Prince George’s County Executive Jack Johnson told the county’s House delegation in Annapolis that he is negotiating with contractors to take over the county’s embattled hospital system, according to sources inside a closed-door meeting Friday morning.
A delegate who asked not to be identified because of the confidential nature of the negotiations said Johnson is negotiating with operators for a potential replacement for Dimensions Healthcare, which has been repeatedly cited for mismanaging the county-owned hospitals.
Johnson spokesman John Erzen said he couldn’t comment, citing confidentiality agreements.
Del. Barbara Frush, the chairwoman of the county house delegation, has said in the past that Johnson is negotiating with St. Louis-based Ascension Health, the nation’s largest Catholic and largest nonprofit health care company. Ascension executives toured the county’s hospitals last summer.
The county’s hospitals have been close to shutting down multiple times as operation costs have outpaced funding. Adding to the system’s woes were two convicts who escaped from Laurel Regional Hospital less than two months apart last fall, running through hospital corridors, pistols in hand.
Jackson had promised the delegation a finalized plan for the hospitals by the end of January, but it has been slowed by the demands of budget deficits, Erzen said. The County Executive has predicted a $60 million budget shortfall in fiscal 2008 and a $100 million deficit in 2009.
In response, the delegation introduced legislation earlier this month that would create a state-run hospital authority, but delegates say they’ll scrap the bill if Johnson finalizes his plan before the end of the session.
For years, the county and state have patched budget gaps in the hospital system with short-term bandages, but during the special session in November, the General Assembly reserved $50 million for the system only if state and local leaders could agree to a long-term solution.
Last year, a deal was nearly complete, but county councilors balked at the county’s share of the cost – $229 million over eight years to the state’s $175 million over the same period.
