Kent Hospital Reports Loss
By The Providence Journal, R.I.
Dec. 14–CREVIER — Kent Hospital, in Warwick, had an $8.9-million operating loss for the year that ended Sept. 30, according to Mark E. Crevier, president and chief executive officer.
“In spite of unprecedented challenges and a significant loss from operations, we have taken dramatic steps to contain this deficit and implement a structured recovery plan in 2008,” Crevier told about 225 people who attended the hospital’s annual meeting Wednesday night at the Quidnessett Country Club, in North Kingstown.
Crevier said all the community hospitals in Rhode Island are facing “major financial concerns,” and Kent Hospital is working with the Care New England Health System network on an “organization-wide approach to process improvement and financial recovery.”
Crevier said continuing financial concerns included insufficient reimbursement from third-party payers and increasing competition from free-standing, for-profit providers for outpatient services.
Kent Hospital is a 359-bed regional community hospital in Warwick.
John J. Hynes, president and chief executive of Care New England, told the crowd that Care New England and Kent are well positioned to “emerge on a stronger financial footing thanks to new performance tools that will help make improvements in a real-time manner, incorporating new accountability among all CNE affiliates.”
The annual meeting’s guest speaker, Polly E. Leonard, chief of family medicine and medical residency director at Kent, outlined the hospital’s new graduate medical residency program to begin in July. Leonard, who also serves on the hospital board of trustees, told her audience about the importance of the new graduate education initiative in family medicine and emergency medicine.
In her comments, Leonard said the diversity of medical specialties practiced by osteopathic physicians includes surgery, obstetrics, orthopedics, emergency medicine and family medicine. There are some two-dozen board-certified specialties in the field, she added.
She praised the commitment of the hospital and its medical staff in taking this step and reminded the audience that the evolution of Kent into a teaching hospital was a natural progression and one that would lead to even greater levels of patient quality and service.
At the annual meeting, 47 area residents were elected as hospital incorporators. They serve as informed goodwill community ambassadors and also participate on various hospital committees and initiatives.
Elected as incorporators were: from Coventry, the Rev. Jin Woo Chan, Dr. Duane T. Golomb and Sandy Horton; from Cranston, Rabbi Amy Levin, Javier Rico and Dr. Sunil P. Verma; from Cumberland, Paul Beaudoin and Joseph A. DiPietro; from East Greenwich, Barry Coutu, Caroline Cressman, Dr. Edward C. Keating, Dr. George J. Pasquarello, Robert Sloan, Dr. Matthew J. Smith, William Smith and Matt Trimble; from Foster, Chris Woulfe; from Kingston, Lynn Dunphy; from North Kingstown, Daniel Bell, Robin Marek, Beverly Levitt Narcisco, Helen Reed and Brian L. Wallin; from Pawtucket, Dr. Jessica C. Manyan; from Providence, Lloyd Albert, the Rev. Dr. Don Anderson, Farid Ansari and the Rev. Margaret Higbie; from Saunderstown, Dr. Jared Barlow; from Scituate, David Campbell; from Warwick, Dr. Robert E. Binek, Anthony Bucci, Tom Clarkin, Clifford J. Fields, Steven Kitchin, Dr. John A. McCue, Stella Moran, Dr. Jerrold R. Robins, Joseph W. Spinale and Chris Stowe; from West Greenwich, Dr. Peter F. Graves; from West Warwick, Dr. Nathalie A. Campbell and Mary Ellen Panzini; and from South Boston, Mass., Mary Ann Glynn.
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