 |
||||||||
 |
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
Fiscally troubled TGH in the black
By JEFF TESTERMAN © St. Petersburg Times, published February 6, 2001 TAMPA -- Tampa General Hospital, hemorrhaging red ink since going private in 1997, has rung up a profit for its most recent quarter that hospital president Ron Hytoff calls "astounding." For the quarter ending in December, the hospital showed a profit of $4.19-million, compared to a loss in the same quarter a year earlier of $9.31-million. "I've never been involved in a turnaround as astounding as this," said Hytoff, former chief of hospitals in Louisville, Ky., and London, who took the reins at Tampa General a year ago. "I think we've turned the corner." Hytoff said the hospital's revenues rose $16.56-million in the quarter. The key was more patients. Tampa General admissions rose to 6,334 for the quarter, up 10.6 percent, and emergency room visits were up nearly 10 percent, to 13,265. "I think the hospital's bad numbers are in the past, and the past stopped 12 months ago, when Ron Hytoff took over," said hospital board chairman H.L. Culbreath, the former TECO Energy boss who presided over Tampa General's privatization. "He's been able to reverse the hospital's fortunes through good management." Tampa General has lost more than $30-million since Hytoff's predecessor, Bruce Siegel, put together a controversial lease arrangement that allowed a private corporation to lease the hospital from the public Hillsborough County Hospital Authority. The deal was intended to help Tampa General better compete with other hospitals by making its meetings private and keeping strategic plans and other records secret. But the move to shield Hillsborough County's biggest provider of indigent care from Florida's Sunshine Law also brought criticism, particularly while the hospital continued to rack up losses. Despite a $7.16-million loss in the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, Culbreath said the latest quarter's results show privatization has been the key to making Tampa General run more efficiently. "I think we're going in the right direction, now," he said. How did the hospital put more patients in its beds to make a profit? Hytoff said it was accomplished through positive public relations. "Positive media relations has led to public acceptability of the hospital," he said, pointing to a list of 44 positive stories about Tampa General broadcast or published in the last month. The stories included a piece on approval for a pancreas/kidney transplant program at Tampa General, an interview with a hospital emergency room physician on scooter injuries and an item about Tampa General being honored for having the best rehabilitative services in the area. The impact has been particularly important with physicians who split their admissions between two or more hospitals, said Hytoff. Hytoff said he believes the hospital's image has improved, even though its mix of patients remains unchanged. Medicare and Medicaid patients comprise more of the hospital's usual census than managed care patients. "The fact that we were always a public hospital had a certain connotation, where people would say, "I don't know if I want to go there -- there's too many poor people,' " Hytoff said. "Now, people do want to come here."
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • Tampa Bay Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111 
|
From the Times |
