Signs of hospital closing?

ponderingDNP · Jan 23

In recent years, quite a few critical access hospitals closed their doors in disbelief of having to close. Chances are that you were told not to worry because if you and others quit, it would expedite the inevitable. Secure another position elsewhere while you still have a job. That is the only way to guarantee that you won't be without a paycheck.

DavidFR, BSN, MSN, RN · Jan 23

Yes I have, and this won't be a comfort to you.

Planned wind down with total transparency, every effort to relocate staff to other hospitals, redundancy packages for those who weren't relocated. This was in the UK, and I guess this highlights the stark difference between a government run socialised helath care system and a private, profit motivated system.

I would say come to Europe but you're probably not in a position to just uproot and do that. I have every sympathy for your situation and I hope you find a solution which suits you.

I'm guessing you're not unionised???

Emergent, RN · Jan 24

Yes, I was laid off from a hospital that closed in 2020. It was originally a Catholic Hospital that was sold to a for-profit (HMA). The for profit appeared to be milking it for all it was, eliminating services such as obstetrics, and then letting go of pediatrics. They focused heavily on cardiac services, this was the strength of the hospital, and the only open heart Surgical Center in the valley.

Of course, open heart surgery is less common now because of the advancement in catheterization procedures. Then they sold it to another for profit (CHS). The downward trend continued. Floors were closed. They continue to milk it for profits, and then sold it to a local hospital system that was trying to expand, and had very poor leadership. This was all in a fairly rural area.

They signed up for the Cerner computer charting system, and were totally bamboozled by the company, which wasn't providing the support for capturing charges correctly. The CEO of the small Hospital District was unethical and inept, practicing a lot of nepotism, and milking it for his personal wealth. Finally there was a reorganization bankruptcy. I forgot which chapter that is, 7 or 13. That went on for a little while (over a year) and then suddenly we had five days notice that the hospital was closing. That was right before covid and it hurt the community quite a bit, putting a huge strain on the other hospital in town. It was a big loss. I loved my team there in the ER.

kp2016 · Jan 24

Emergent said:

Yes, I was laid off from a hospital that closed in 2020. It was originally a Catholic Hospital that was sold to a for-profit (HMA). The for profit appeared to be milking it for all it was, eliminating services such as obstetrics, and then letting go of pediatrics. They focused heavily on cardiac services, this was the strength of the hospital, and the only open heart Surgical Center in the valley.

Of course, open heart surgery is less common now because of the advancement in catheterization procedures. Then they sold it to another for profit (CHS). The downward trend continued. Floors were closed. They continue to milk it for profits, and then sold it to a local hospital system that was trying to expand, and had very poor leadership. This was all in a fairly rural area.

They signed up for the Cerner computer charting system, and were totally bamboozled by the company, which wasn't providing the support for capturing charges correctly. The CEO of the small Hospital District was unethical and inept, practicing a lot of nepotism, and milking it for his personal wealth. Finally there was a reorganization bankruptcy. I forgot which chapter that is, 7 or 13. That went on for a little while (over a year) and then suddenly we had five days notice that the hospital was closing. That was right before covid and it hurt the community quite a bit, putting a huge strain on the other hospital in town. It was a big loss. I loved my team there in the ER.

Creepy. I think we worked at the same hospital. I quit and took a position at a non -affiliated hospital, less than a year before it all hit the fan. DON and CEO both tried to talk me out of resigning and mentioned that the rumors of hospital closure were false. I actually hadn't heard them but the writing sure was on the wall with hindsight.

Slauren do your self a favor and start job hunting now!! Once you have broken major equipment and unpaid bills for required services it's all down hill from there.

Emergent, RN · Jan 25

One sign of impending doom is if you see equipment disappearing. Right before they closed our Hospital, they were secretly moving anything valuable to their other campus, presumably to hide it from creditors.

I learned a lot from talking to one of the housekeeping staff. She cleaned different parts of the hospital and sometimes cleaned the administrators office. Administration was behaving in a very secretive manner, according to her.

slauren · Jan 26

Thank you everyone. We do have a union. I've asked all the other nurses I work with and they say it would never close. We aren't a small or rural hospital so it would really delay care for the community if we closed. I haven't seen any equipment disappear so I'll be on the look out.

Emergent, RN · Jan 26

One thing I advise you to do is to use up or cash out as much PTO as you can. The people who never took vacations, worked extra shifts, and were very loyal to their teams, got shafted. When the hospital closed they lost all their PTO, which in many cases amounted to quite a bit of money.

Red Shirt 6, CNA · Jan 27

I have been through a few layoffs/shutdowns. Some of the things I watch out for is enforcement of retirement for those eligible, and offers of early retirement, supplies like paper, floor wax not being replaced or moved to other locations, strict enforcement of clocking out for breaks, employees being fired or encouraged to quit (hours cut). Old equipment with valuable metals being dug out of storage and sold for scrap. Buildings and property away from away from or at the edge of the campus being emptied, torn down, sold.

MelEpiRN · Jan 29

warntracker.com

I don't know if hospitals are exempt from this, but businesses with a certain amount of employees are supposed to file a notice if they're doing a mass layoff 60 days before it happens with the state. Some sort of federal ruling. I'm not 100% on the details but supposedly you can check with the above website to see if your place of employment has done so.