Staffing, charity care remain challenges at Luis Hospital

ST. CROIX — Lawmakers on the Senate Finance Committee continued looking at territory hospitals on Friday as leadership from Luis Hospital provided operational updates and testimony in defense of their 2025 budget.

Interim CEO Hazel Philbert, who assumed leadership of the hospital after former CEO Douglas Koch announced his resignation in June, led testimony in light of a recommended $31.5 allotment from the Virgin Islands Government, a million-dollar increase over the current year’s allotment. The sum is projected to fund approximately 35% of JFL’s operations, Philbert testified.

Philbert’s testimony echoed statements made by St. Thomas healthcare providers during a budget hearing last Wednesday, during which leadership from Schneider Hospital and the St. Thomas East End Medical Center Corporation told lawmakers that costs associated with uncompensated care were only expected to increase.

“With the approximately 17,000 enrollees no longer eligible for Medicaid, we anticipate a significant increase in people seeking charity care from JFL,” she said. “The lack of reimbursement and increasing healthcare costs places JFL in a cash flow deficit.”