NYAPRS Note: Long Island College Hospital has for months been a totem for the problems that plague NY’s hospital system: dwindling resources amidst a rapidly changing health care system make it impossible for some hospitals to keep their doors open, yet at times these facilities provide the only “safety-net” services available to urban communities. The plan detailed below would shift the focus of care at LICH to urgent care and community based services. The proposal may be an indication of how some large hospitals will adapt in the future to meet the changing demands of a system that relies less on institutionalization and more on integrated, community oriented care.
SUNY Tables Long Island College Hospital Mall Plan
Crain’s New York Business, Associated Press; Irina Ivanova, 12/17/13
SUNY trustees on Tuesday afternoon tabled a vote on a proposal to redevelop money-losing Long Island College Hospital in Brooklyn. The proposal they were discussing would have sold the Cobble Hill campus to Fortis Property Group in order to develop it into a medical mall.
SUNY had received seven bids in response to a request for proposals to take over the hospital, said Lora Lefebvre, the university’s associate vice chancellor for health affairs.
The winning RFP was a plan to build a mixed-use “medical mall,” including an urgent care center, physical therapy facilities and office surgery, run by ProHealth, a New York City-area medical practice, said Ms. Lefebvre.
About 15,000 square feet of the site would be dedicated to a community health center. Some buildings would be converted to residential use.
The university received no proposals from hospital operators in New York state, said Ms. Lefebvre.
“Financially, this was a good proposal for us,” said Ms. Lefebvre, to a round of laughter. But the proposed sale price, “in line with appraisals of the site” at $228 to $278 million, was far less than the hospital’s current liabilities of nearly $500 million.
SUNY Downstate has been trying for months to close the Brooklyn hospital. But opponents, led by Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio, have waged a court battle that has kept the hospital on life support.
In the meantime, opponents have been exploring “every possible legal option, including the viability of a new lawsuit on everyone’s behalf to block the contract,” wrote Jim Walden, the Gibson Dunn & Crutcher partner who is fighting to keep LICH open, in a Dec. 13 letter to the hospital’s Cobble Hill community.
Any deal to transfer the hospital must be approved by Kings County Supreme Court Justice Carolyn Demarest. Still, even the fiercest advocates for LICH’s survival may be losing heart. Writing last week in a LICH blog, Dr. Toomas Sorra, an organizer of the group Concerned Physicians of LICH, said his personal opinion was that LICH was “history … gone, kaput, whatever. … We have fought the fight for the past year and done it well. … Nevertheless, I believe that the finance guys, the politics, and the real estate interests have won out over the needs of the people of downtown Brooklyn. … I hope I’m wrong.”
The hospital is currently losing $13 million a month, according to the Wall Street Journal, and its liabilities reach nearly $500 million. This is nearly double what the property could fetch if sold: appraisals of its value range from $228 to $278 million. The emergency room sees between 50 and 70 people each day, according to the New York Times.
Elected officials including Mr. de Blasio, council members Stephen Levin and Brad Lander and state Sen. Daniel Squadron, as well as unions and community groups, have successfully sued to keep the hospital operating even as SUNY has tried to close it.
Neighborhood groups condemned the mall plan.
“For community members in need of a hospital with emergency services, a ‘medical mall with luxury condos’ sounds like someone’s idea of a bad joke,” said Mr. Walden. “We are heartened that some trustees took a deep breath, and we look forward to continuing to press the community’s case.”
http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20131217/HEALTH_CARE/131219883#