The Cancer That Spreads Across the Nation...HCA

[Headhurt, ADN]

HCA bought out one of our larger health systems a few years back, and it has been a mess ever since. They are closing two hospitals in town...each of them serves their own niche in that particular area, to people who otherwise can't access healthcare. HCA is for-profit, and they are not ashamed of it. I'm glad I don't work for this system, but I still feel badly for the casualties in their "make a profit" wake.

(From the kansascitychannel.com)

Lack Of Funding Forces Clinic Serving AIDS Patients To Close

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The Midtown Infectious Disease Clinic closed its doors Tuesday evening when a funding promise fell through, KMBC's Kelly Eckerman reported.

Eckerman said that 600 local patients, most of them HIV positive, lost their primary care clinic.

"They're closing us as of today. HCA has decided not to give us start-up funds, so we are not going to have the money to open up," Dr. Mary O'Connor said.

The clinic's staff members are now scrambling to notify patients. The clinic served primarily HIV patients for 17 years.

Eckerman said that last month, HCA, the for-profit company that bought out Health Midwest, announced it was breaking ties with the clinic.

O'Connor told Eckerman that HCA had offered to help it stay open while she applied for other funding.

"They had indicated they would give us $100,000 to maintain operations of the clinic. They have decided they don't want to give us the $100,000 at this point and we have no operational funding to keep the clinic open," O'Connor said.

That news came on Monday, so many of the 600 patients had no chance to find other treatment facilities or get medical records transferred, Eckerman said.

"We have a very large patient load and there's nowhere in the community that can absorb a large number of patients and see them within a short period of time," O'Connor said.

Patient Howard Huston said he is worried about finding the care he needs.

"They don't specialize in this. Not all doctors are still ready to take care of an HIV patient," Huston said.

While O'Connor hopes to eventually open a clinic offering specialized care to the Midtown area, she said it will be tough to duplicate what the clinic offered.

Eckerman reported that HCA agreed to notify patients that the clinic closed. The company will send out a notice in the mail and set up a phone line for patients with questions about care or transferring their records. Why HCA decided to stop the funding is not known. Eckerman said that HCA officials did not return her phone calls.

Oddly enough, the first hospital to become unionized was an HCA hospital (which is one of the facilities they are closing). I'm so glad I don't work for this system. A organization that openly puts money before patient care should not even be in health care. Maybe they should try their hand in something else...like Wall Street.

[All_Smiles_RN]

That is very sad. I always hear negative things about HCA. I'll never work for them.

...Jennifer...

[FutureSuperNurse]

I'm a student, so..............what is HCA exactly?

[emsboss]

I used to work for a HCA facility...And hope I never do again...When I first started it was a Catholic hospital...Worked there for 3 years before "they" took over. After "they" took over the place went downhill FAST!. worked there for another 5 years, worried every day if I would have a job to go to. (I was a telemetry tech). Now the facility is dirty. I went in to visit a patient (friend) there were cobwebs in the windows, the floors were dirty...No...I hope to not have to work there again!

[P_RN, ADN, RN]

HCA is one of the profit making hospital corporations. Some others are Tenet/NME, Columbia. They are buying out hospitals and closing some.

[elkpark]

HCA is the outfit that made Sen. Bill Frist and his family rich ...

[teeituptom, BSN, RN]

Ive been with HCA for 17 yrs now and I have been treated very well.

I would reccomend it to anyone

and whats wrong with "for profit"

this is America, and last I looked

we are still Capitalist

and if you think non profit hosps are better

it isnt any different

between for profit and not for profit the bottom line is, has been and always be the "DOLLAR"

[crankyasanoldma]

I work at an HCA facilitly also and have been there 7 years. It is the best job I've ever had of all the jobs I've ever had, nursing or non-nursing, and I plan to stay there until they sweep my dry dusty bones out the front door.

We are well staffed, well paid, and never run short of supplies or equipment.

Just to make you angrier ( :)) , we are non-union. When we have complaints, management listens AND does something about it. Patients come from all over the area to be treated there and we treat them well on every level.

As far as the topic of the OP- I'm not familiar with that particular clinic. Surely its a sad thing to have to close a clinic, but it sounded poorly run. A business should not stay in business if it is hemmorrhaging money from every port- I suspect that's why it was sold off in the first place. The other owners just let HCA be "the bad guy".

[mattsmom81]

A HCA columbia hospital with good managers may indeed be a good place to work. I was paid better at my last HCA job than other nurses in my area. Guess what got to me was the corporate mandates above all else....I was burnt out on HCA and left to do agency work which keeps me sane...LOL!

There is nothing wrong with for profit on its own, but there IS something to the fact that there is something wrong at the top when there are lawsuits and charges re: improper billing practices and class action suits because they've messed with employee retirement $$. I recently received a settlement because of it...over 50K dwindled to 10 after legal costs.

So..IMO be careful where you invest your $$ and I sure wouldn't put it anywhere where HCA can manipulate it, and remember your life can change in an instant because of a corporate mandate..

They have bought out quite a few facilities in my area with grand promises to employees, only to turn them out the door with less than 2 weeks to find another job. This after massive reassurance their jobs were secure. So..HCA is not a favorite word among many of my nurse friends in this area, understandably.

[RN4NICU, LPN, LVN]

HCA is the outfit that made Sen. Bill Frist and his family rich ...

I heard that!

The above is the bottom line of HCA's mission

[Tweety, BSN, RN]

Even the non-profit hospitals need to make money to keep afloat.

Some of the HCA hospitals here have 10:1 staffing on the night shift. When the capitalistic drive for profit overrides the safety of the community it's a bit scarey sometimes.

[teeituptom, BSN, RN]

I heard that!

The above is the bottom line of HCA's mission

All hospitals profit and non profit are about money......

CEOs of both make a lot of money while nurses get what they get.