Hope for deficit-crippled Northeastern Hospital hangs on 30-day reprieve

IS THERE NOW hope of a possible recovery for ill-fated Northeastern Hospital?

Maybe, maybe not.

Officials from Temple University Health System, which operates the Port Richmond hospital, agreed yesterday to delay for 30 days their plan to convert it into an outpatient-care facility by July 1, said state Rep. John Taylor.

The agreement will give local elected leaders a chance to analyze Temple's decision to close it and to offer possible alternatives.

"They're not guaranteeing anything," noted Taylor, R-Phila., one of four pols who have criticized Temple for excluding leaders and the public from the decision-making process.

"They're holding off for 30 days so we can explore all the issues we should have been exploring months ago, when they weren't talking to anybody," he said. "The process was abysmal."

News of the delay left some, like Jerry Silberman, local leader of the union that represents the hospital's nurses, cautiously optimistic.

"They have an obligation to deal with the community," Silberman said. "But Temple's style of negotiating is to not negotiate, so we'll see how this goes."

Temple announced on March 23 that Northeastern couldn't continue to operate as an inpatient hospital because of mounting losses: $6.6 million in fiscal year 2008, and a projected $15 million this fiscal year.

The planned transition of the hospital from an inpatient facility to one that will offer outpatient services, including prenatal care, lab work and radiology services, threatens to claim more than 800 jobs.

Public outcry was swift and pointed, especially from politicians who said that Temple was valuing profits over patients. Taylor described the hospital as a "lifeline" for residents of Port Richmond, Fishtown, Kensington and Bridesburg.

But Northeastern's chief executive, John Buckley, told the Daily News earlier this week that the hospital was threatening to "jeopardize the remainder of Temple's health system," which includes three other hospitals.

Aside from the losses, Northeastern has a litany of other problems, Buckley said.

More than 53 percent of its patients use Medicaid, which compensates the hospital for just 75 percent of the cost to treat patients. "It's not sustainable," he said.

Buckley added that a "disproportionately high number" of the estimated 48,000 people who visit Northeastern's emergency department every year are there for primary care.

An outside firm said that the hospital needs about $100 million of upgrades and renovations. Buckley claimed that Northeastern has also had a difficult time recruiting physicians and specialists.

Buckley said that the bigger picture - the rest of the Temple University Health System - is also worrisome.

The system would have lost $116 million during fiscal 2008 were it not for government funds and investment earnings, according to figures provided to the Daily News.

In December, Moody's Investor Services gave a negative outlook to the health system's investment rating because of "three consecutive years of operating losses" and a high debt load.

"Based on the trends we saw and the overall global financial challenges that the health system experience, we felt it was prudent to take the course we did," Buckley said.

While Temple officials felt comfortable with their decision, based on the crimson tint of their financial picture, they seemed unprepared for the public backlash they've faced.

State Sen. Mike Stack, one of the health system's loudest critics, arranged a meeting at his Parkwood office on Tuesday with Anne Weaver Hart, Temple University's president; Edmond Notebaert, the president and CEO of Temple's health system; and several other local leaders.

"Basically, they slapped us in the face and punched us in the stomach, and now they're saying, 'Can't we all work together?' " Stack said.

"We all understand we have a health-care crisis, but we're not convinced closing Northeastern doesn't add to it."

Stack said that he reminded Notebaert of the importance of having the community involved with the decision-making process.

"They can turn against you. Evidently, he doesn't believe it."

He likely is a believer now.

At recent community meetings, Taylor and Silberman, the union rep, explored a number of options to thwart Temple.

Taylor threatened to cut off funding of more than $150 million Temple receives from the state. Silberman said that residents and hospital workers could turn to the courts to file a restraining order against Temple to halt their transition plans.

"All of those options are still there," Taylor said last night.

"We would all like to see a full-blown hospital there. To the extent that's not doable, we'll look at other options. At the very least, we're forcing them into a process that makes everybody a little more aware of what's happening." *