Brown Visits Struggling Hospital

Lieutenant Governor Offers Reassurance but No Cash Pledge

Touring the financially troubled Prince George's Hospital Center yesterday, Maryland Lt. Gov. Anthony G. Brown said state leaders are committed to the facility's long-term survival but made no immediate offers of cash for the institution.

Brown, who lives in Mitchellville not far from the hospital, has been a leading negotiator on the hospital situation for Gov. Martin O'Malley (D).

Brown (D) said a deal between state and local leaders that fell apart on the last day of the legislative session in April would have been a departure from "patchwork" efforts to save the Cheverly hospital, creating a framework for long-term stability. He said he and O'Malley want to continue the talks but warned they do so now against the backdrop of a budget deficit.

"We're committed to continuing to work on that effort," Brown said. "But with each passing day, the terrain and the environment becomes more and more difficult."

Brown praised the hospital's workers for what he termed "extraordinary" efforts to save lives despite working in a facility with outdated equipment and dwindling cash resources. Accompanying Brown on the tour was 21-year-old Brian Boyle, who was brought to the hospital's trauma unit three years ago after his car was hit by a dump truck near La Plata.

Boyle's heart stopped in the emergency room, and he was in a coma for two months. Now fully recovered, he is a student at St. Mary's College, where he is on the swim team. "I think the reason why I was saved was to be a part of saving the hospital," Boyle said.

During his tour, Brown saw a CT scanner capable of taking one image a minute. Medical staff said a version of the scanner that can take 64 images in the same time is standard at the hospital's competitors. In the hospital's neonatal intensive care unit, Brown peered into the incubators for premature babies, including one weighing slightly more than a pound, and was told the unit needs more space.

In an operating room, Gary Healy, chairman of the anesthesiology department, told Brown that he assumed the lieutenant governor would be taken to Baltimore instead of the closer Cheverly facility should he experience a health emergency. Brown insisted otherwise. "No, no," Brown told the doctor. "My wife was just here when she fell off her bicycle."

Maria Escalera, another anesthesiologist, said afterward that she was impressed by Brown's personal investment. But she said she thinks that hospitals in Baltimore get more state funding than the Prince George's system. "We get treated like second-class citizens," she said.

When negotiations fell apart in April, leaders of the hospital system said that money was running low and that it could be forced to close. Instead, Prince George's officials said they would use local tax dollars to keep the doors open through next June.

Since then, however, County Executive Jack B. Johnson (D) has withheld county payments to the system, alleging mismanagement and demanding that several members of the hospital system's board of directors step down. Dimensions Healthcare System, the nonprofit company that runs the county's hospital network, sued the county, and its executives have said the system's financial situation is growing more precarious.

Brown offered no immediate promise of short-term cash should Dimensions and the county fail to come to an agreement.

"We'll keep an open mind to the possibilities," he said.

Brown's tour comes on the heels of a visit last week by executives from Providence Hospital in the District. State and local officials have long said they want to replace Dimensions as the operator.

Michael Thompson, a vice president at Providence Hospital, confirmed that a team of his administrators took a recent Dimensions-led tour of the Prince George's facilities.

"It was pretty much at our request," Thompson said. He characterized Providence's interest as in an early assessment stage. He said Providence, which is part of the nonprofit Ascension Health system, has not made a bid and has no timeline for deciding whether to do so.

Staff writer Susan Levine contributed to this report.