How desperate are the HMA-owned hospitals?

I am writing in response to the recent newspaper (Lancaster New Era, Sept. 30) article detailing the most recent resurrection attempt of the Health Management Associates (HMA) owned hospitals, Lancaster Regional Medical Center and Heart of Lancaster Regional Center.

I have pity for the most recent CEO George Miller as he is again attempting to portray both hospitals as viable healthcare facilities in this county. From recent NewsLanc and Steinman Family newspaper printing , I believe that between both hospitals, there have been over a dozen different CEOs since HMA bought both hospitals since 2002. That is an abysmal rate of CEO positioning at an average of 6 months of tenure per person. This is Lancaster County and we do not like change.

How can a patient trust in their choice of hospital if the CEO changes every six months? A hospital is lead by its CEO and with these frequent CEO changes, how can a patient or even a doctor decide that the best care available is at one of these HMA hospitals when there is (what seems like) a new regime and with new direction with each successive CEO change.

Case in point, it seems that the HMA hospitals forecast a new approach to healthcare for doctors, patients and the community every six to twelve months. I read the newspaper everyday as well as look at websites such as Newslanc.com the number of front-page re-definitions of the HMA hospitals has been boggling. Such marketing attempts as two years ago when an investment opportunity (partnership) to physicians only was coolly received by the medical community is one episode of the desperation of both of these hospitals to try to survive in this county where a top-50 hospital all ready exists -- Lancaster General Hospital.

Following this failed attempt to woo doctors into investing in the ho spitals, then there was the front-page article about the two hospitals merging into one with the Lititz based hospital being built out to over three hundred beds and the former Saint Joseph's Hospital being downsized to rehabilitation and outpatient services. Soon thereafter, this attempt to recurrent business at both HMA hospitals failed.

And now the recent new article states that, under Mr. Miller, both hospitals will exist separately and the former idea of merging services is no longer. And the craziest idea is that Mr. Miller thinks that Lancaster County physicians will actually invest in these hospitals now. Why would anyone (particularly an assumed intelligent doctor or at least the doctor’s financial advisor) invest with any HMA hospital?

By the most recent financial data available, Lancaster General Hospital was financially sound with a greater than 130 million dollar profit and the combined balance sheet for the two HMA hospitals barely broke even. On top of this readily available information, an intelligent investor would also look at the stock holdings of HMA to determine if such an investment would be sound. With a review of the business page or even Yahoo.com, it doesn’t take long to note that HMA stock has plummeted (even before the recent Wall Street woes of Lehman Brothers and AIG)...

Unlike our federal government which is opting to bail out the multiple banking firms for bad investment, maybe we (the citizens of Lancaster County) should just let the two HMA hospitals financially fail and finally await HMA to close their doors. Only after these imminent HMA failures can Lancaster General Hospital finally take over both facilities and finally provide the quality of care at both of these facilities that the long-tenured citizens recall was offered by Saint Joseph’s Hospital and Community Hospital of Lancaster -- many, many years before HMA [took over] these healthcare facilities and prompted the ruination of both.