Holy Cross Hospital said it has finalized its $20 million purchase of North Ridge Medical Center in Oakland Park, and will close the facility within 90 days. The hospital’s emergency department will stop accepting patients at 7 a.m., Wednesday. “Our top priority is the care of patients and to make this transition a seamless one for patients and their families,” Holy Cross President and Chief Executive Officer John C. Johnson said in a news release. “Holy Cross has the capacity and the resources to absorb the patient population from North Ridge, which had become underutilized.” Holy Cross said the facility will fill future health care needs. North Ridge — which opened in the mid-1970s — reported a net loss of $37.6 million on revenue of $90.6 million to the Agency of Health Care Administration for 2006. The 332-bed facility had a 26.4 percent occupancy rate — among the lowest in South Florida — and employs about 500 people. It had been owned by Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare Corp., which has one additional hospital in Broward County, five in Palm Beach County and four in Miami-Dade County. Holy Cross, which owns a diagnostic treatment center across the street from North Ridge, posted a 2006 loss of $234,473 on revenue of $249.9 million. The 571-bed hospital has had an occupancy rate of 45.6 percent and more than 2,800 employees. It is sponsored by the Sisters of Mercy.
Please click on the link below to read the South Florida Business Journal article:
http://www.bizjournals.com/southflorida/stories/2008/03/31/daily13.html?f=et81&ana=e_du
For more information on defending medical malpractice, nursing home and general liability matters in Florida contact Howard Citron at Citron & Associates, P.A. – www.citronlegal.com.
