Opponents ask Colo. Attorney General to intervene on hospital sale

Opponents mount a challenge to the planned sale of Denver's largest hospital group to a for-profit chain while hospitals in Massachusetts report difficult economic conditions and a California facility is expanding.

The Denver Post: Critics File Complaint About Colorado Hospital-Buyout Deal With State Attorney General
The Colorado Health Foundation's $1.45 billion deal to sell its share of Denver's largest hospital group to a for-profit chain may be underpriced in a closed-door deal and undercutting community interests, according to objections lodged with the state attorney general. Prominent former board members want the attorney general to declare the deal a "conversion" from nonprofit to for-profit status, a ruling that would give the state and community interests more power to alter terms (Booth, 7/10). 

The Boston Globe: Hospitals In Mass. Feel Fiscal Squeeze
Massachusetts hospitals are buckling under growing financial strains, with 16 — nearly a quarter of them — losing money last year, according to a new state report. Thirteen hospitals in the state also suffered losses in 2009, but the deficits at many of them widened in 2010, the report from the state Division of Health Care Finance and Policy showed. Thirty others managed only modest profits last year (Weisman, 7/11).

WBUR's CommonHealth blog: Rich Hospitals Report Hefty Profits While Others Post Losses
Profits soared at some hospitals in Massachusetts last year but the number of hospitals posting losses also grew, according to a new report from the [Gov. Deval] Patrick administration. ... Boston's highly paid hospitals, including Children's, Massachusetts General, Brigham and Women's and Beth Israel Deaconess, each made tens or hundreds of millions of dollars. Boston's two largest safety net hospitals lost money, however: $26 million at Boston Medical Center and $7 million at Cambridge Health Alliance. Across the state, the picture is mixed (Bebinger and Zimmerman, 7/9).

The Sacramento Bee: Sutter Project Shapes Up
The $724 million expansion of Sutter Medical Center, Sacramento, is moving forward at an indomitable clip - despite some early setbacks and a price tag that has ballooned by 60 percent since work began on the massive midtown project five years ago (Heenan, 7/10).