THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, May 1, 1996 TAG: 9605010386
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MARIE JOYCE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH LENGTH: Long : 129 lines
Portsmouth General Hospital will be sold to rival Maryview Medical Center, which plans to close or move most of Portsmouth General's departments over the next 18 months, officials announced Tuesday.
The sale of the 97-year-old hospital, for an undisclosed amount, will take place in the next 60 days. Maryview also will acquire some medical offices and facilities in the deal.
Two key services at Portsmouth General, the emergency room and the outpatient clinic, will remain downtown at least until June of the year 2000, said H. Wayne Jones, acting chief executive officer of Maryview. After the consolidation, there will be no more overnight care at Portsmouth General. Eventually, serious emergency cases will be taken to Maryview.
Maryview is working out a schedule for department moves, said Jones.
Maryview is owned by the non-profit Bon Secours Health System, based in Marriottsville, Md. Portsmouth General is owned by Tidewater Health Care, a nonprofit Virginia Beach company that owns Virginia Beach General and two health maintenance organizations, along with other health care enterprises.
Portsmouth General's 830 employees were told Tuesday. About 350 people eventually will be laid off - 50 by the end of this year and the others in the coming years, officials said.
Employees who are laid off will be given preference when jobs develop at Maryview and at Tidewater Health Care facilities, and they'll be given information about jobs at other Bon Secours hospitals. The two parties are creating a $400,000 fund for retraining employees who are laid off.
The closing of Portsmouth General reflects a nationwide trend toward consolidation of health care services.
Because of managed care, patients are visiting hospitals less often and for shorter stays. Hospitals are getting less money from health insurance companies and government programs like Medicare and Medicaid.
Health care increasingly is delivered through same-day-surgery centers and other outpatient services.
While Portsmouth General is the first Hampton Roads hospital to shut down, it may not be the last.
``We need four or five (general) hospitals in South Hampton Roads,'' said Douglas L. Johnson, president and chief executive officer of Tidewater Health Care. There are nine, not counting Portsmouth General.
Portsmouth Mayor Gloria O. Webb lamented that the city is losing a piece of its history. ``There have been so many Portsmouth citizens born in that hospital,'' she said. ``The older senior citizens won't go anywhere else. It's an institution that is loved.''
Webb also said she is concerned about the impact of layoffs on the city's economy and worried that Maryview and other local hospitals will not be able to employ the people who lose their jobs at Portsmouth General.
But she said it is clear that changes in health care mean that the city's population can no longer support two hospitals. ``There just isn't a need for all those beds anymore,'' she said.
Portsmouth General was purchased by Tidewater Health Care in 1988. Bon Secours tried unsuccessfully to buy it at the time.
Portsmouth General has lost money in six of the last eight years. In 1994, it lost almost $200 on every admission, according to a state report.
Maryview, in contrast, closed the 1994 fiscal year with a profit of 3.7 percent. Maryview employs about 1,500 people.
``We are the only one in a position to integrate the two hospitals . . . in a way that will reduce costs and achieve effective care,'' Jones said in a prepared statement.
However, all other local hospitals - including Maryview - have felt the effects of changes in health care. In the 1994 fiscal year, Maryview operated with about 40 percent of its beds empty, about the same as Portsmouth General.
Besides Portsmouth General, one other local hospital lost money in the last fiscal year, Newport News General; several others had slim profit margins, according to state figures. All but one local hospital operated with too many empty beds by state standards, according to reports from the last fiscal year.
Besides changes in health care, the growth of the suburbs also has hurt Portsmouth General. Most suburban residents go to Maryview or to Chesapeake General Hospital, said Johnson.
``There is a perception - and I think it's a misperception - that downtown Portsmouth is a dangerous place,'' said Johnson. ``The more affluent patients have generally gone (to Maryview). The doctors would rather go there.''
But Portsmouth General also has cared for those poor people downtown who, for lack of transportation or other reasons, don't have access to Maryview.
When Tidewater Health Care bought Portsmouth General, it agreed to keep the emergency room and outpatient clinic open until June 2000, and that obligation will be assumed by Maryview.
Jones said Maryview likely will continue those services past the cut-off date.
While care will be provided downtown, it might not be in the Portsmouth General building, Jones said. ``We'll be working with the city to determine the best use of the facility.''
Other facilities will be sold to Maryview as part of the deal, including the Portsmouth General Therapy Center, Urgency Care Center, HomeLife Home Health, Western Branch Family Practice and Olde Towne Family Practice. The deal also includes several pieces of property in Suffolk and Portsmouth. No immediate changes are planned at any of those offices, said a Maryview spokesperson. MEMO: Staff Writer Esther Diskin contributed to this story.
ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
CANDICE C. CUSIC/The Virginian-Pilot
Portsmouth General Hospital will be sold in the next 60 days to
Maryview Medical Center. Portsmouth General has lost money in six
of the last eight years.
Map
VP
Graphics
What's next for Portsmouth General?
Two key services of the 97-year-old hospital - the emergency room
and the out-patient clinic - will remain downtown until at least
2000. There will be no overnight care, and serious emergency cases
will be taken to Maryview. Of the hospital's 830 employees, about
350 people eventually will be laid off - 50 by the end of this
year.
What's next for Hampton Roads?
Portsmouth General is the first Hampton Roads hospital to shut
down, but it may not be the last. Managed care is causing patients
to visit hospitals less often and stay for less time. South Hampton
Roads has nine more hospitals, but the area may need only five,
according to Tidewater Health Care's CEO Douglas L. Johnson.
by CNB