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Advocates: Hospitals must come clean
By Michael Kunzelman
Monday, February 4, 2002
BOSTON—A state-sponsored "early warning" system
could help save hospitals like Deaconess-Waltham Hospital from financial
ruin, a panel of doctors and public-health advocates are expected
to testify tomorrow at the State House.
State Sen. Susan Fargo, D-Lincoln, said the Legislature should compel
private hospitals to "open up their books" and submit to a greater
measure of government oversight.
"There needs to be more state regulation of distressed hospitals,
said Fargo, whose district includes Waltham. "It's a very acute problem."
Fargo and state Rep. Peter Koutoujian, D-Waltham, are co-chairing
tomorrow's oversight hearing of the joint Committee on Health Care.
The imminent closing of Deaconess-Waltham Hospital is just th latest
reminder that many community hospitals are in dire financial straits,
said David Schildmeier, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Nurses Association.
"We hope to make a strong impression on policymakers that hospitals
providing the level and quality of care that Waltham Hospital does
should not be closed," Schildmeier added.
Representatives of the MNA, the Massachusetts Hospital Association,
the state Department of Public Health and CareGroup Health System
are among the guests scheduled to testify tomorrow.
Dr. Richard Lyons, chairman of the Coalition to Save Waltham Hospital,
also has been invited to speak during the oversight hearing.
"In my mind, we have a very tenuous health-care safety net right now,"
said Lyons, head of the hospital's emergency department. "I think
this rises to the level of a public-health emergency, in some respects."
CareGroup is scheduled to close Deaconess-Waltham Hospital in April,
a move that would result in about 1,200 jobs being lost.
"For people in Waltham, losing this hospital would be like losing
a family member," Fargo said. "We are working daily, nightly to try
to buy some time."
Given that the hospital handled about 22,000 emergency-room visits
annually, its closing also would tax the resources of neighboring
hospitals, Lyons said.
"If we close, that's not the end of the story," he said. "Other hospitals
are in trouble."
Lyons said he welcomes a limited degree of government oversight of
private hospitals.
"The whole system must be examined," he added. "Legislation is helpful,
but turning things around also rests with us as an institution."
Massachusetts officials have less power to regulate private hospitals
than their counterparts in other states, according to Schildmeier.
"In Connecticut, the attorney general has a lot of power to stop a
hospital closure if it's going to harm the community," he said.
Fargo said the goal of tomorrow's hearing is to solicit ideas for
legislation that would help the state keep closer tabs on struggling
hospitals.
"The issue of distressed hospitals is something that we on the Health
Care Committee have been concerned about for quite some time," she
said.
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