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AMH Turns a Profit in 2007
Auburn Memorial Hospital, which in 2007 saw a profit for the first time in five years, expects to emerge from bankruptcy this year and complete an $8.8 million capital improvement project.
"We expected to end the year with a gain of approximately $950,000," Chief Financial Officer John Baran said. "That's a significant turnaround from prior years."
The hospital declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy in April of ‘07, saying it needed to reorganize its finances and eliminate nearly $20 million in unsecured debt. A key component to securing the hospital's financial future came last June, when the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. assumed the hospital's approximately $13 million of unfunded pension liabilities. The federal agency assumed all of the pension assets and liabilities.
Baran said the hospital will soon file a draft reorganization plan in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of New York in Syracuse, and the health care facility expects to emerge from bankruptcy by June 30.
Last year, the state's Commission on Health Care Facilities in the 21st Century - commonly called the Berger Commission - recommended that the hospital eliminate half its beds and close its maternity unit. Baran said the hospital has reduced the number of beds from 191 to 99 to comply with that part of the recommendation, but it has challenged the effort to end maternity services.
"We will continue to deliver babies at this hospital," he said. Baran said the hospital is working with Crouse Hospital in Syracuse on a joint obstetrics service and expects state health officials to approve the plan by the end of this month. The plan calls for designating eight of the remaining 99 beds for maternity. But, he cautioned, "It's not a done deal."
Meanwhile, the capital improvement project continues on at the hospital's North Street campus. "The hammers will be swinging this month on the $8.8 million project, and we expect to have it completed by December of '08," he said.
The project includes renovating private rooms, two new and two expanded operating rooms outfitted with new technology, a relocation of the psychiatric unit from off-site to the hospital campus, and an upgrade of the heating-ventilation-air conditioning system.
The hospital received a $4.4 million state grant, and local foundations have pledged another $4.2 million in matching funds to pay for the project.
In 2007, the hospital started its PromptCare emergency room program, designed to speed up treatment of patients with minor ailments. In 2008, Baran said, the hospital is pursuing plans to obtain magnetic resonance imaging equipment.
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