July 15th, 2009

The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that North Philadelphia Health System, which operates St. Joseph’s Hospital and Girard Medical Center, has filed notice with the state that it plans to lay off 80 of its 1,500 employees in September.

Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC performed the nation’s first pediatric paired kidney donation on July 8, reports the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Paired donations occur when an individual wants to donate an organ to a sick family member but cannot because their organ types do not match. So the potential organ donor registers with the national Paired Donation Network and agrees to donate an organ to a different person in exchange for a matching organ from that person’s family member. UPMC’s chapter of the Paired Donation Network has 40 potential donors registered.

The bankrupt Brownsville Tri-County Hospital is seeking federal funds to help reopen the hospital, reports the Uniontown Herald-Standard. A recent review of the hospital’s financial records for the eight months Brownsville Tri-County Hospital was open show that if the hospital had been paid for all of the services provided, it would have been profitable. The hospital, however, didn’t have provider numbers for some of the insurances it accepted until months after opening, and those insurance companies have not paid for services provided prior to entering into agreements with the hospital.