WVHCS workers wait for sale news

By Ron Bartizek rbartizek@timesleader.comBusiness & Consumer / City Editor

WILKES-BARRE – Employees of Wyoming Valley Health Care System expect to be told today that all or part of the sprawling 3,200-employee organization will be sold to a for-profit corporation. The union representing registered nurses has told its 470 members it believes the buyer is Community Health Systems Inc., a Tennessee-based company that, according to its Web site, owns, operates or leases 110 acute-care hospitals in 28 states.

A sale has been rumored for weeks, but system officials, citing confidentiality agreements, have declined to comment beyond saying that all avenues to assure the institution’s future viability were under consideration.

A change to for-profit status for the system that traces its history to the opening of Wilkes-Barre City Hospital in 1876 would require approval from the state Office of Attorney General. The health system notified the office of a possible change within the past few months but had not yet specified what action might be taken.

Wyoming Valley Health Care began looking for alternative funding late last year after it turned down $40 million that Blue Cross of Northeastern Pennsylvania had offered to support a $100 million expansion plan at General Hospital. Chief Executive Officer Dr. William Host said three operating rooms and a new information technology center have been constructed and a new high-tech scanning machine that can move between two rooms has been installed, but all other work has been halted.

A 96,000-square-foot critical care pavilion to be built along West Linden Street was to incorporate an enlarged emergency department. General’s emergency room is the busiest in the Wyoming Valley, treating about 50,000 patients annually in a cramped, 13,000-square-foot space.

Community Health Systems operates nine hospitals in PennSylvania, including Berwick Hospital Center, which it acquired in 1999 for nearly $48 million. No sale price has been announced for Wyoming Valley Health Care, but it would presumably be much higher; General Hospital has more than three times as many beds as the Berwick hospital.

Host said in July that Wyoming Valley Health Care has made progress in balancing its finances but operates at close to break-even.

“Every one of our ratios has been headed in the right direction for several years,” he said. The pressing issue has been raising capital needed to fund upgrades and improvements.

On its Web site, Community Health Systems said its hospitals maintain their local identity and strive to add services that keep patients in the region for care.

In assessing potential purchases, it “identifies acquisition candidates in growing non-urban markets with little or no competition.”

The company also emphasizes investment in equipment and technology.

“When a hospital becomes affiliated with CHS, that facility has access to significant amounts of capital to expand services, add equipment, upgrade technology and make physical improvements,” the Web site reads.

TIMELINE

Wyoming Valley Health Care System is expected to announce today that all or part of it will be sold. Here’s a timeline of recent events.

July 2006: System officials announce a $100-million expansion and upgrade project at Wilkes-Barre General Hospital. The announcement follows by days the announcement of a similar project at Geisinger Wyoming Valley.

December 2006: Blue Cross of Northeastern Pennsylvania says it will provide $40 million for the expansion.

November 2007: Wyoming Valley Health Care turns down the Blue Cross offer reportedly because Blue Cross sought control over the hospital. The expansion project is put on hold.

August 2008: System officials acknowledge they are looking at alternatives to finance the expansion and other improvements.

Ron Bartizek, Times Leader business editor, may be reached at 970-7157.