on hospital issues, including a Moody's report suggesting a negative outlook for not-for-profit hospitals.

The Moody's report, which was released on Thursday found that "improvements seen in 2009 are not likely to be sustained in the coming years," Bloomberg Businessweek reports. "Not-for-profit hospitals improved financially in 2009, but the industry must make expense management a continuing key focus in looking ahead, said Moody's senior credit officer, Kay Sifferman, in a report. She cited Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement levels as key factors." The outlook also "predicts weaker financial performance ahead due to a sluggish economic recovery, growing levels of uncompensated care, and flat volume trends" (8/26).

Meanwhile, "North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System will open an urgent care-center on West 20th Street, after it failed to reach an agreement to house services in the bankrupt St. Vincent's Hospital in Greenwich Village," The Wall Street Journal reports. "The pact could disappoint some Greenwich Village residents who were angry about losing St. Vincent's, the only nearby acute-care hospital, which closed in April. The state and some city officials have said the urgent-care center would be able to treat many of the emergencies handled in the old St. Vincent's. The new center will be a half mile north of the old hospital" (Sataline, 8/27).

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This article was reprinted from khn.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.