Related: Catholic Caritas Makes Deal With the Devil
The Massachusetts Model: Devil Defends Catholic Health Care
You know the old saying: health care makes for strange bedfellows.
"Caritas deal has a secular option; $25m fee to split hospitals, diocese" by Lisa Wangsness and Beth Healy, Globe Staff | May 7, 2010
The private-equity firm proposing to purchase Boston’s six Catholic hospitals intends to maintain the hospitals’ religious identity, but has also negotiated an escape clause that would allow the firm to end the religious affiliation in exchange for a $25 million donation to charity.
They sold their soul for a lousy $25 million?
The much-anticipated agreement between the private equity firm, Cerberus Capital Management, and the Archdiocese of Boston, was released yesterday by Attorney General Martha Coakley, who is obligated by law to review the proposed conversion of the hospital system into a for-profit venture.
Related: Caritas chief donated to Coakley
I think we know the result of the review already.
Ultimately, the deal would have to be approved by the state Supreme Judicial Court, the state Department of Public Health, as well as Pope Benedict XVI.
The agreement says that a holding company established by Cerberus, called Steward Health Care, could terminate the agreement if it decides complying with Catholic ethical guidelines for hospitals is “materially burdensome,’’ a term that is not defined.
That means if it isn't making money, right?
In such a case, Steward would have to pay $25 million to a charity chosen by the church, remove all symbols of Catholic identity from the hospitals, and stop using “the name of any pope or saint or any name that is otherwise traditionally associated with the Roman Catholic Church.’’
And the segment of people who wished to be treated there?
This is a done deal, folks, because Cerberus plans on making this a model for low-care, low-cost, high-profit, hospitals for $ale. Not going to get that way staying Catholic.
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Coakley, who has at times been critical of the Catholic Church, declined to discuss the proposed $830 million to $850 million hospital acquisition yesterday, citing her role in the process.
What about the campaign contributions?
In a detailed set of religious and financial documents filed with the attorney general, Caritas presented an even bleaker description of its own financial health than it has in the past, saying the company was on the brink of insolvency and that it was at risk of defaulting on pension payments.
I thought the new exec took care of that?
The string of failed efforts to merge with other hospital companies, starting in 2007, ultimately sent Caritas into the arms of Cerberus Capital Management, according to the letter.
The Devil will always love you.
By 2008, Caritas was projecting a $50 million loss and a declining cash position, according to the company’s letter to the attorney general. Even Caritas’s borrowing ability was tapped out; at a board meeting that October, amid the nation’s financial crisis, the company’s investment bankers advised that it couldn’t raise capital through a bond offering due to its weakened finances.
You might as well let the devils fix it; they are the ones who brought it to such condition.
Although Caritas’s new chief executive, Ralph de la Torre, had helped engineer an overhaul of the company’s finances, the company’s consultant, Navigant, warned that there was “no reasonable way for Caritas, as an independent system, to meet its pension and debt obligations and survive,’’ the letter said....
But they can meet his $1.3 million dollars in salary.
Related:
"Ralph de la Torre, Caritas’s chief executive. “A vast majority of our hospitals are on the low end of pay, and we made a profit last year. We are going to lower costs in Massachusetts"
You were supposed to be a NON-PROFIT, so WTF?!!
And how did he do that?
"He cut jobs, froze salaries, negotiated higher reimbursement rates from insurers, and recruited specialists to perform more complex — and profitable — procedures"
Oh, so he CONTRIBUTED to COSTS RISING, 'eh?
And WTF?
Please stop with the lying.
Caritas finally turned to private equity firms for potential acquisition. Three expressed interest, and earlier this year, Caritas agreed to negotiate only with Cerberus.
Decided to only deal with the Devil, huh?
Under the terms of the proposed sale, Cerberus would repay nearly all of Caritas’s outstanding debt. It would fully fund pension plans covering nearly 13,000 current and former employees. And the equity firm would invest about $400 million on projects at Caritas — financing new electronic health systems for physicians and upgrading facilities such as emergency and operating rooms....
Christopher M. Jedrey, a lawyer representing Caritas, said the hospitals — which are currently exempt from property taxes as a nonprofit — would, as a for-profit institution, pay up to $100 million in taxes over the next four to five years, and would also continue spending at least $60 million a year on free care for the uninsured and other community benefits.
Yeah, look at all the money you will make if you just sign away your soul!!!
Of course, Cerberus is only doing all of this out of the goodness of the hearts.
Not like they are looking for anything in return.
Don't worry; they have guards dogs outside the gates of the hospital.
And the prognosis is not good.
After all, the agenda-pushing Globe front-paged a pro-takeover piece.
"For-profit Saint Vincent Hospital may offer peek at Caritas future" by Lisa Wangsness, Globe Staff | April 28, 2010
WORCESTER — Saint Vincent Hospital is not run by the church. Its corporate owner, Vanguard Health Systems of Nashville, has made a fortune converting nonprofit hospitals to for-profits, and it has committed to maintaining Saint Vincent’s religious identity — much as Cerberus Capital Management, the private equity firm, has pledged to do if it acquires Boston’s Catholic hospital network, Caritas Christi Health Care.
Caritas and Cerberus are drafting a stewardship agreement with the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston, detailing how the six Caritas hospitals’ Catholic identity will be preserved. Some details remain unclear, including when the deal will be complete.
But Saint Vincent offers a window into what Catholic health care under corporate ownership can be. It also sheds light on a national debate about whether for-profit Catholic health care is an oxymoron, or whether profitability and religious mission can be integrated.
For me, the religion has nothing to do with it.
HEALTH should NEVER be FOR PROFIT -- ever!
“I think there has been an evolution in our thinking on these issues,’’ said James A. Donahue, an ethicist and president of the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, Calif. “Religiously, ethically, and theologically, as well as economically and financially, we have become a lot more nuanced.’’
Yeah, I would say. Dancing with the Devil in the pale moonlight.
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Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley, who is considered by the Catholic Church to be responsible for the Catholic identity of the Caritas hospitals, has expressed support of the proposed acquisition of Caritas by Cerberus, but he declined to comment further for this story.
At its heart, the stewardship agreement will commit Caritas to strictly adhere to the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services agreed to by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops. The directives lay out the principles of Catholic health care — respect for human life from conception until natural death; care for the poor; contribution to the common good — and explain how health care institutions should put them into practice. The directives prohibit medical procedures that the church considers morally wrong, including abortions, sterilizations, certain fertility treatments, and euthanasia....
Or they can be bought off for a mere $25 million for who knows what.
A visitor to the hospital no longer sees the Sisters of Providence, who founded the hospital in 1893, skimming the halls in dark habits, as they did decades ago. But the hospital’s Catholic culture persists. The gift shop sells plastic rosary beads and statuettes of saints. Small crucifixes hang on the wall over the clock in each patient’s room....
Saint Vincent chief executive John Smithhisler suggested such symbols can help the hospital attract patients in a two-hospital city with a large Catholic population....
Cerberus not a good symbol.
But some see this as window dressing. The nurses union, which has clashed repeatedly with hospital management, says Vanguard’s relentless focus on profitability has undermined patient care.
But it's a great deal, really great.
In 2008, the hospital had 25 serious medical errors or accidents, more than any other in the state.
“It’s not only incompatible with the Catholic mission, it’s incompatible with providing truly high-quality patient care,’’ said Marie Ritacco, a recovery room nurse who has worked at Saint Vincent since 1983. “Decisions are made based on their bottom line, which is always profit.’’
But....
But what, Glob?
Saint Vincent is one of 16 hospitals statewide that have an especially high share of poor patients. The hospital also pays more than $1 million in property taxes and close to $1.3 million in sales taxes, and spends about $2.3 million on free care and almost $300,000 on other community benefits and sponsoring local events, according to a 2008 filing with the state attorney general’s office....
But . . .
Sigh.
Skeptics remain.
Like me.
Kathleen M. Boozang, an associate dean and professor at Seton Hall Law School, sees a “fundamental dissonance’’ between the work of the church and for-profit health care institutions, which she says are more likely to focus on profitable services at the expense of those that benefit poor communities, and are more likely to leave urban areas when the going gets tough.
And CA$H OUT, if you know what I mean.
“Ultimately Catholic entities live by their mission, and their mission . . . requires them to make sure their assets are used to the benefit of the hospital and its patients,’’ she said. “The point of a for-profit is to make money for investors.’’
Yeah, that's right.
But....
Please stop it, agenda-pushing Glob.
John M. Haas, president of the National Catholic Bioethics Center, says “I don’t think profit is a bad thing in and of itself....’’
Well, no, but the average person not filled with greed is not who we are dealing with here.
Donahue, the Graduate Theological Union ethicist, agreed.
“Corporations have missions; corporations have cultures,’’ he said. “The most successful are those that . . . provide a good product at a reasonable price. It’s not profitability at all costs.’’
I think he better see a doctor.
And they are talking Saint Vincents, right?
"The hospital has been scaling down operations since filing for bankruptcy earlier this month, with debt topping $1 billion.
And Bahstahn always trails New York, right Sawx fans?
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I'll see you in hell, Caritas.
