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Total Operating Margin Decreases for Pennsylvania Hospitals in FY2012

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The overall financial picture for Pennsylvania’s hospitals is mixed, with tighter operating margins and uncertainties over the full impact of the federal health reform law.

The Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council saw a decline of more than 1% in the statewide total margin for the 171 General Acute Care hospitals for fiscal year 2012. The decline was due in part to lower non-operating income, primarily from investments.

PHC4   Executive Director Joe Martin says they also saw an increase of more than 6% in uncompensated care. He says the number has pushed past the one billion dollar mark.

Larger hospitals experienced relatively healthy operating margins in the last fiscal year, but the report found some trouble spots at smaller and midsized hospitals.

The full report is available at the council’s website.

Christman Blog: Farewell to “The Office”

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Since 2005, the fictional paper company Dunder Mifflin has called Scranton, Pennsylvania its TV home. Production of the NBC series The Office didn’t take place in Lackawanna County, but the constant references to local businesses and other real-life features of the region were a boost to locals over the sitcom’s 9-season run.

Yes, you can go to Scranton and have a drink at Poor Richard’s Pub. You can go shopping at the Steamtown Mall. There’s even an Alfredo’s Pizza Cafe, whose pizza was declared in one episode to be better than the “hot circle of garbage” served by rival Pizza by Alfredo. If you watch closely, you can also see actual Scranton-donated props among the cubicles, including newspapers and radio bumper stickers.

Quite frankly, The Office put Scranton on the TV map.

During Monday’s Ask the Governor taping, I asked Tom Corbett about the show’s impact on northeast PA. He says Pennsylvania has a little bit of a “chip on its shoulder,” perhaps feeling under-appreciated by the rest of the nation, but he says the people of Scranton were very proud to be the fictional neighbors of Michael Scott, Dwight Schrute, Jim Halpert, Pam Beesley and the rest of The Office staff. Despite the off-beat characters, the governor believes the show showed that Scranton is a great place to live.

The Office debuted in 2005, and was nearly cancelled after its initial 6-episode run. The show was finally green-lighted for a 2nd season and proceeded to take the Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series in 2006. Although suffering through the departure of lead actor Steve Carrell (the aforementioned Michael Scott) after season 7, the sitcom has brought us some of the funniest and most original TV laughs in the past decade. Despite being based on a British version created by Ricky Gervais, the mockumentary style format was a true original concept for American television.

Scranton’s sitcom swansong comes as the final episode of The Office airs Thursday night at 9pm on NBC. The final episode will be preceded by a one-hour retrospective at 8pm.

 

(Brad Christman is the News Director of Radio Pennsylvania and a self-proclaimed “Office junkie”)

 

Radio PA Roundtable 05.10.13

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On this week’s Radio PA Roundtable, Brad Christman and Matt Paul remember the life and governorship of George Leader, who passed away Thursday at the age of 95. Also, the big money issues are moving on a faster track in Harrisburg…updates on pension reform and transportation funding.

Radio PA Roundtable is a 30-minute program featuring in-depth reporting on the top news stories of the week.

Click the audio player below to hear the full broadcast:

[audio:https://s3.amazonaws.com/witfaudio/radiopa/Roundtable05-10-13.mp3]

Governor Leader Dies at Age 95

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leader2He was the second youngest man to serve as Governor of Pennsylvania, taking office at age 37 in 1955.  Governor George Leader, born in York County in 1918, is being remembered across the state. He died after a brief illness at age 95.

After Leader left office, he remained active on boards and commissions and offered his expertise at all levels of state government.  He and his wife also launched a network of senior care facilities.

Governor Tom Corbett ordered state flags lowered to half staff. He said Leader defied political labels and conventional thinking in his tireless work for Pennsylvania and its people.

Pennsylvania Democratic Party Chairman Jim Burn says Leader was a pioneer in modernizing state government and rooting out political corruption.

Senator Pat Toomey says Leader never stopped serving his country or Pennsylvania.

Corrections Secretary John Wetzel says if a man is measured by the impact he has on others, then Governor Leader was a giant in this Commonwealth. He says Leader not only funded a prison ministry, he participated in that ministry and improved the lives of thousands of inmates.

Wetzel says Leader worked with Governor Corbett and the Department of Corrections’ administration to push corrections reform.

A spokeswoman says Leader was still going to work up until two weeks ago. She says he lived a very full and active life.

Hoover Funeral Homes and Crematory was handling arrangements.