Prompted by what officials called “financial challenges,” the El Centro Regional Medical Center has seen most of its governing board and CEO ousted. Its obstetrics and pediatrics department has since shut down. And healthcare consultants who were hired to run the hospital following the shakeup have already resigned less than three months after signing a contract, KPBS reports.
The hospital said finances have somewhat improved in recent weeks, mostly due to a more than $5 million loan from the state. But the money will soon run out.
“Our current projections are that the hospital will hit bottom, in terms of cash, sometime the end of March or early April,” outgoing interim CEO Scott Phillips told county supervisors last month. “We’re in the process of implementing steps to cure that.”
Hospital officials have attributed the poor finances to a continued trend of county residents going elsewhere, primarily San Diego, for health services, and large spending on travel nurses. Over the past six months, the hospital saw a $19 million, or 22%, operating loss.
The El Centro City Council now comprises most of the hospital board after taking emergency action in November to assume governance duties. It hired Tennessee-based Healthcare Management Partners, of which Phillips is a managing director, to run the hospital.
But that arrangement was short-lived: Phillips and Derek Pierce, another managing director at the consulting firm who handled CFO duties, officially stepped down Jan. 29 — but not before collecting a six-figure payment. Read more.
