What Lancaster County’s 4 Hospitals Made In Profits In 2012

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Lancaster County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The bottom line is starting to look healthier for local hospitals, which saw profits of between $7 million and $65 million in 2012 after some recent lean years.

All four hospitals saw an increase in profits, with two sister hospitals here seeing the biggest leap, according to a new state report.

All of the hospitals also had robust profit margins, according to the report by the Pennsylvania Health Cost Containment Council.

One local hospital official, however, said things might not be as good as they appear, due to the fact that the data included in the report does not include losses from hospital-owned physician practices.

Read more: http://lancasteronline.com/article/local/849894_What-Lancaster-County-s-4-hospitals-made-in-profits-in-2012.html#ixzz2TQB2Ff8W

Hospital Charges A Mystery To Many

If you need hip replacement surgery, you will face a wide range of charges here, depending on the hospital you choose.

Lancaster Regional Medical Center charged the most for major joint replacement surgery, $60,434, of the four hospitals here, according to a recent federal report on 2011 charges.

Across town, Lancaster General Hospital charged the least, $37,761, about $23,000 less than Regional.

But hang on to your crutches, patients.  There’s more.

Though LGH charged the least, Medicare, the federal insurance for the elderly paid it the most of all the hospitals here, $13,400.

Confused yet? Join the club.

Read more: http://lancasteronline.com/article/local/848413_Hospital-charges-a-mystery-to-many.html#ixzz2T2HQPO3o

Lancaster General’s $50 Million Project At Former Lancaster Family YMCA Site Moves Forward

After receiving approvals more than a year ago to build a new office building and a parking garage on the former Lancaster Family YMCA site, Lancaster General Health put the brakes on the project.

Now it’s full speed ahead.

Andrew Baldo, vice president of project developer Arcadia Properties, on Wednesday sought and received from the city Planning Commission a waiver of preliminary plan approval requirements.

The waiver allows the $50 million project to skip a step and moves it closer to having all approvals in place by late June.

Read more: http://lancasteronline.com/article/local/839506_Lancaster-General-s–50-million-project-at-former-Lancaster-Family-YMCA-site-moves-forward.html#ixzz2QqkIejI3

Einstein Medical Center Montgomery Expanding

Location of East Norriton Township in Montgomery County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

EAST NORRITON – It’s been barely six months since the shiny new Einstein Medical Center Montgomery debuted on the site of the old “Woody’s” golf course, and already the hospital is growing.

Expansion to the latest addition of the Einstein Healthcare Network – essentially a conversion of the west wing of the medical center’s fourth floor – came a bit sooner than anticipated, noted Beth Duffy, Chief Operating Officer of Einstein Medical Center Montgomery.

“We really thought it would happen a year or two down the road, but the early success of Einstein Medical Center Montgomery has created the need for additional patient care areas.”

Luckily, expansion opportunities were built in during the original construction, Duffy explained.

Read more:  http://business-news.thestreet.com/the-times-herald/story/einstein-medical-center-montgomery-expanding-2/1

Jobs Returning To The Lehigh Valley, Slowly

Lehigh Valley workers were hit harder by the recession and recovered more slowly from the damage than those in many comparable urban areas.

That finding and a slew of others are included in the fifth annual State of the Lehigh Valley research study that was rolled out Thursday at Lehigh University by the Lehigh Valley Research Consortium and Renew Lehigh Valley.

Researchers Christopher Ruebeck and Jamila Bookwala, who led the presentation, ran down regional employment figures between 2006 and 2012, finding that the Lehigh Valley’s job market held its own prior to the recession, comparing favorably with similar metro areas, with the nation as a whole and with our neighbors in New Jersey.

But the Valley’s unemployment rate rose more than comparable metro areas during the Great Recession, and those jobs have come back more slowly than in many comparable areas or the state or nation as a whole.

Read more:  http://www.mcall.com/news/breaking/mc-allentown-lehigh-valley-jobs-20130228,0,7642549.story

Berks Hospitals Get High Ratings

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Berks County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Medical treatment available at Reading Hospital and St. Joseph Medical Center is as good as or better than any other hospital in Pennsylvania.

But the cost of that treatment is more expensive at Reading Hospital, 16 percent more expensive on average.

The Hospital Performance Report released today by the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council measures the in-hospital death and readmission rate of all hospitals in the state in 2011.  A readmission is defined as being admitted to the hospital within 30 days of being hospitalized for the same condition.

It also measures the average cost for treating some common medical conditions.

Read more:  http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=437228

‘Eds And Meds’ Still Growing In Pittsburgh Region

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Allegheny County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Pittsburgh region’s 21st-century economy has often been referred to as one where manufacturing has been displaced by the “eds and meds” sector, but there remain pockets where local residents still lean heavily on the more traditional means of employment.

In nine Allegheny County municipalities, more than twice as many residents are employed in manufacturing as is the case in the county overall, according to new census data. Many of the communities are in the Route 28/Allegheny Valley corridor, where many light manufacturing firms operate — some of them growing and thriving.

The occupational information was just one nugget in a bounty of new American Community Survey data released Wednesday by the U.S. Census Bureau.  The data are based on a survey of the national population over a five-year span, from 2007-11, with the government deeming the sample size sufficient to release estimates for wide-ranging characteristics of every municipality.

While Allegheny County and the surrounding region once served as a manufacturing center for the nation, only 8.3 percent of the county’s workforce was employed in manufacturing in the modern era, the ACS data said.  That was down from 9 percent in the 2000 census and was less than the 10.8 percent for the nation as a whole.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/region/eds-and-meds-still-growing-in-pittsburgh-region-665151/#ixzz2EJ4ATXbo

Hospitals Become Key Players In Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Economy

Locator map of the Scranton-Wilkes-Barre Metropolitan Statistical Area in the northeastern part of the of . (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

After a massive consolidation of the region’s health care industry, Community Health Systems has become the largest private employer in Northeast Pennsylvania.

With about 6,500 employees at eight area hospitals and nonhospital entities, Community Health Systems has even surpassed Tobyhanna Army Depot, which has about 5,400 workers.

“Whenever you have an employer that size, clearly that has a huge impact on the economy, not just for the people we employ, but those folks go out and buy houses and cars and gas,” said Cornelio Catena, CEO of Wilkes-Barre General Hospital and Commonwealth Health, the umbrella group for Community Health Systems’ area hospitals.

“It’s a huge economic contributor to our area.”

Read more: http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/hospitals-become-key-players-in-region-s-economy-1.1387891

Einstein Medical Center Montgomery Ready For Sept. 29 Debut

Location of East Norriton Township in Montgomery County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

EAST NORRITON — The clock is ticking down with last-minute installation work, a required state Department of Health inspection and final cleaning before the doors open Sept. 29 on the $350 million, 146-bed Einstein Medical Center Montgomery (EMCM) hospital on Germantown Pike.

A recent press tour of the five-story facility included working journalists and four aspiring journalists from Gotwals Elementary School. Third-fourth grade teacher Katie Sortino accompanied Yazzmin Hernandez, Amayrami Lopez, Derrick Honeycutt and Zavier Wedderburn as they took notes for a late October edition of the “Healthy Press.”

A crowd of 5,000 to 10,000 local residents are expected at a Sept. 22 “Community Day and Open House,” from noon to 6 p.m., to tour the facility before an official 6 a.m., Sept. 29, hospital opening. Forty to 50 patients at Montgomery Hospital in Norristown will be transferred with six ambulances to EMCM on Sept. 29, starting at 7 a.m., said Beth Duffy, the chief operating officer of EMCM.

Montgomery Hospital had 87 patients on Sept. 5. Hospital administrators will not accept elective procedure patients at Montgomery Hospital close to the closing date to reduce the number of patients requiring transfers.

PhillyInc: Reports See Slow Recovery For Philadephia Area

English: Philadelphia skyline (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The construction cranes that now dot Philadelphia are a welcome sign that some business is getting done, but the steel structures tend to distract the eye from the local economy’s challenges closer to the ground.

The latest quarterly reading of Select Greater Philadelphia‘s leading economic indicators points to mid-2014 as the earliest point when employment in the 11-county region will return to its prerecession level.

A separate analysis of the Philadelphia market by PNC Financial Services Group Inc. recently concluded that the region will continue to lag behind the nation in economic growth, job growth, and income growth.

What’s going on here? Don’t we have an emerging entrepreneurial tech community, a growing business professional services sector, and an enviable cluster of top-notch higher education and health-care institutions?

Read more: http://www.philly.com/philly/business/20120810_PhillyInc__Reports_see_slow_recovery_for_Phila__area.html#ixzz23AG6vpUA
Watch sports videos you won’t find anywhere else

Urgent-Care Clinic Opens In Carbondale Months After Hospital Closes

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Lackawanna County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

CARBONDALE, PA – When Marian Community Hospital closed in late February, Upvalley residents had no other options for immediate care between Honesdale and Scranton.

Helping fill health care needs in the area, Pioneer City Urgent Care, a seven-day-a-week clinic, has opened to treat anything from bronchitis to earaches and bone fractures.

“Having an urgent-care clinic in our city is vitally important to our residents and the surrounding area,” said Carbondale Mayor Justin Taylor, a former emergency medical technician. “This is really the first line of defense with anyone with a medical situation.”

Jaime A. Cook, R.N., practice manager for the clinic and a registered nurse, said people should consider the new facility instead of driving out of the area for medical assistance.

Read more: http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/urgent-care-clinic-opens-in-carbondale-months-after-hospital-closes-1.1350312

Geisinger Commits To $126 Million In Upgrades At Scranton Hospital

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Lackawanna County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Following up on a promise to the community when it took over a local hospital earlier this year, Geisinger Health System Foundation Board of Directors today approved $125.7 million for Geisinger-Community Medical Center, part of a nearly $160 commitment to the hospital.

When Geisinger took over CMC hospital in February, it promised to make upgrades of during a seven-year period to the dated facility.

With today’s announcement, Geisinger commits to an $80 million facility expansion of GCMC, $25.7 million to construct a new physician office building in Scranton and a $20 million project already under way to upgrade the hospital’s information technology system.

Anthony Aquilina, D.O., chief medical officer at GCMC, said the goal is to boost quality of health care in the local community.

Read more: http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/geisinger-commits-to-126-million-in-upgrades-at-scranton-hospital-1.1333161

Wait Time Clocks In The ER? Does That Sound A Little Too Much Like Ordering A Pizza?

Image via Wikipedia

Some local hospital Emergency Rooms already have them.  Some others are considering adding them like Pottstown Memorial Medical Center and Phoenixville Hospital.

I don’t know about you but is this making medical care too much like ordering a pizza or being on hold with your credit card company?  Will patients get discounts and prizes for prompt treatment?  Will employees be rewarded for providing prompt treatment?

Some things take as long as they take.  Do we want medical treatment on the same level as an express lunch guarantee at Bennigan’s?  I am somewhat skeptical of this concept.  Will we be installing deli ticket machines so patients can take a number as well?  Maybe we can put up a digital display like at Redner’s so everyone can see what patient we are on.

Triage takes care of making sure the neediest patients get care first.  Turning the ER into a deli atmosphere does not seem like a step forward IMHO.