Capitalism "models" whereby hospitals are downsized to create a profit paradigm is the worst model possible for American healthcare.
April 17, 2020
By John Commins
Beaumont Hospital, Wayne "temporarily paused" (click here) this week in anticipation of a "second surge" of COVID-19 patients that the health system said could occur if social distancing restrictions are eased.
"Beaumont Hospital, Wayne is important to Beaumont Health and is not permanently closing. Rumors to that effect are false," the Royal Oak, Michigan-based health system said.
Wayne's "few remaining patients" were either discharged or transferred from the 185-bed, acute-care hospital this week, and staff were redeployed to other Beaumont hospitals or temporarily laid off....
Fifteen people are going to decide health care policy for the majority of populations of three states. That is ridiculous. The hospitals will lose the pulse of the local communities. Back in the day when the Hill-Burton Grant Act built hospitals all over the country, they were local hospitals to serve the underserved as well as those that had health insurance. Anyone who believes there won't be hospital closures in time is kidding themselves.
June 17, 2020
by JC Reindl
Beaumont Health (click here) announced Wednesday that it is considering a merger with a large out-of-state hospital system, a deal that Beaumont says isn't expected to result in layoffs and will give it the safety of bigger size amid uncertainties in the health care business.
Beaumont said it has signed a nonbinding letter of intent with Advocate Aurora Health, a 28-hospital system in Illinois and Wisconsin that was formed by a 2018 merger of suburban Chicago-based Advocate Health Care and Milwaukee-based Aurora Health Care.
Combined, the organizations would form a massive $17-billion nonprofit hospital system with dominant presences in three states.
The deal is not a sale, but rather an asset merger of the hospital systems under the control of a single, 15-member board of directors that would have equal representation from the legacy Beaumont, Advocate and Aurora systems.
Beaumont would keep its brand name and a regional headquarters in Michigan. The new parent organization would have its own name — still to be determined....
