Sen. Skindell "There is No Need to Close Lakewood Hospital!"

[Jim O'Bryan]

Calls on City Council to take immediate action to keep the facility open


Columbus – Today, State Senator Michael J. Skindell (D-Lakewood) is calling on Lakewood City Council to reject plans to close Lakewood Hospital in 2016. Speaking at a city council meeting last night, Senator Skindell said there was no need to close Lakewood Hospital and called the closure plans misguided.

“This matter has been handled as if it was a private matter, but we are talking about a public matter, about a hospital which belongs to the people of Lakewood,” said Senator Skindell. “The Mayor and Lakewood Hospital Association had a responsibility to the hospital and the people of Lakewood to determine the true value of the hospital and all property prior to going into negotiations to give away those assets.”

The Lakewood Hospital Association, Lakewood Foundation, Inc., and the Cleveland Clinic Foundation signed a letter of intent on January 14, 2015 to close the hospital. In opposing the closure, Senator Skindell has joined with area doctors in detailing how the Cleveland Clinic Foundation has undermined the financial strength of Lakewood Hospital by transferring and eliminating services and by referring patients to other facilities.

“A review of the Ernst and Young audits of financial statements reveals that Lakewood Hospital has been given a clean audit opinion year after year,” said Senator Skindell. “If Lakewood Hospital is not in the Cleveland Clinic Foundation’s long term strategic plan to be a viable hospital then Lakewood Council must develop its own plan to ensure viability and protect an important community asset.”

A full copy of Senator Skindell’s remarks to Lakewood City Council can be found here.

https://gallery.mailchimp.com/83058efadac7fd9d118aa89ee/files/Lakewood_City_Council_Skindell_Letter_3_12_15_Final.pdf

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[m buckley]

Sen. Skindell, thank you. The lack of transparency, the insular politics, the willingness to manipulate the process to achieve a desired end are defining characteristics of the Summers, Siley, Madigan regime. Thank you for stepping up and reminding everyone how wrong it is for The Gang of Three to run Lakewood like it's the Summers Rubber Company rather than an open, inclusive democracy. Mr. Anderson, Mr. O'Leary, Mr. Juris, Mr. Bullock, Ms. Marx, Mr. Nowlin, you can't hide in the shadows forever. We're watching. No sitting on the sidelines here. Silence is complicity. Where do you stand?

[Bill Call]

Sen. Skindell, thank you. The lack of transparency, the insular politics, the willingness to manipulate the process to achieve a desired end.......

I agree. Thank you Senator Skindell for standing up for Lakewood.

The proposed deal is bad for the City, bad for the region and bad for the health of the people of Lakewood.

If the Senator is going to save health care in Lakewood he must go after the Hospital Board and the Hospital Foundation. Both are so embarrassed by their failures that that have developed an irrational and emotional attachment to a bad deal in an attempt to salvage their reputations.

The Board and Foundation only had one purpose; to preserve and protect Lakewood Hospital. They not only failed the Hospital and the people of Lakewood they betrayed them.

[Scott Meeson]

Sen. Skindell, thank you. The lack of transparency, the insular politics, the willingness to manipulate the process to achieve a desired end.......

I agree. Thank you Senator Skindell for standing up for Lakewood.

The proposed deal is bad for the City, bad for the region and bad for the health of the people of Lakewood.

If the Senator is going to save health care in Lakewood he must go after the Hospital Board and the Hospital Foundation. Both are so embarrassed by their failures that that have developed an irrational and emotional attachment to a bad deal in an attempt to salvage their reputations.

The Board and Foundation only had one purpose; to preserve and protect Lakewood Hospital. They not only failed the Hospital and the people of Lakewood they betrayed them.

Bill,

I believe Senator Skindell referenced the audited financial statements of Lakewood Hospital Association. I'm posting information from Moody's Investors Service to give us a different perspective(creditworthiness) of Lakewood Hospital Association.

A few snapshots (within an 18 month period of time) from Moody's Investors Service regarding Lakewood Hospital Association. "Challenges" and "Strengths" being my focus from the two opinions:

July 2011.pdf

Moody's July of 2011

(122.35 KiB) Downloaded 161 times

Nov 2012.pdf

Moody's Nov of 2012

(116.02 KiB) Downloaded 148 times

FWIW.

Scott

[Bill Call]

A few snapshots (within an 18 month period of time) from Moody's Investors Service regarding Lakewood Hospital Association. "Challenges" and "Strengths" being my focus from the two opinions:

July 2011.pdf

Nov 2012.pdf

Thanks for the information.

A few years ago the Board of the Beck Center made the decision to relocated the Beck to Westlake. During the following two years the board deliberately degraded the services and infrastructure to create the "need" to move to Westlake. Pressure from Foundations, donors and political leaders stopped the move to Westlake. Since then the Beck has regained all its lost strength and is doing well in a very competitive environment.

Ten years ago the Clinic made the decision to slowly degrade service and the infrastructure of Lakewood Hospital with intent of leaving behind an outdated facility without any customers. It seems they had the help of both the Hospital Foundation and Hospital Board.

Can the damage be undone?


Even with the transfer of doctors, facilities and personal, even with the deliberate degradation of service the Hospital had nearly 190,000 patient visits and $135 million in revenue.

Even with the deliberate sabotage of the Hospital the management was able to cut the losses. The losses that remained would not have existed if not for uncompensated care. The expansion of Medicare and the healing of the local economy would have provided enough income to more than offset the losses.

From the reports you cite:

*Challenging demographics resulting in high Medicare (49% of gross revenues) and high Medicaid and self-pay (combined 24%).

What would the financial condition of the Hospital be if the Board was committed to its survival?

What would the financial condition of the Hospital be if the Foundation was committed to its survival?

What would the financial condition of the Hospital be if the Cleveland Clinic was committed to its survival?

What would the financial condition of the Hospital be if the Mayor and Council were committed to its survival?

From US News;

Medina Hospital:

Admissions: 6,323
Inpatient surgeries: 2,268
Outpatient visits: 133,497
Emergency room visits: 27,398
Births: 925

Lakewood Hospital:

Admissions: 8,647
Inpatient surgeries: 2,131
Outpatient visits: 146,381
Emergency room visits: 35,180
Births: 680

Which hospital is unneeded?

Much of the financial difficulty experienced by Lakewood Hospital is due to the high amount of Medicaid care and uncompensated care. The need for the care will not disappear just because the hospital is torn down.

Lakewood Hospital is one small division of the Cleveland Clinic. To a certain extent the profitability of one division of a company is exactly what company headquarters wants it to be.

Can the Hospital be saved? Probably not. The Clinic, the Board and the Foundation have been working to destroy the Hospital for 10 years. They are not going to give up when their goal is within reach.

[Lori Allen _]

Mr. Skindell gave a very informative presentation on Thursday, March 12th. It appeared that he rattled a few cages with some members of council. I felt that Madigan and Bullock were, at times, very disrespectful to the Senator. Perhaps it was because they had nothing more substantial to throw at him. I think that some of us think that we can only deal with Cleveland Clinic. If the clinic wants to leave, pay your rent through 2026 in full and go! We have other healthcare providers that I think will step forward once the clinic is out of the picture. Also, part of the agreement leading up to this letter of intent, I believe, states that the Mayor cannot speak against the clinic. Conflict of interest? Who matters more, the clinic or the citizens of Lakewood? Keep that thought in mind for the upcoming elections in November 2015.