Hospital Chain’s Turnaround Raises Health Spending
Caritas Christi Health Care, a six-hospital chain based in Boston, lost $20.4 million for the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, 2008. For FY 2009, Caritas Christi expects to post operating income of $31.1 million. How did a not-for-profit healthcare organization that was financially impaired even before the recession began achieve this turnaround during a period when other Massachusetts hospitals were slumping? It did what any business–for-profit or not-for-profit–has to do in this situation: it cut costs and boosted revenues. On the cost side, it consolidated operations, cut jobs, and froze salaries. And to pump up income, it negotiated better rates with insurers and hired a number of specialists who perform big-ticket procedures. One urology group, for example, has performed hundreds…
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