By PAUL KIRBY and KYLE WIND
Freeman staff
pkirby@freemanonline.com; twitter.com/PaulatFreeman
kwind@freemanonline.com; twitter.com/KyleatFreeman

KINGSTON, N.Y. — Kingston and Benedictine hospitals ran a combined deficit of about $10 million in the four-year period of 2008 to 2011, according to tax filings and the head of the hospitals’ parent company.

The company, HealthAlliance of the Hudson Valley, announced last week that it may be forced to close one of the two facilities because of financial problems. The company has not said which building might close, and it did not, at the time of the announcement, detail the hospitals’ finances.

The two hospitals, less than a mile apart in Midtown Kingston, have been operated jointly by HealthAlliance since 2009, though the state-mandated affiliation of the hospitals was declared complete in early 2008. The two facilities employ a total of 1,500 full-time and 300 part-time workers.

Tax filings for 2008, 2009 and 2010 — which appear on a guidestar.org, a website regarding not-for-profit organizations in the United States, and were reviewed by the Freeman on Thursday — show Benedictine lost money in two of the three years, while Kingston made money all three years.

According to the filings:

• Benedictine Hospital ran an $8.79 million deficit in 2008 and was $7.54 million in the red in 2010. It had a $2.26 million surplus in 2009.

• Kingston Hospital had surpluses of $1.99 million in 2008, $2.38 million in 2009 and $4.79 million in 2010.

Taken together, those numbers mean the two hospitals had a cumulative loss of just under $5 million over the three-year period. Additionally, HealthAlliance President and Chief Executive Officer David Lundquist said on Thursday that the hospitals lost another $5 million in 2011, though he didn’t say how the hospitals fared individually.

Joshua Ratner, chief strategy officer for HealthAlliance, said that while the two hospitals in Kingston have bounced back from financial losses in the past, that kind of improvement is not being seen now.

“The healthcare industry feels like this is a shift,” Ratner said. “This is not a one-time cycle.” Continued...

• 1
• 2
• 3
• See Full Story

Lundquist on Thursday reiterated his concerns about Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements to the hospitals that he views as too low and about the refusal of the federal government to include Ulster County in higher-reimbursement Metropolitan Statistical Area, or MSA.

He said earlier this week that if Ulster County was in the same MSA as neighboring Orange and Dutchess counties, the two hospitals in Kingston would get a total of $10 million per year more in reimbursements and HealthAlliance would not have to consider closing one of the facilities.

Previous efforts to get Congress to give Ulster County a more beneficial MSA designation have come up short.

Lundquist and Ratner say the sluggish economy is recent years also has cut into hospital revenues.

Lundquist said the objective now for HealthAlliance is “to take steps to come out of this ... better, not bigger.”

The tax filings reviewed on Thursday also showed the following.

• In 2008, Benedictine Hospital’s net assets increased from $1.2 million to $9.7 million.

• In 2009, Benedictine’s net assets grew from $9.7 million to $18.5 million.

• In 2010, Benedictine’s net assets fell from $18.5 million to $11.7 million.

• In 2008, Kingston’s  Hospital’s net assets grew from $9.6 million to $15.6 million. Continued...

• 1
• 2
• 3
• See Full Story

• In 2009, Kingston’s net assets grew from $15.5 million to $30.6 million.

• In 2010, Kingston’s net assets grew from $30.6 million to $89.9 million.

HealthAlliance also operates Margaretville Memorial Hospital in Delaware County, as well as the Mountainside Residential Care Center, a skilled nursing facility in Margaretville, and Woodland Pond at New Paltz, a continuing-care retirement community.

• 1
• 2
• 3
• See Full Story

• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• See Full Story

• Return to Paging Mode