DATE: Thursday, September 4, 1997           TAG: 9709040451

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY MARIE JOYCE, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: NORFOLK                           LENGTH:  107 lines

HISTORICALLY BLACK HOSPITALS STRUGGLING FACILITY FIGHTS TO SURVIVE AMIS TOUGH FINANCIAL TIMES

If Newport News General Hospital closes as a result of its latest crisis, Norfolk Community Hospital will become the sole local survivor of a dying breed: hospitals founded by African Americans to serve African Americans.

There once were about 500 such institutions around the country. Now there are four. The two outside Hampton Roads, the hospital at Howard University College of Medicine in Washington, D.C., and Houston's Riverside General Hospital.

Although Norfolk Community's leaders are watching the goings-on at Newport News General, they don't want to be associated with the financial chaos at their Peninsula neighbor, said Phillip Brooks, president of Norfolk Community.

Norfolk Community does face tough times, said Brooks, but it plans to be around for a while.

``I think the challenges are still very great for our hospital and independent hospitals in general,'' he said. ``It's very challenging . . . to keep a small hospital in business and remain profitable.''

Hospitals like Norfolk Community, founded in 1915, were born in the days when black patients typically couldn't get care at white-owned hospitals. When segregation ended, they lost many of their patients.

Those facilities that survived have suffered in recent years from the squeeze put on all hospitals by changes in health insurance. Managed care aims to cut costs in part by keeping patients out of the hospital.

While many traditionally black hospitals closed, others were absorbed into larger systems. Richmond Memorial Hospital, for example, merged a few years ago with Bon Secours Health System.

Norfolk Community, a 202-bed facility, also has suffered in these lean times. Although it made money in the last two reported fiscal years, the margin was slim - just 2 percent in the year ending in 1995, the most recent date for which information is available.

The hospital has been cited by the state for inefficiencies, such as not having enough cash on hand to cover debt.

Though it tries to invest in the latest medical equipment, it is sometimes hampered by older administrative systems. In February, one payday was delayed because the hospital waited too long to order the custom-made blank checks required for its old computers.

But Norfolk Community, which serves and employs people of all races, remains a force in the community.

It takes a greater proportion than any Virginia hospital of patients on Medicaid, the government health insurance program for the poor. It provides a greater proportion of free care than any other hospital in Virginia, including the hospitals affiliated with the two public medical schools, the Medical College of Virginia and the University of Virginia.

It is a presence in its neighborhood, serving mostly patients who live nearby.

One of those is Jocelyn P. Goss, a retired Norfolk State University English professor who lives across the street from the hospital. Goss has been using Norfolk Community since she moved to the city in 1946. Two of her children were born there, and she was once hospitalized for stomach problems.

Norfolk Community may not have all the high-tech superspecialties, like treatment for severe heart problems, but few community hospitals offer that, Goss said. For front-line care, she said, it's a good facility.

Besides providing medical care, she said, the hospital serves as a community center, allowing groups to use its meeting room and even serving elderly neighbors who prefer to eat in the hospital's cafeteria. In the struggle to stay open, Norfolk Community has two strengths that may help it beat the odds: diversified services and steady leadership.

The hospital on Corprew Avenue has branched out into nontraditional services, finding unfilled niche markets.

Three years ago, it began a program of health care to prisons, jails and other correctional facilities. Its first contract came after the city of Norfolk fired Correctional Medical Services, the company handling health care for the city jail.

When prisoners need hospitalization, they are taken to the hospital's high-security ward.

The program has earned praise from corrections officials and from people who monitor hospital finances.

Other diversified programs include health services for students at Norfolk State University, a home health program and an outpatient dialysis center.

Unfortunately, another program designed to help Norfolk Community is no longer a money-maker.

The hospital started in-house mental health treatment for adults and teen-agers. The program primarily serves people who use Medicaid, the government health insurance program for the poor. At the time, the federal government gave bonus payments to any hospital that took a disproportionate share of Medicaid patients, and so Norfolk Community made a profit on mental-health admissions.

But the government cut back that program a year ago, and Norfolk Community's reimbursement went from about $500 a day per patient to about $300 a day.

Norfolk Community plans to continue, however, because the community needs it, he said. There are few in-hospital places for poor people to get mental health treatment.

Besides its diversified programs, Norfolk Community benefits from relatively stable leadership. Brooks has been at the helm since 1971.

Recently, Norfolk Community has been talking with some health care systems about affiliation, Brooks said, although he declined to name the groups or give any details about the discussions.

If such a deal did go through, it's not clear how much control would remain in the hands of current leaders.

``It's troubling, but it's realistic,'' said Brooks. ``I think it's necessary to assure the long-term survival of the hospital.'' MEMO: [For a related story, see page B1 of THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT for this

date.] ILLUSTRATION: BETH BERGMAN

The Virginian-Pilot

Norfolk Community Hospital

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