Turnaround time. A financially troubled Philadelphia hospital goes out of the red and into the black.
A large Medicare population, a higher than average length of stay, an aging medical staff, and difficulty in retaining professional staff were a few of the indications that Nazareth Hospital, Philadelphia, was headed for financial difficulties. Unfortunately, Nazareth leaders overlooked these warnings because the hospital was concentrating on a major construction project. In 1989 the hospital lost approximately $5 million from operations, resulting in debt covenant violations on a $33 million bond issue. Nazareth then adopted a revitalization program with the following basic components: Establishing extensive cost-cutting measures to help reverse the financial deficits Retaining outside consultants to serve as management advocates and to keep the repositioning effort moving forward Enhancing long-range strategic planning to lay firm groundwork for the hospital's future As a result of these efforts, Nazareth went from a fiscal year 1989 operating loss to a 1990 year-end break-even position. Nazareth leaders attribute this success to the total commitment by the involved constituencies: board, managers, medical staff, and employees.
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D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D016361:Bankruptcy; D003253:Consultants; D003363:Cost Control / Q000379:methods; D005377:Financial Management, Hospital / Q000379:methods*; D006075:Governing Board; D006745:Hospital Bed Capacity, 300 to 499; D008505:Medical Staff, Hospital / Q000191:economics; D010564:Personnel, Hospital / Q000191:economics; D015143:Philadelphia; D010934:Planning Techniques