It's been a month since I posted the information from "danvillenewsandviews" regarding the status of the lab.
http://danvillenewsandviews.com/index.php/site/ask_drmc/is_drmc_closing_its_laboratory/
So, what is the latest word on the lab? How is the review process going and what impact will it have on lab staff, hospital services and patients/customers?
Thursday, February 21, 2008
LPNT trading at lowest stock price since Oct 2003
From answers.com. Note that this article was written on Feb 9. Today, LPNT is trading at $24.69.
The full article is at:
http://www.answers.com/main/ntquery?dsid=2541&dekey=1&company_name=Lifepoint+Hospitals+Inc&id={CD5A6322-2A28-4D6A-A312-5EFD544AC446}
Sector Snap: Hospital operators
NEW YORK, Feb 09, 2008 (AP via COMTEX) -- Shares of health care facility operators fell Friday, with LifePoint Hospitals Inc. nearing a four-year low after the company reported a 20 percent drop in fourth-quarter profit, missing Wall Street expectations.
LifePoint said higher operating costs and bad debt reserves pushed its fourth-quarter profit down, while its quarterly sales rose 5 percent but missed analysts' estimates. Admissions fell 4.2 percent in the quarter to 47,990 from 50,119, while bad debt reserves grew to $81.1 million from $66.9 million a year ago.
...
Lifepoint's stock fell $2.17, or 8 percent, to $24.87, having dropped to a low of $24.77 earlier in the day, its cheapest price since October 2003.
The full article is at:
http://www.answers.com/main/ntquery?dsid=2541&dekey=1&company_name=Lifepoint+Hospitals+Inc&id={CD5A6322-2A28-4D6A-A312-5EFD544AC446}
Sector Snap: Hospital operators
NEW YORK, Feb 09, 2008 (AP via COMTEX) -- Shares of health care facility operators fell Friday, with LifePoint Hospitals Inc. nearing a four-year low after the company reported a 20 percent drop in fourth-quarter profit, missing Wall Street expectations.
LifePoint said higher operating costs and bad debt reserves pushed its fourth-quarter profit down, while its quarterly sales rose 5 percent but missed analysts' estimates. Admissions fell 4.2 percent in the quarter to 47,990 from 50,119, while bad debt reserves grew to $81.1 million from $66.9 million a year ago.
...
Lifepoint's stock fell $2.17, or 8 percent, to $24.87, having dropped to a low of $24.77 earlier in the day, its cheapest price since October 2003.
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
"Heart doctor to join council "
Danville Register & Bee
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
A local cardiologist beat out a former Danville City Council member and five others to fill the seat vacated by Dr. Wayne Williams.
Dr. Gary Miller, a cardiologist with Cardiology Consultants of Danville Inc., was appointed to council during Tuesday’s regular meeting. Williams, an ear, nose and throat doctor, resigned at the end of last year after accepting a job in Georgia.
Miller, who regularly attends the council meetings, expressed his surprise at the announcement and said he was already beginning to collect signatures on petitions so he could run in the May election.
“I didn’t run for the position because I was opposed to what council has been doing,” he said. “I think the direction of this council, especially in the last couple of years, has been magnificent.”
Miller pointed particularly to the number of new jobs that have come to Danville recently, and said he hoped to be able to help council with its goals.
Miller beat out former councilmember Albert “Buddy” Rawley Jr., as well as candidates David Robertson, Fred Shanks III, George Supensky, Martha Lopez Coleman and Frank Kyles. They all have until March 4 to file to run in the May election.
Councilman Adam Tomer made the resolution to appoint Miller, and it was seconded by Councilwoman Ruby Archie.
“Though I disagreed with the process at first - I thought we should have a special election - I just want to say this was handled professionally and we had a good open dialogue,” Tomer said. “Everyone should be proud of the resolution put forth here.”
Councilman E. Stokes Daniels Jr. said he supported Miller’s appointment “100 percent.”
“I thought this (appointment) would be very good for this council,” Daniels said. “All who participated did a very good job and all of them were well-qualified.”
Miller will be sworn in at the March 4 council meeting.
...
The next Danville City Council meeting is scheduled for March 4, but there will be a joint Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors/Danville City Council meeting at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research.
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
A local cardiologist beat out a former Danville City Council member and five others to fill the seat vacated by Dr. Wayne Williams.
Dr. Gary Miller, a cardiologist with Cardiology Consultants of Danville Inc., was appointed to council during Tuesday’s regular meeting. Williams, an ear, nose and throat doctor, resigned at the end of last year after accepting a job in Georgia.
Miller, who regularly attends the council meetings, expressed his surprise at the announcement and said he was already beginning to collect signatures on petitions so he could run in the May election.
“I didn’t run for the position because I was opposed to what council has been doing,” he said. “I think the direction of this council, especially in the last couple of years, has been magnificent.”
Miller pointed particularly to the number of new jobs that have come to Danville recently, and said he hoped to be able to help council with its goals.
Miller beat out former councilmember Albert “Buddy” Rawley Jr., as well as candidates David Robertson, Fred Shanks III, George Supensky, Martha Lopez Coleman and Frank Kyles. They all have until March 4 to file to run in the May election.
Councilman Adam Tomer made the resolution to appoint Miller, and it was seconded by Councilwoman Ruby Archie.
“Though I disagreed with the process at first - I thought we should have a special election - I just want to say this was handled professionally and we had a good open dialogue,” Tomer said. “Everyone should be proud of the resolution put forth here.”
Councilman E. Stokes Daniels Jr. said he supported Miller’s appointment “100 percent.”
“I thought this (appointment) would be very good for this council,” Daniels said. “All who participated did a very good job and all of them were well-qualified.”
Miller will be sworn in at the March 4 council meeting.
...
The next Danville City Council meeting is scheduled for March 4, but there will be a joint Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors/Danville City Council meeting at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research.
Saturday, February 16, 2008
"Taking shape"
Danville Register and Bee - editorial
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Karl Stauber called this week’s $2 million grant to help bring Com.40 Ltd. to the city “pretty unusual” for the Danville Regional Foundation.
Stauber, the president and CEO of the foundation started with the $200 million profit from the sale of Danville Regional Medical Center, recently concluded his first six months in Danville.
Com.40 Ltd., a Polish maker of mattresses and upholstered furniture, will hire 813 people over seven years, making it the largest single manufacturing job announcement in the Dan River Region in the past four years.
“The Danville region needs success stories,” Stauber said this week. “We’re looking for opportunities that build legitimate hope.”
Stauber believes Com.40 offers laid off tobacco and textile workers a chance to move into living wage jobs that will help “stabilize the employment base in the community.”
But the core mission of the Danville Regional Foundation is advancing the health, welfare and education of local residents, not being a source of money to close economic development deals.
“I don’t imagine that we’re going to do too many Com.40s,” Stauber said.
But two other projects recently supported by the Regional Foundation better define the types of projects it will support in the future.
The first is two grants totaling $1.5 million over five years to the Free Clinic of Danville. The money will help the clinic treat more patients and put it in a better financial position.
Helping the Free Clinic is not only directly tied to the Regional Foundation’s core function of advancing health care, but it made sense because of the tobacco and textile company layoffs that led thousands of people here to lose their health care coverage.
The Free Clinic grants seem obvious, but people would say the same thing about the BEST Coalition if they knew how much money the working poor were walking away from.
Low-income workers are eligible for the federal Earned Income Tax Credit, but because so many of them don’t take the credit, the United Way of Danville-Pittsylvania County, Pittsylvania County Community Action, the Virginia Legal Aid Society and the Caswell County, N.C., Senior Center formed the “Building Economic Success Together” Coalition to get more local people to take this credit.
“A lot of these folks don’t even file taxes,” Stauber said, adding that 80 percent of the money people receive from the EITC flows through the local economy.
Stauber believes getting people to take a federal tax credit they’re already entitled to is tied to the larger issue of financial literacy - teaching the working poor how to get the best deals on everything from mortgages and car loans to insurance.
Those kinds of things can lead to real changes in the lives of a great many people - and long-term change is the Danville Regional Foundation’s business.
The Danville Regional Foundation’s recent grants have started to define this critical local organization. The news so far is good.
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Karl Stauber called this week’s $2 million grant to help bring Com.40 Ltd. to the city “pretty unusual” for the Danville Regional Foundation.
Stauber, the president and CEO of the foundation started with the $200 million profit from the sale of Danville Regional Medical Center, recently concluded his first six months in Danville.
Com.40 Ltd., a Polish maker of mattresses and upholstered furniture, will hire 813 people over seven years, making it the largest single manufacturing job announcement in the Dan River Region in the past four years.
“The Danville region needs success stories,” Stauber said this week. “We’re looking for opportunities that build legitimate hope.”
Stauber believes Com.40 offers laid off tobacco and textile workers a chance to move into living wage jobs that will help “stabilize the employment base in the community.”
But the core mission of the Danville Regional Foundation is advancing the health, welfare and education of local residents, not being a source of money to close economic development deals.
“I don’t imagine that we’re going to do too many Com.40s,” Stauber said.
But two other projects recently supported by the Regional Foundation better define the types of projects it will support in the future.
The first is two grants totaling $1.5 million over five years to the Free Clinic of Danville. The money will help the clinic treat more patients and put it in a better financial position.
Helping the Free Clinic is not only directly tied to the Regional Foundation’s core function of advancing health care, but it made sense because of the tobacco and textile company layoffs that led thousands of people here to lose their health care coverage.
The Free Clinic grants seem obvious, but people would say the same thing about the BEST Coalition if they knew how much money the working poor were walking away from.
Low-income workers are eligible for the federal Earned Income Tax Credit, but because so many of them don’t take the credit, the United Way of Danville-Pittsylvania County, Pittsylvania County Community Action, the Virginia Legal Aid Society and the Caswell County, N.C., Senior Center formed the “Building Economic Success Together” Coalition to get more local people to take this credit.
“A lot of these folks don’t even file taxes,” Stauber said, adding that 80 percent of the money people receive from the EITC flows through the local economy.
Stauber believes getting people to take a federal tax credit they’re already entitled to is tied to the larger issue of financial literacy - teaching the working poor how to get the best deals on everything from mortgages and car loans to insurance.
Those kinds of things can lead to real changes in the lives of a great many people - and long-term change is the Danville Regional Foundation’s business.
The Danville Regional Foundation’s recent grants have started to define this critical local organization. The news so far is good.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
HB 1037 passes the House....headed to the Senate.
http://www.richmondsunlight.com/bill/2008/hb1037
The bill passed the House, 97-1.
The bill passed the House, 97-1.
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
"Too late, on time"
Danville Register and Bee - Editorial
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
How many local people are still angry that Danville Regional Medical Center was sold in 2005?
Both the hospital’s buyer, LifePoint Hospitals Inc., and the Danville Regional Foundation, the group formed to distribute the profits from the sale, want to move on. But moving on doesn’t make much sense unless some lessons can be learned and some changes made.
This year, Delegate Danny Marshall, R-Danville, is trying to do just that with a bill that would force the process of selling a nonprofit hospital into the light of day.
Marshall’s bill would mandate a public process, unlike the behind-closed-doors sale of Danville Regional that created so much ill will.
“It lets the people know there will be a public hearing,” Marshall said of his bill. That public hearing would take place at least six months before a hospital sale, and the public would have to be told about proposed staffing changes and be presented with “a business plan explaining how the sale or conversion will affect the community.”
A separate provision that would prevent a nonprofit hospital’s directors from serving “on a newly established private foundation’s board of directors” was taken out of the bill and will have to be introduced next year.
Marshall’s bill can’t change what happened to Danville Regional, and it doesn’t put the brakes on future sales of nonprofit hospitals. But it does drag the process into the light of day, and it could help in a lot of future situations. Virginia is home to approximately 100 acute care hospitals, and 75 to 80 percent of them are nonprofit, according to the Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association, which supports Marshall’s bill.
“We worked with Delegate Marshall to come up with this language,” Katharine M. Webb, senior vice president of the association, said of the bill. It passed the House of Delegates 97-1 and has already been referred to the Senate Courts of Justice committee.
If Marshall is a couple of years late with the hospital sale bill, he’s a couple of months ahead with a bill that could make it easier for Danville City Council to eventually eliminate the treasurer’s office.
This has become an important issue locally because the last elected treasurer, Lynda McDowell, was indicted on criminal charges. She resigned her office and pleaded guilty. Today, Danville has an interim treasurer and City Council is considering eliminating the treasurer’s office entirely.
A quirk in state law could drag the process out so long that a new treasurer could be elected in 2009 - before Danville’s voters get a chance to answer the larger, more important question. But Marshall’s bill could put the fate of the treasurer’s office on the November ballot if City Council decides to move in that direction.
These two bills remind us experience is a tough teacher, leaving us to try to speed up some things while slowing others down.
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
How many local people are still angry that Danville Regional Medical Center was sold in 2005?
Both the hospital’s buyer, LifePoint Hospitals Inc., and the Danville Regional Foundation, the group formed to distribute the profits from the sale, want to move on. But moving on doesn’t make much sense unless some lessons can be learned and some changes made.
This year, Delegate Danny Marshall, R-Danville, is trying to do just that with a bill that would force the process of selling a nonprofit hospital into the light of day.
Marshall’s bill would mandate a public process, unlike the behind-closed-doors sale of Danville Regional that created so much ill will.
“It lets the people know there will be a public hearing,” Marshall said of his bill. That public hearing would take place at least six months before a hospital sale, and the public would have to be told about proposed staffing changes and be presented with “a business plan explaining how the sale or conversion will affect the community.”
A separate provision that would prevent a nonprofit hospital’s directors from serving “on a newly established private foundation’s board of directors” was taken out of the bill and will have to be introduced next year.
Marshall’s bill can’t change what happened to Danville Regional, and it doesn’t put the brakes on future sales of nonprofit hospitals. But it does drag the process into the light of day, and it could help in a lot of future situations. Virginia is home to approximately 100 acute care hospitals, and 75 to 80 percent of them are nonprofit, according to the Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association, which supports Marshall’s bill.
“We worked with Delegate Marshall to come up with this language,” Katharine M. Webb, senior vice president of the association, said of the bill. It passed the House of Delegates 97-1 and has already been referred to the Senate Courts of Justice committee.
If Marshall is a couple of years late with the hospital sale bill, he’s a couple of months ahead with a bill that could make it easier for Danville City Council to eventually eliminate the treasurer’s office.
This has become an important issue locally because the last elected treasurer, Lynda McDowell, was indicted on criminal charges. She resigned her office and pleaded guilty. Today, Danville has an interim treasurer and City Council is considering eliminating the treasurer’s office entirely.
A quirk in state law could drag the process out so long that a new treasurer could be elected in 2009 - before Danville’s voters get a chance to answer the larger, more important question. But Marshall’s bill could put the fate of the treasurer’s office on the November ballot if City Council decides to move in that direction.
These two bills remind us experience is a tough teacher, leaving us to try to speed up some things while slowing others down.
Friday, February 1, 2008
"Danville delegate looks to restrict hospital sales"
Danville Register & Bee
Friday, February 1, 2008
RICHMOND - When Delegate Danny Marshall, R-Danville, crafted his legislation setting up some rules for sales of non-profit hospitals, he was hoping to save other communities from the upheaval Danville faced when its only hospital changed hands in 2005.
“This will not help Danville one bit - the horse is out of the barn, so to speak,” Marshall said Wednesday, adding that everything the hospital foundation board did was legal when Lifepoint Hospitals Inc. purchased Danville Regional Medical Center in July 2005.
Marshall said his main question then, and now, is, “Who owns a not-for-profit hospital? My mother-in-law worked at Dan River Mills for the majority of her life, along with thousands of other people. She told me that they did a payroll deduction there (that was) given to the hospital to start (it) and also to expand the hospital.
“The hospital, in my opinion, was owned by the public. The public should at least have notice the hospital’s going to be sold.”
The delegate’s original bill called for a public hearing at least six months prior to such a sale or before the conversion from non-profit to profit in order to let the public know if there would be any changes in staffing at the hospital and present a business plan to explain how the change would affect the community.
The bill also states that if a private foundation is set up in connection with the new for-profit hospital, that no previous member of the non-profit’s hospital board of directors could serve on the foundation’s board.
But when the bill went before the Health, Welfare and Institutions Committee this week, changes were made that reduced the amount of notice the public should get - now the bill states the public hearing should be held only 40 days before the sale - and the rule about who sits on the board was completely deleted.
The bill passed unanimously in committee is now on the House floor.
Marshall said the changes were necessary to ensure the bill passed, and that preventing members of a hospital’s board from sitting on any future foundation formed from the proceeds is “another bill for another day.”
He said it is crucial, especially in a one-hospital city like Danville, that the public be aware of such deals before they are finalized.
“It’s a lot different than if you have a not-for-profit hospital in a city like Richmond,” Marshall said. “If you don’t like the hospital down the street, you’ve got three more to go to. You don’t have that situation in a one-hospital town.”
Marshall acknowledged that there are still several people in Danville that are angry about the hospital’s sale and have expressed displeasure about the level of care at Danville Regional, preferring instead to go out of town whenever possible for hospital care.
“I hope they get the hospital fixed,” Marshall said. “If you go to those (out-of-town) hospitals and you are out-of-network, it costs a lot of money.”
Friday, February 1, 2008
RICHMOND - When Delegate Danny Marshall, R-Danville, crafted his legislation setting up some rules for sales of non-profit hospitals, he was hoping to save other communities from the upheaval Danville faced when its only hospital changed hands in 2005.
“This will not help Danville one bit - the horse is out of the barn, so to speak,” Marshall said Wednesday, adding that everything the hospital foundation board did was legal when Lifepoint Hospitals Inc. purchased Danville Regional Medical Center in July 2005.
Marshall said his main question then, and now, is, “Who owns a not-for-profit hospital? My mother-in-law worked at Dan River Mills for the majority of her life, along with thousands of other people. She told me that they did a payroll deduction there (that was) given to the hospital to start (it) and also to expand the hospital.
“The hospital, in my opinion, was owned by the public. The public should at least have notice the hospital’s going to be sold.”
The delegate’s original bill called for a public hearing at least six months prior to such a sale or before the conversion from non-profit to profit in order to let the public know if there would be any changes in staffing at the hospital and present a business plan to explain how the change would affect the community.
The bill also states that if a private foundation is set up in connection with the new for-profit hospital, that no previous member of the non-profit’s hospital board of directors could serve on the foundation’s board.
But when the bill went before the Health, Welfare and Institutions Committee this week, changes were made that reduced the amount of notice the public should get - now the bill states the public hearing should be held only 40 days before the sale - and the rule about who sits on the board was completely deleted.
The bill passed unanimously in committee is now on the House floor.
Marshall said the changes were necessary to ensure the bill passed, and that preventing members of a hospital’s board from sitting on any future foundation formed from the proceeds is “another bill for another day.”
He said it is crucial, especially in a one-hospital city like Danville, that the public be aware of such deals before they are finalized.
“It’s a lot different than if you have a not-for-profit hospital in a city like Richmond,” Marshall said. “If you don’t like the hospital down the street, you’ve got three more to go to. You don’t have that situation in a one-hospital town.”
Marshall acknowledged that there are still several people in Danville that are angry about the hospital’s sale and have expressed displeasure about the level of care at Danville Regional, preferring instead to go out of town whenever possible for hospital care.
“I hope they get the hospital fixed,” Marshall said. “If you go to those (out-of-town) hospitals and you are out-of-network, it costs a lot of money.”
Bravo!
Danville Free Clinic awarded $1.4 mil.
Danville Register and Bee
Friday, February 1, 2008
The Danville Regional Foundation has announced this morning it will award a grant of $1.4 million to the Free Clinic of Danville.
The money will allow the clinic to hire a full-time nurse practitioner, a full-time executive director and a full-time clinical director, as well as get the resources they need to develop a long-range strategic and business plan.
The Danville Regional Foundation holds the money made from the sale of Danville Regional Medical Center in 2005.
Danville Register and Bee
Friday, February 1, 2008
The Danville Regional Foundation has announced this morning it will award a grant of $1.4 million to the Free Clinic of Danville.
The money will allow the clinic to hire a full-time nurse practitioner, a full-time executive director and a full-time clinical director, as well as get the resources they need to develop a long-range strategic and business plan.
The Danville Regional Foundation holds the money made from the sale of Danville Regional Medical Center in 2005.
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