Shriners consider closing some hospitals

SAN ANTONIO -- For generations, children with clubbed feet, severe burns and other debilitating injuries have been treated for free at Shriners hospitals. That care could be in jeopardy in the future.

As the charity's endowment shrivels, the fraternal group known for wearing red fezzes and driving miniature cars in parades faces a serious decision: whether to close six of its hospitals.

About 1,300 Shriners International members who sit on the hospital system's governing body are meeting in San Antonio this week. They are considering permanently closing a quarter of the hospital system's facilities, among other changes.

In initial votes, the Shriners agreed to keep all 22 of their hospitals open and to begin accepting insurance money for some services. They also voted to replace Ralph Semb, the CEO of Shriners Hospitals for Children, said Rod Brown, chairman of the Greenville, South Carolina, hospital. None of the decisions, however, is binding until the convention ends Thursday.

"People think you can just keep going, but you can't," Semb said earlier this week. "If nothing changes, in seven years, we go through the endowment fund."

He didn't immediately return a call Wednesday seeking comment on his reported ouster, though Brown said the group frequently changes leadership at its annual meeting.

Using an annual $2 member assessment, the Shriners Hospitals system opened in 1922 with a facility in Shreveport, Louisiana, that specialized in treating polio. The modest start has grown into a network of hospitals in the United States, Canada and Mexico that operates on $856 million a year in donations and investment proceeds.

Patients are treated free of charge, and the hospitals don't take insurance, Semb said.

The Florida-based fraternal organization was hit in 2007 with accusations it used money intended for the hospitals to throw parties and that lax accounting mingled hospital donations and club funds in some locations. The Shriners disputed the claims.