Deal or no deal?

Friday, Jan. 26, 2007

Deal or no deal?

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Either Prince George’s County Executive Jack B. Johnson owes Dimensions Healthcare an apology — and a boatload of money — or Dimensions has put the nail in its coffin regarding its ability to manage Prince George’s Hospital Center in Cheverly.

Dimensions Chief Executive Officer G.T. Dunlop Ecker said the county has paid only $15 million of a $20 million commitment made last year to help the financially strapped hospital.

Johnson said he paid the $20 million, ahead of schedule.

Neither has produced any evidence, and if Dimensions does not get the $5 million by today, Ecker said the hospital will close in 60 days.

The debate began as Dimensions went before the Health and Human Resources subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee seeking $14 million, which Ecker said is needed to keep the hospital open through June. The amount sought includes the $5 million Ecker said the county owes.

Johnson has since offered to give $5 million to Dimensions — on top of what he says has already been paid — but with conditions still unknown to the public, causing even more debates.

The county needs to provide evidence of payment. If it doesn’t exist, Johnson must pay up — by today — with a major mea culpa attached.

If Dimensions made the error, management changes must come quickly. A hospital struggling to keep its doors open can ill afford to make a multi-million dollar financial error, and neither can the patients who depend on its services.

Either way, the question must be answered. Taxpayers deserve to know how their money is being handled.

It is disheartening that so many smart people, working toward a noble cause, can’t even seem to understand or sort out the math of a deal, further eroding confidence in their longer-term ability to save the hospital.