There are two kinds of hospitals, for-profit and not-for-profit, right?
Partly right. Every hospital I know of intends to make a profit, since the option is to loose money. A few do lose money, but it is unusual for a hospital to close, and then it is either a small rural hospital in an area of declining population, with a new freeway to the large city hospital just down the road, or, rarely, an inner city hospital exclusively serving a largely indigent population.
How many "Mercy" or "St Luke's" or "Baptist" hospitals do you know? How many of them are still actually owned and operated by the respective churches? I sense that the church connection is tenuous, if there at all. I can tell you that the executive managers of these hospitals (or the "System" of hospitals to which they now belong,) are often compensated according to financial benchmarks. Their salary, annual bonuses, retirement, and departure bonuses all depend on how much the facility makes from year to year. If your hospital belongs to a larger system, find out the total compensation of the system CEO (if you can). You may be surprised, if not shocked.
Somehow though, they maintain their saintly facade. The hospital axillary proudly announces that they have managed to raise $200,000 so that the hospital can purchase a new surgical endoscope, while at the same time the hospital constructs a new $5,000,000 lobby/entrance that would put a Marriott Resort to shame. Does anyone else see a problem here???
Of course, most doctors and medical groups are pretty much profit-oriented now days, and physicians are fair fodder for discussion as well.
Since I am not retired, and have long workweeks, posting will be sporadic. Comments are always welcome.
