Atlantic City Press By ROB SPAHR (Published: Friday, February 20, 2009) A decision on Kessler Memorial Hospital's survival could be days away, according to Chief Executive Officer Jim Rossi. He hopes another institution will invest in the financially troubled hospital before it runs out of money. "We are still negotiating with several different groups and, at this point, there are still a lot of things on the table," Rossi said. "I am optimistic that we could have something done within the next 10 to 12 days." Rossi could not say whom the negotiations were with, but he did say the hospital's finances have reached a 'very dire' level. "We're hurting," he said. "We're losing money fast, and every day it gets worse." The hospital has been courting potential saviors for months. "In this economy, nothing surprises me," Rossi said of how long it is taking for an agreement to be reached. "I've been doing this a long time, and these kinds of things always take longer than you want them to. In this economy, it only gets harder." Kessler is not the only hospital struggling to pay the bills. According to a statewide survey of hospitals conducted by the New Jersey Hospital Association, many of the state's hospitals are being hit hard by the nation's recession. Nearly half of the hospitals reported having layoffs in 2008, and another 48 percent eliminated vacant positions. It also showed that nearly a quarter of the hospitals cut services and nearly 72 percent reported drops in fundraising. "This recession has dealt a staggering blow to New Jersey's hospitals. It has weakened their finances, drained their cash reserves and forced them to make extremely difficult decisions about job and service cuts," NJHA President Betsy Ryan said in a release. "And it's affecting patients as well, who clearly are struggling with tough choices about their health care." About 60 percent of hospitals reported a decline in elective procedures, while 80 percent reported an increase in charity-care patients and 76 percent logged an increase in emergency room visits. So far, Kessler has been able to weather the current economic crisis without laying anyone off, Rossi said. But the hospital has eliminated some jobs through attrition, he said. Rossi said he is keeping the hospital's staff in the loop. "We met with our staff twice this week and will meet with them at least once a week until a decision is made," Rossi said. "They're all concerned about what's going on because this is their careers, but they are cautiously optimistic."
This gives all of Hammonton reason to be cautiously optomistic.
