Henry Mayo Hospital Lays Out Plans After Exiting Chapter 11 By JACQUELINE FOX Staff Reporter Just a few short years ago the prognosis for Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital in Valencia did not look good. Dwindling reimbursements for services, coupled with state mandates to complete roughly $20 million in seismic upgrades nearly shuttered the 217-bed facility and it was forced to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in November 2001 to clear a debt load of $10 million. But Henry Mayo got a clean bill of health June 2 as it emerged from bankruptcy with a four-year reorganization plan that will include complete payoffs to roughly 62 percent of its creditors within the next 12 months. The hospital has also completed its seismic upgrades ahead of the 2008 deadline and managed to set aside reserve funds to launch the first of a multi-phase campus expansion program. “We are healthy, we are focused on our future and we are launching the first of our plans to accommodate our patients and the projected growth in the Santa Clarita Valley,” said Roger Seaver, the hospital’s president and chief executive officer. “As part of our reorganization we have been able to set aside money for reinvestment and revamping our operations. We’ve obtained some financing, but we’ve also improved our operating capabilities and we are performing at a level that will allow us to continue to function efficiently and begin our long-range plans.” Seaver said he anticipates revenues for the hospital for 2003 to be roughly $110 million, up from $100 million in 2002, and roughly $80 million in 2001. The first phase of the hospital’s expansion plans, already underway, involves the conversion of 27 unused beds in the hospital’s transitional care unit to 24 new acute care beds. The total cost of the transition is anticipated to be about $1.5 million. The second phase will include construction of a new $8.5 million, 16,636-square-foot emergency room, plans for which are still under state review but are expected to be cleared by fall, with ground breaking to follow soon afterward. The current ER has 21 beds and is roughly 7,730 square feet. The new ER will have 35 beds once complete. Henry Mayo’s ER now serves roughly 40,000 patients each year although it is built to serve only about 29,000. Overcrowding at ERs across the region remains an ongoing issue of concern, fueled primarily by a rapidly growing elderly population. The third phase of the expansion program will center around construction of a 2,518-square foot cardiac cath lab, also needed to accommodate the region’s growing aging community. “The elderly sector in this community is demanding these services in larger quantities and we must follow suit in order to serve them at our best,” Seaver said. The final phase of the campus expansion program, expected to be completed by 2005, includes construction of a new 2,973-square foot critical care unit that will boost the hospital’s number of ICU beds from 12 to 20 by converting space now used for non-patient services.