Ok...I got this from Heimlich, but some of this flabbergasts me, particularly item #4!
Taxpayer Funded Hospital Loses Average of $46,000 per Patient
The Drake Center, a taxpayer funded rehabilitation hospital, is asking County Commissioners for a 39% tax increase; increasing its public subsidy from $70 million to $98 million for the next five years.
The following information was uncovered during the tax levy review process:
1) Hamilton County is the only county in the state (and possibly in the country) that uses tax dollars to fund a facility like Drake. Other counties meet the needs of severely injured patients without public money.
2) Drake Center costs county taxpayers $40,000 to $50,000 per patient per year and loses money on every category of patient.
3) The health care consultant hired by the County found that the "vast majority" of Drake Center's 248 patients could be properly cared for "in settings not currently subsidized by Hamilton County tax levy funding."
4) Roughly one-third of Drake's patients are not from Hamilton County. This will cost local taxpayers $30 million to cover losses for non-county patients over the next five years.
5) Drake Center spends $1.7M per year on TV, radio, billboards and other advertisements - nearly $7,000 per bed. The hospital has a marketing department with the equivalent of 9.8 full time employees - one for every 25 patients. Chris Finney, Chairman of the Tax Levy Review Committee, questioned whether this advertising is being used to pass the proposed tax levy. (It is illegal to spend public money for this purpose.)
6) Each year, Drake pays its staff of 20 full-time physicians approximately $138,000 per doctor beyond what private insurance, Medicaid and Medicare pay.
7) The President of Drake receives over $380,000 per year in salary and benefits.
8) In the review process, Drake Center produced very little objective data that demonstrates its outcomes are better than other facilities.
9) Drake spends 70.1% above what similar skilled nursing services in our community spend.
10) Drake has been using, in part, county tax monies to open facilities outside of Hamilton County and to market its services to non-county residents.
The Commissioners have until mid-August to decide whether to place the Drake tax levy on the November ballot.
To read more about Drake's tax levy request, click below:
Peter Bronson: http://www.enquirer.com/editions/200..._bronson6.html
Cincinnati Enquirer: http://www.enquirer.com/editions/200...c_drake27.html
Cincinnati Post: http://www.cincypost.com/2004/06/14/drake061404.html
