St. Francis re-assumes ownership of its former hospitals
From the Honolulu Star-Advertiser
Hawaii Medical Center — the former St. Francis hospitals in Liliha and Ewa — filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Tuesday, having just emerged from two years of court protection in August. The owner of the two hospitals was unable to reverse money-losing operations since buying them in 2007.
The company had been hoping to increase referrals for higher-priced procedures and increase the number of patients with commercial health insurance to offset the large population covered by Medicare and Medicaid, whose reimbursement rates are significantly lower. But the plan failed to generate the revenue needed.
Ownership of the hospitals will now revert to the nonprofit St. Francis Healthcare System of Hawaii, which sold them to HMC LLC, which started as a joint venture between Kansas-based Cardiovascular Hospitals of America and Hawaii Physician Group LLC.
St. Francis Healthcare Systems hopes to return the hospitals to sound footing and continue to provide services for a largely indigent and elderly population that relies on them for essential care. Hawaii Medical Center East in Liliha and Hawaii Medical Center West in Ewa have a combined total of about 700 employees and 342 beds.
