Ellwood City (Pa.) Medical Center, plagued by payroll troubles in recent months, is on a better path, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
The community hospital recently marked its second consecutive successful payroll, after shortchanging employees for at least seven paydays. On March 10, the hospital's 150 employees received full paychecks on time, according to the Post-Gazette report.
The latest successful payroll follows months of reports from hospital employees about delayed paychecks, bounced checks or receiving minimum wage for their hours worked.
The payroll problems spurred federal and state investigations at the hospital, owned and managed by Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based Americore Health.
Ellwood City Medical Center CEO Beverly Annarumo, who attributed disruptions in payroll to delayed payments from insurance companies, acknowledged the troubles and told the Post-Gazette a number of employees have left the hospital.
"We lost a lot of people, especially people with young families," Ms. Annarumo said.
Still, she said, "I'm starting to see a shift now. I'm starting to feel like we are headed in the right direction."
The independent Ellwood City Medical Center includes an emergency room, a 46-bed medical surgical unit, a six-bed intensive coronary care unit and a 10-bed geriatric psychiatry unit, among other features.
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