Brooklyn Hospitals On Life Support?
It has a strange name for a task force that talks about wanting to keep hospitals open.
The New York City Council Hospital Closing Task Force, created to provide input to a larger commission created by the state to do the dirty work, is working to mitigate the negative effects of what has now become a visible and measurable trend: the closing, down-sizing and bankruptcy of hospitals across the state.
By Emily Keller
Comment
It has a strange name for a task force that talks about wanting to keep hospitals open.
The New York City Council Hospital Closing Task Force, created to provide input to a larger commission created by the state to do the dirty work, is working to mitigate the negative effects of what has now become a visible and measurable trend: the closing, down-sizing and bankruptcy of hospitals across the state.
The task force met at Borough Hall, 209 Joralemon Street, April 10 to gather community input prior to making preliminary recommendations in May to the Commission on Health Care Facilities in the 21st Century (known as the Berger Commission, after its chair, Stephen Berger.)
The task force will gather input at five hearings, one in each borough, until May, and will release an official report in September that will not discuss specific hospitals but focus instead on the principals used in deciding which to close.
The Berger Commission was created by state legislation in 2005, and consists of 18 members. Its purpose is to review health care capacity and resources in the state, and to make recommendations about reconfiguring and closing hospitals. All hospitals statewide – public and provide – will be reviewed.
However, there is concern about its make-up of mostly white men, many of whom reside upstate. “This commission really does not reflect the diversity of New York,” said Councilmember Letitia James at the hearing. Of the 18 members, four are people of color.
Senator Carl Andrews, who represents Flatbush, Crown Heights, Park Slope, Windsor Terrace and Prospect Heights, was one of dozens of public speakers to offer testimony at the hearing, suggesting that the commission, in the course of choosing hospitals to close, take into account more than the financial status of the hospital and its physical condition, and also examine the need for its services.
“The fact that other hospitals exist in a region does not mean that those hospitals will serve the population in need of care. Determinations must be made not only about the capacity of alternative facilities, but their willingness and ability to provide services,” he said.
Andrews continued, “For the under and uninsured, it is particularly important that alternative facilities have charity care policies that translate into equal access to care….For example, some hospitals provide emergency care as required by law, but then do not provide necessary follow-up care.”
The Council’s task force attributes the closing of many hospitals in recent years to unplanned or poorly planned expansions, large debts, high interest rates, a Medicaid reimbursement structure that it considers inadequate, a large number of foreign born, poor and uninsured residents, and other factors, including “market pressures force hospitals to compete for ‘high-end’ procedures,” according to a presentation made by the task force.
In the last 10 years, 36 hospitals in New York State have closed or been converted, 14 of which were in New York City, and 3 in Brooklyn alone. Seven more have declared bankruptcy this year, including Brooklyn Hospital Center, 121 DeKalb Avenue.
“For the last seven years, [the] ability of New York hospitals to provide vital services to our communities and, more recently, to survive, has been severely threatened,” explained Dr. Linda Brady, President and Chief Executive Officer of Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center, 585 Schenectady Avenue.
She continued, “For example, programs that address wellness and prevention, yet are not revenue generators, have either closed or are in jeopardy of closing as we are forced to make tough resource allocation decisions.”
And, according to Brady, those tough decisions are not the fault of hospitals, but of inadequate reimbursements by Medicare and Medicaid, managed care companies that deny patients lengthy hospital stays, and the costs of malpractice premiums and settlements.
She also called the mission of the Berger Commission short-sighted. “We believe that to close or consolidate hospitals or nursing homes without addressing the multitude of issues, including inequities of reimbursement of the uninsured is a shortsighted and inadequate focus,” she said. “Once close, hospitals cannot reopen or rebuild at will, and devastated communities cannot easily recover.”
Peter Wolf, Executive Director of Coney Island Hospital, 2601 Ocean Avenue, where one third of emergency room patients are uninsured, testified as well, saying, “Because of the current reimbursement structure, the costs of our outpatient services are cross-subsidized by our inpatient services, a disproportionate burden on our hospital that is not shared by other facilities that provide less ambulatory care.”
He continued by asking the task force to consider a proposal by the Health Care Association of New York State to “bring Medicaid reimbursement for emergency room visits in line with the current costs of providing emergency care.”
“Greater ongoing support to our city’s critical network of emergency rooms in the form of adequate reimbursement will be essential to the health care system in the future,” Wolf concluded.
Paul Mak, President of the Brooklyn Chinese American Association, which represents Sunset Park, Boro Park, Bensonhurst, Bay Ridge and Sheepshead Bay, called for an increase in translation services at hospitals “so Asians would not have to travel to Manhattan’s Chinatown” for care.
“You don’t want to have to get from one borough to another and have to cross bridges and tunnels when you’re having a heart attack,” responded Council member Helen Sears, who chairs the task force.
Debra Greif, chairperson of the Brooklyn Consumer Council of the Developmental Disabilities Service Office (DDSO), called for better services for people with developmental disabilities, saying, “We’re in a major crisis and people don’t realize it because many of our children are afraid of doctors, and because they don’t communicate well…We have a far larger population than you realize…We want better health care access.”
After the hearing, City Council member Vincent Gentile, who represents Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights, Bensonhurst and Boro Park, told this newspaper that although the task force is advisory and does not have official power over the Berger Commission, “We as the City Council are using the bully pulpit.”
The Berger Commission is not required to hear testimony from the general public, which Gentile considers a flaw in its design. “We think that’s a major gap in the [structure],” he said. “We are in effect filling that gap.”
The task force will hold its next hearing at City Hall April 24.
The New York City Council Hospital Closing Task Force, created to provide input to a larger commission created by the state to do the dirty work, is working to mitigate the negative effects of what has now become a visible and measurable trend: the closing, down-sizing and bankruptcy of hospitals across the state.
The task force met at Borough Hall, 209 Joralemon Street, April 10 to gather community input prior to making preliminary recommendations in May to the Commission on Health Care Facilities in the 21st Century (known as the Berger Commission, after its chair, Stephen Berger.)
The task force will gather input at five hearings, one in each borough, until May, and will release an official report in September that will not discuss specific hospitals but focus instead on the principals used in deciding which to close.
The Berger Commission was created by state legislation in 2005, and consists of 18 members. Its purpose is to review health care capacity and resources in the state, and to make recommendations about reconfiguring and closing hospitals. All hospitals statewide – public and provide – will be reviewed.
However, there is concern about its make-up of mostly white men, many of whom reside upstate. “This commission really does not reflect the diversity of New York,” said Councilmember Letitia James at the hearing. Of the 18 members, four are people of color.
Senator Carl Andrews, who represents Flatbush, Crown Heights, Park Slope, Windsor Terrace and Prospect Heights, was one of dozens of public speakers to offer testimony at the hearing, suggesting that the commission, in the course of choosing hospitals to close, take into account more than the financial status of the hospital and its physical condition, and also examine the need for its services.
“The fact that other hospitals exist in a region does not mean that those hospitals will serve the population in need of care. Determinations must be made not only about the capacity of alternative facilities, but their willingness and ability to provide services,” he said.
Andrews continued, “For the under and uninsured, it is particularly important that alternative facilities have charity care policies that translate into equal access to care….For example, some hospitals provide emergency care as required by law, but then do not provide necessary follow-up care.”
The Council’s task force attributes the closing of many hospitals in recent years to unplanned or poorly planned expansions, large debts, high interest rates, a Medicaid reimbursement structure that it considers inadequate, a large number of foreign born, poor and uninsured residents, and other factors, including “market pressures force hospitals to compete for ‘high-end’ procedures,” according to a presentation made by the task force.
In the last 10 years, 36 hospitals in New York State have closed or been converted, 14 of which were in New York City, and 3 in Brooklyn alone. Seven more have declared bankruptcy this year, including Brooklyn Hospital Center, 121 DeKalb Avenue.
“For the last seven years, [the] ability of New York hospitals to provide vital services to our communities and, more recently, to survive, has been severely threatened,” explained Dr. Linda Brady, President and Chief Executive Officer of Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center, 585 Schenectady Avenue.
She continued, “For example, programs that address wellness and prevention, yet are not revenue generators, have either closed or are in jeopardy of closing as we are forced to make tough resource allocation decisions.”
And, according to Brady, those tough decisions are not the fault of hospitals, but of inadequate reimbursements by Medicare and Medicaid, managed care companies that deny patients lengthy hospital stays, and the costs of malpractice premiums and settlements.
She also called the mission of the Berger Commission short-sighted. “We believe that to close or consolidate hospitals or nursing homes without addressing the multitude of issues, including inequities of reimbursement of the uninsured is a shortsighted and inadequate focus,” she said. “Once close, hospitals cannot reopen or rebuild at will, and devastated communities cannot easily recover.”
Peter Wolf, Executive Director of Coney Island Hospital, 2601 Ocean Avenue, where one third of emergency room patients are uninsured, testified as well, saying, “Because of the current reimbursement structure, the costs of our outpatient services are cross-subsidized by our inpatient services, a disproportionate burden on our hospital that is not shared by other facilities that provide less ambulatory care.”
He continued by asking the task force to consider a proposal by the Health Care Association of New York State to “bring Medicaid reimbursement for emergency room visits in line with the current costs of providing emergency care.”
“Greater ongoing support to our city’s critical network of emergency rooms in the form of adequate reimbursement will be essential to the health care system in the future,” Wolf concluded.
Paul Mak, President of the Brooklyn Chinese American Association, which represents Sunset Park, Boro Park, Bensonhurst, Bay Ridge and Sheepshead Bay, called for an increase in translation services at hospitals “so Asians would not have to travel to Manhattan’s Chinatown” for care.
“You don’t want to have to get from one borough to another and have to cross bridges and tunnels when you’re having a heart attack,” responded Council member Helen Sears, who chairs the task force.
Debra Greif, chairperson of the Brooklyn Consumer Council of the Developmental Disabilities Service Office (DDSO), called for better services for people with developmental disabilities, saying, “We’re in a major crisis and people don’t realize it because many of our children are afraid of doctors, and because they don’t communicate well…We have a far larger population than you realize…We want better health care access.”
After the hearing, City Council member Vincent Gentile, who represents Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights, Bensonhurst and Boro Park, told this newspaper that although the task force is advisory and does not have official power over the Berger Commission, “We as the City Council are using the bully pulpit.”
The Berger Commission is not required to hear testimony from the general public, which Gentile considers a flaw in its design. “We think that’s a major gap in the [structure],” he said. “We are in effect filling that gap.”
The task force will hold its next hearing at City Hall April 24.
ADVERTISEMENT
 |
 |
|
| Duffield Street Advocates Stick to Underground Railroad Claims | Independent Neighborhood Democrats ‘Voting Block’ |
Reader Comments
Submit a Comment
We encourage your feedback and dialog, all comments will be reviewed by our Web staff after appearing on the Web site.
|
