The Prince George’s County Hospital System’s Board of Trustees will decide next week whether to shut down the hospital system or file for bankruptcy, according to the CEO of Dimensions Healthcare.
Dimensions runs the embattled county-owned hospital system, which includes Prince George’s Hospital Center and the Gladys Spellman Specialty Hospital and Nursing Center, both in Cheverly; Laurel Regional Hospital; and the Bowie Health Campus.
“My recommendation to the board will be to proceed with the closure,” Dunlop Ecker said outside Prince George’s County Hospital Center on Tuesday morning. The board will meet on April 16.
Should the board vote for the shutdown, Dunlop said the system would close in 60 to 90 days. “Bankruptcy eats cash,” Ecker said. “We have approximately three to four days of cash on hand.”
On Monday evening, County Executive Jack Johnson and the state reached an agreement to save the embattled hospital system before the conclusion of the General Assembly session, but the County Councilrefused to approve the deal.
The $329 million plan called for the state and county to contribute $158.7 million and $170.3 million respectively over eight years.
The only thing that could save the hospital system now, Ecker said, is an agreement by the state, the County Council, the County Executive and “lots of money.”
The system serves 180,000 patients per year and employs 2,300 people, Ecker said. According to Ecker, there is not enough room in the state to handle the system’s patients.
“I don’t know where people are going to get care,” said Dimensions Chief Operating Officer John O’Brien. “Prince George’s doesn’t have a large number of primary care physicians to begin with, so people tend to wind up in emergency [rooms].”
Without the system’s three emergency rooms, O’Brien said, “It will be devastating.”
As for the system’s 200 long-term patients, O’Brien said, “We will look to place as many as we possibly can and then … ask the state for help in placing others.”
But Johnson said Tuesday afternoon that he is not ready to give up on saving his county’s hospital system. “I’m here to say we are not throwing in the towel,” he said. “And we can’t.”
Johnson said he plans to continue discussions with the state and county council on possible temporary solutions include having Dimensions file for bankruptcy.
The County Executive said Prince George’s also could pay the roughly $30 million to keep the system fully functional through the year, and try to work a deal out with the state during the next legislative session.
“I’m going to see if we can find the funding for another year,” the county executive said.
Gov. Martin O’Malley said Tuesday afternoon in Annapolis that he wasn’t “aware of a scenario now” to keep the system open, “but perhaps the county executive can craft a solution that we had not thought of.”
The Governor also said special legislative session could happen but, “It’d be fruitless to do that if the council is where it’s at.”
Staff writer Len Lazarick in Annapolis contributed to this report.
