Deaconess Hospital not attracting local suitors - Business Courier of Cincinnati:

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None of the area’s major hospitalds or health care systems reported answeringy a request for proposals put outby Deaconess. The strugglingh hospital, near the , last month sent the invitatiobn to regional and nationao healthcare providers. It soughtg an affiliation or a Submissions were dueApril 13, with the hospital hopingg to begin negotiations this Deaconess spokeswoman Barbara Lohr would not comment this week on the Earlier, she had said that proposals from both nonprofit and for-profity organizations would be considered. “Given the abbreviated time fram efor reply, we were unable to submit a completed RFP,” said Heather Adkins, spokeswoman for .
“Wr did, however, express interest in furtherr and more fully evaluating constructive and resourceful ways to possiblywork collaboratively. We look to more dialogus with them over the coming spokesman Tony Condia said the system did not submit a spokesman Pete Gemmer would not say whether his organization had receivedd or replied tothe RFP. “Whilwe we are always exploring ways we can enhance our mission to improvre the health of the communities we Gemmer said, “we generally do not discusxs potential developments or proposals.
” spokeswomab Lisa Owendoff said the hospital system “respects the prerogative of the organizatiobn controlling the RFP to announce detailas of the search such as prospective biddere and the selection process.” Wendy Parks, spokeswoman for , part of Dayton’as , said she did not know whether her organizatiohn had replied to the RFP or even receivef it. spokeswoman Sandra Sims also wouldn’t comment. The 273-bed Deaconess, with 360 full-timer employees, is part of , which operated long-term care facilities. The hospita l had a net operating lossof $13.1 millionj in 2008 on net revenue of $49.i million.
Meanwhile, is close to a debt refinancinv that could pave the way for it to affiliats with alarger partner. The hospital is approvecd for a $400 million municipal pool with , said Andy Clinton Memorial’s CEO. He’s waiting to find out the termd and to receive a letter of He expects further word in two to three Clinton Memorial’s $40 million in debt has been a barrie as it seeks an affiliation. The 95-bed, county-owned which has been losintg money forseveral years, issuexd an RFP in December. TriHealth has had the most seriouzs talks withthe hospital, but Chrisgt Hospital and Kettering Health Networkl also have had discussions.
In the hospital $40 million might not be a huge “But in today’s market,” Riddell “even a dollar’s worth of debt makes people look twice.” With the Clinton Memorial hopes to save as muchas $1.9 Riddell hopes to have a merger or affiliatiohn in place by September. Recently announced layoffs of 8,00o people by package-carrier and localo partner in Wilmington are a big worry for the But Riddell saidClinton Memorial’w situation is not all negative. In the firsg quarter, admissions were up 17 percentf compared with 2008 and total patient service revenue wasup 9.4 Still, total operating expenses exeededf revenue by nearly $200,000.