A June 22 article headed “Financial diagnosis: Hospitals healthy here” makes the following observations: “Both the increasing cost of providing health care services and increased investments in bricks and mortar led to the drop in profits this year at Lancaster General, said spokesman Kim Payne.”
WATCHDOG: The first lessons in elementary accounting teach that “bricks and mortar” are “capital investments” which do not add or detract from “profits.” (They do impact “cash flow,” but that’s a separate matter.) So what is Kim Payne and the reporter talking about?
This is not a “financial diagnosis” but rather a typical Lancaster propaganda handout which is regurgitated uncritically by the print media.
