While all delight that Lancaster General Hospital (LGH) enjoys profits for 2007 exceeding $136 million, second highest for any hospital in the state, NewsLanc believes it is in the public’s interest to know the causes of these extraordinary profits and whether, in some manner, they are in part at the inordinate expense of the community.

NewsLanc staff soon discovered that it would require a person of greater skill, experience and patience in evaluating the hundreds of statistics provided by a State agency and gleaned from LGH and other sources in order to comprehensively evaluate matters.

Therefore arrangements were made to borrow the services of Doug McVay, Director of Research for Common Sense for Drug Policy, a sister organization. McVay is the compiler and editor of “Drug War Facts” (DrugWarFacts.org) which is in its sixth edition. He also manages scholarly web sites that serve five thousand individuals a day. The fairness and accuracy of his research is relied upon by academics and media world wide.

McVay has received cooperation from LGH and has requested additional information. NewsLanc prefers to publish a comprehensive report but that depends upon LGH continuing to be forthcoming. If so, a draft of the report would be submitted to LGH for its review and comment before a final version is published.

The purpose of the research is not to find fault. Rather it is to bring transparency to the factors contributing to LGH’s outstanding profitability so that the community can play a more knowledgeable role. LGH is a public foundation established to serve the same community that NewsLanc seeks to inform.