Limo Expansion

A Boston limousine service is adding Hartford to its weekday Boston-to-New York schedule, beginning April 16.

LimoLiner Inc., which began service in 2003, said today it is expanding service to Connecticut to satisfy customer demand.

It joins a convoy of other bus-limousine operators offering daily stops to and from Hartford. Megabus arrived in December, with fares priced as low as $1.

The firm’s 28-passenger motor coaches will drop off and pick up in Hartford eight times daily Monday through Friday, LimoLiner said. LimoLiner’s first weekday departure leaves Framingham, Mass., at 5:15 a.m., Hartford at 6:35 a.m., and arrives at the Hilton New York on 6th Avenue at 8:55 a.m.

Hartford pick up/drop off will be on Church Street, adjacent to the Hartford Hilton Hotel and the XL Center.

The Hartford/New York trip will take approximately 2 hours and 15 minutes. The introductory, one-way fare is $39 through July 15.

Reservations are by telephone or the company Web site, www.limoliner.com.

Hospitals Hit

Battered by the recession in 2008, Connecticut hospitals have taken an even bigger hit to their bottom lines in the first quarter of 2009, according to a new statewide industry report.

The total margin reported by state hospitals in the first quarter dropped to negative 11.5 percent, according to the Connecticut Hospital Association.

A growing gap in Medicaid reimbursements, increased charity care and severe investment losses — which have traditionally kept hospitals out of the red — amounted to an overall 1.1 percent deficit for the state’s hospitals in the 2008 fiscal year.

The combined loss of more than $200 million in the first quarter of 2009 follows the $156 million loss in the fourth quarter of 2008, according to the CHA.

Connecticut stands to receive $1.3 billion in Medicaid funding from the federal stimulus package, but many in the health care sector have raised concerns that proposed state budget cuts could jeopardize the state’s eligibility to receive the total amount.