Typically hospitals with better margins operate closer to their licensed-bed capacity. It was the threat of managed care and federal action, though, that got hospitals moving. The proposed Clinton plan scared people into getting themselves in a position to deal with a new world. While he wouldn't discuss his hospital's profits, John Mitchell, a spokesman for the Richmond-based Columbia hospitals, says the good showing of his facilities may relate to the consolidation of ancillary services. Sentara is unusual in that it operates both health care facilities and its own HMO, which has 58 percent of Hampton Roads' managed-care market share.
Leaders there agree that consolidation and diversification are the tools for survival.
In the early '80s we started to diversify. We had a very visionary leader and a strong board of directors. Sentara continues to look for more growth opportunities. Most recently, Myers notes, it stepped in after the bankruptcy and closing of Newport News General Hospital. The Department of Housing and Urban Development put out a request for proposals, Myers says.