Doctors Raise Questions About St. Vincent’s Plan

By ANEMONA HARTOCOLLIS

New York State’s decision to pick Lenox Hill Hospital to run the new urgent care center at St. Vincent’s Hospital was a curious choice, some doctors said on Tuesday, if only because Lenox Hill is on the Upper East Side, while St. Vincent’s is in Greenwich Village.

The center could be a revenue source for the financially ailing Lenox Hill, as it would provide a pipeline for patients all the way from West 12th Street and Seventh Avenue, the site of St. Vincent’s, to 77th Street and Park Avenue, the site of Lenox Hill.

But the choice also heralds a new arrival in the crowded Manhattan hospital scene: North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System, which is in the final stages of talks to bring Lenox Hill into its network.

If the merger succeeds, the North Shore system will have a presence in two wealthy Manhattan neighborhoods, the Village and the Upper East Side.

The urgent care center, which would treat only minor medical conditions, is supposed to help fill the void that will be left when St. Vincent’s, which has declared bankruptcy, closes its doors on Friday.

But in a memo to the St. Vincent’s staff on Tuesday, Mark E. Toney, the chief restructuring officer for the hospital during its bankruptcy, suggested that Gov. David A. Paterson’s announcement of the new urgent care center on Monday might have been premature.

Lenox Hill wants to use the existing St. Vincent’s site as the location for the urgent care center until a more permanent location can be found. Mr. Toney said the hospital would try to make the proposal work, but added that the use of the real estate would likely need to be approved by the bankruptcy court, which has to decide how best to pay off more than $1 billion that the hospital owes its many creditors.

The hospital’s main creditor, GE Capital Corporation, declined comment Tuesday on the urgent care proposal. But the arrangement could put it in an awkward financial and political position, because GE Capital’s interest is in getting as much of its money back as possible, while not offending the community and local politicians who have lobbied for the urgent care center.

Dr. Richard Daines, the state health commissioner, said on Tuesday that there were five hospitals near St. Vincent’s that would be able to take over its emergency patients. He said he saw nothing wrong with letting a hospital in another neighborhood run the urgent care center.

“Hospitals don’t confine themselves to neighborhoods around themselves; they’re always looking for chances to branch out,” Dr. Daines said. “Often their home neighborhoods are already saturated with doctors. To get new sources of patients you have to branch out.”

But some St. Vincent’s doctors complained on Tuesday that the center was a poor substitute for an emergency room. Dr. Charles Carpati, chief of intensive care at St. Vincent’s, said that patients could lose valuable treatment time if they went to the urgent care center when they really needed more intensive care.

“It seems like they were trying to have a speedy political resolution that sounded good, but was not the result of any study or the voice of the community or physicians,” Dr. Carpati said.

Ann Silverman, a spokeswoman for Lenox Hill, said that true emergency patients would be taken to the nearest appropriate hospital.

“We anticipate that most of the patients will be able to be rapidly treated and released” for conditions like abdominal pain, headaches, back pain, coughs, fever, vomiting, asthma, flu and broken bones, she said.

Ms. Silverman said the center would open within two or three months, using a $9.4 million state grant. Like St. Vincent’s, Lenox Hill had been struggling financially and had sought a partner to help it survive. Michael J. Dowling, chief executive of the North Shore network, said it had reached an agreement on a relationship with Lenox Hill and was waiting for approval from the Federal Trade Commission.

Mr. Dowling said the North Shore system, with 14 hospitals on Long Island, in Queens and on Staten Island, is already in New York City, and that Manhattan was a natural extension of its reach. “We are crossing a river, but it doesn’t stretch the imagination too much,” he said.

Statement of PEF President Kenneth Brynien on threat of furloughs

FOR RELEASE: Immediate

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Albany – “Gov. David Paterson’s proposal to furlough state employees is illegal,” said PEF President Kenneth
Brynien.

“If the governor does furlough state employees, PEF will hold the state accountable.

“The governor, himself, has said breaking our contract is illegal.

“We will take every action necessary to stop the governor ’s proposal.

“We again remind the governor of PEF’s solutions to help close the budget deficit, including millions in
savings to be realized by replacing high-cost consultants with lower-cost state employees.”

The New York State Public Employees Federation (PEF) is the state’s second-largest state-employee union,
representing 58,000 professional, scientific and technical employees.

Contact: Darcy Wells
518-785-1900, ext. 277
518-859-1274
email: dwells@pef.org

BALCONY: A CONTRACT IS A CONTRACT IS A CONTRACT! GOVERNOR PATERSON MUST NOT UNILATERALLY ACT IN BUDGET BATTLE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

By: Alan Lubin, Co- Chair BALCONY, BUSINESS AND LABOR COALITION OF NEW YORK

The future of New York State demands that a solid foundation of respect exist between state government and its workforce. That respect cannot exist if the public and private sector workers who retain state contracts cannot count on those contracts being honored.

BALCONY understands the gravity of the budget deficit facing New York State and that it must be addressed. However, for Governor Paterson to unilaterally abrogate contract law is not only an inappropriate means of trying to balance the budget it also sets a perilous precedent that the New York State government cannot be taken at its word.

Additionally, it sours the dialogue between the State and labor at a crucial juncture when consensus and not divisiveness is necessary to prevent the fiscal crisis from deepening while New Yorkers wait for a finalized budget. We must find common ground.

Whatever his reasons, Governor Paterson’s decision to bypass the Legislature and withhold $2.1 billion from school districts, his decision to withhold scheduled and collectively bargained pay raises from state employees, and his decision to freeze all bridge and road construction, is the wrong message to New Yorkers.

Essentially, these cuts indicate that the Governor believes that progress and safety, as well as New Yorker’s education and health, are less important than protecting Wall Street bonuses.

Withholding billions from education will almost certainly force property taxes to skyrocket as school districts struggle to pay their immediate bills and in many case will have to go deeper into debt which will certainly deteriorate the quality and capacity of our schools.

The freeze on Department of Transportation construction projects not only forces contractors to abandon critical improvement on our roads, highways and bridges leaving them half finished jeopardizes the safety of all of us as well as putting more than 5,000 construction jobs across New York at risk.

Finally, breaking his contact with labor by withholding the 4% scheduled pay raises for unionized state workers deepens tensions between labor and Albany. This gives the impression that Governor Paterson is beholden to the interests of Big Business and the Business Council. He is willing to cut into New York’s most valuable, essential health care services mental health programs, college classes, lottery funded scholarships, motor vehicle licensing, insurance monitoring, road maintenance, and state parks as a first resort, when it should be the last.

This is totally unacceptable.

The New York State work force is our most valuable resource. It not only keeps our state moving forward but also keeps New York viable in the broader context of national politics. From scientists to street cleaners, our state workforce are the men and women who work every day to ensure that New Yorkers have a decent quality of life today, and a better quality of life tomorrow.

These men and women are represented by BALCONY members like the General Contractors Association of New York (GCANY), New York State United Teachers (NYSUT), the Public Employees Federation (PEF), and the Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA), all of whom are considering or are currently engaged in lawsuits over Paterson’s contract violations.

BALCONY supports our members in their efforts to reverse what may well be a watershed decision by our embattled governor, and we are confident that the courts will recognize the supreme importance of government honoring its contracts with state employees.

A state budget must be negotiated in good faith at the bargaining table between the Assembly, Senate and Governor.

The posturing must stop, we must find common ground.

St. Vincent’s Hospital to close doors on Friday; temporary ‘urgent care facility’ will open

BY Leo Standora
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Bankrupt St. Vincent’s Hospital is slamming the doors on its emergency room Friday, but the neighborhood will get a new 2-4/7 urgent care center by summer, officials said Monday.

The Greenwich Village institution will start turning away walk-in patients and close the emergency department as of 8 a.m. A handful of patients remain in the hospital but no new ones will be admitted.

People in need of emergency care are advised to go to other area hospitals, including Bellevue, New York Downtown Hospital or Beth Israel Medical Center.

The bad news was tempered Monday night when Gov. Paterson said state grants will fund a less-comprehensive “urgent care facility” in the area.

Lenox Hill Hospital will operate the center with a $9.4 million grant. It will open at St. Vincent’s then move to a permanent site somewhere in Greenwich Village.

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn said Monday night the transition plan was only a stopgap measure.

“Only a full-service hospital can fully replace St. Vincent’s Catholic Medical Center,” she said.

The urgent care facility will generally only treat nonlife-threatening injuries and illnesses. North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health Care Inc. will operate round-the-clock ambulances from the center to other hospitals for patients with more dire needs.

Press Release: BALCONY Joins AARP Coalition in Supporting Bill to Create Safe Access to Public Roads

New York City – BALCONY, the Business and Labor Coalition of New York, has joined the AARP and others in offering their strong support of a bill (S.5711-A, Dilan) that would design more complete streets that enable safe access for all users:‭ ‬bicyclists,‭ ‬public transportation vehicles and passengers,‭ ‬motorists,‭ ‬and pedestrians of all ages and abilities.‭ ‬The legislation recognizes that‭ ‬bicycle and‭ ‬pedestrian travel are integral to New York’s‭ ‬transportation system and seeks to reform New York State’s approach to road development with this in mind.‭ BALCONY believes ‬Senator Dilan’s legislation would bring positive change that would make our planners,‭ ‬both at the‭ ‬state and local‭ ‬level,‭ ‬consider all non-auto forms of travel as a routine part of project development.‭ ‬This will bring more of a balance to our roads and make them safer for all users.

For more information contact:

Lou Gordon, Director of BALCONY
Phone: 212-219-7777
Email: loug@balconynewyork.com

BALCONY Report: HHS Secretary Sebelius at NYC Health Care Symposium

Click here to read the full report on the BALCONY Health Care Symposium which includes videos of the presentations.

SYMPOSIUM

City appeals judge’s stay of $657M deal for ill 9/11 workers

By Ari Paul

Lawyers for the city are appealing U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein’s stay of a settlement between the city and more than 10,000 response workers suffering 9/11-related illness on grounds that the Judge overstepped his authority.

It also asked Judge Hellerstein to stall all proceedings in the litigation in order for the appeal to go forward.

Last month, Judge Hellerstein rejected the $657-million mass tort settlement because after lawyers’ fees of 33 percent were deducted the average pay-out per claimant—roughly $40,000 —would be too small a sum given the severity of the illness involved. Judge Hellerstein was unmoved during a hearing April 12 when lawyers asked him to lift the stay.

City: Judge Blocking Fair Deal

“In this case, the parties have tried to address concerns that were raised but the Judge’s statements and actions, together with his refusal to even consider other viewpoints, have made it necessary to appeal his rulings so that the plaintiffs and defendants can proceed with a settlement they consider fair and reasonable,” Corporation Counsel Michael A. Cardozo said in a statement. “Without this, we will not be able to obtain a settlement that provides compensation, certainty and closure to the parties after years of litigation.”

Legal experts have noted that while Judges have the power to reject settlements in class-action suits, Judge Hellerstein was entering untested territory in stepping into a mass-tort settlement (while the more-than 10,000 cases are grouped together, they do not constitute a “class” in the legal sense).

James E. Tyrrell, Jr., one of the main lawyers for the city and its contractors, said in statement, “While we respect the Judge’s views, his orders are impeding the progress we have made and are destroying the ability to provide compensation now to deserving plaintiffs through a settlement process. We also believe this settlement provides a pathway to obtain additional compensation from other parties who have not joined the settlement.”

In an interview with the New York Times, lead plaintiff attorney Marc Jay Bern did not indicate whether he would also file an appeal, saying, “As far as we’re concerned, the settlement still exists, and ultimately this is for our individual clients to accept or reject on their own behalf.”

PEF renews call for metal detectors after officer is shot

Albany – A member of the New York State Public Employees Federation (PEF) who works for the state Division of Parole was shot as he sat at his desk in his downtown Brooklyn office Thursday night. Parole Officer Samuel Salters suffered a gunshot wound to his shoulder and remains in stable condition at Bellevue Hospital Center. Salters was shot by a paroled murderer who eye witnesses said sat in the waiting room of the parole office until his name was called, then calmly approached Officer Salters and shot him.

The incident has renewed calls for metal detectors in parole offices, something PEF has been trying to negotiate with the state Divison of Parole (DOP) for several years.

“The DOP agreed to a pilot program in 2009 that would install two metal detectors in offices in New York City,” said PEF President Kenneth Brynien. “That program has been stalled due to disagreement over how to staff the detectors. Our parole officers are being forced to choose between protecting their own safety and that of the public. Our officers are trying to deal with caseloads that have become unmanageably high. Pulling
officers off caseloads to staff metal detectors puts public safety at risk.”

“This comes down to appropriate staffing levels,” said parole officer and PEF Council Leader Manuelita Clemente. “We recognize there is a hiring freeze due to the state’s fiscal crisis, but we are talking about life and death and the safety of our officers, visitors and parolees. The only deterrent at this time is a piece of paper on the wall that lists banned items including weapons,” Clemente said.

In March 2009, another parolee brought a weapon into a parole office in Queens. That parolee was shot to death at the Queens DOP office after grabbing a parole officer and holding a knife to her throat.

“This latest incident should serve as a warning, the state can no longer hide behind the budget deficit as an excuse not to staff metal detectors in the state’s parole offices,” Brynien added.

PEF is the state’s second-largest state-employee union, representing 58,000 professional, scientific and technical employees, including more than 900 parole officers.

St. Vincent’s Files for Bankruptcy

St. Vincent’s Hospital Manhattan filed its long-expected petition for bankruptcy on Wednesday, indicating that its largest unsecured creditor was a federal pension insurance agency.

The petition for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, filed in Federal District Court in Manhattan, showed liabilities of more than $1 billion. It was not clear exactly how much more, since that amount is the highest that a debtor can check off on the form.

In the No. 2 spot for creditors was a medical malpractice trust monitor, owed $113 million.

The hospital said the bankruptcy filing would allow it to continue caring for patients as it closes.

The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, an arm of the federal government, has $180 million in claims that the pension fund does not have the money for.

While the $180 million debt is not by itself enough to swamp the federal fund, which is running a deficit, it comes on the heels of a major recession and a string of other pension collapses.

But Michael Fagan, a spokesman for the hospital, said the pensions were “not at risk.” Jeffrey Speicher, a spokesman for the federal fund, agreed, saying, “The bottom line is the nurses are going to get their pension.”

NY1 Reports BALCONY Symposium with Health Secretary Sebelius

Kathleen Sebelius, Health & Human Services Secretary, visited the Hard Rock Cafe in Times Square on Wednesday, to gather with several labor and health care industry groups to give a clearer vision about what New Yorkers can expect as a result of the new health care reform law.

“I don’t think there is any question that a lot of Americans, a lot of New Yorkers still have questions about what the law did and didn’t do,” Sebelius said. “The dialogue started about a year ago when the president gathered people in March at a health care summit and continued on until he signed a bill into law on the 23rd of March. But over that year, lots of misinformation was circulating through the airwaves, through mailings. Lots of ads, tens of millions of dollars of ads, were run, many of them intentionally misleading. So we have a job to tell people what’s really in the law.”

Sebelius emphasized that senior citizens who fall into the Medicare Part D prescription gap will get some relief this year. She also said that small business owners who begin offering health care to more employees will see tax credits.

Parents who have college-age children who are about to age out of their policies will now be able to add them to their family plan.

Sebelius said that recent concerns about loopholes for coverage for children with pre-existing conditions will be handled.

“Not everything will be done in the first year, but we’re talking about 32 million Americans will have access to health insurance they do not have today,” said President and CEO Katherine Abate of Community Healthcare Network. “And there are consumer protections that are going to be in the bill. There’s a whole piece about public health and investing in public health, which everyone benefits from.”

While most labor and health leaders at the event seemed supportive of the bill, everyone agreed there are still some drawbacks. One health plan administrator said the new law is socially responsible, but a bad move in terms of cost.

“We all agree health care needs to be reformed and people need to be covered, but what’s not addressed in this is the cost of care,” said MagnaCare President and CEO Joseph Berardo. “From where I sit, and we work on behalf of our customers and negotiate with doctors and hospitals, the underlying drivers of health care are the costs in the hospitals mostly, and to a lesser extent physicians. Nowhere in this legislation has that been addressed.”

Some groups plan to push for more legislation to address those issues, and most experts say further tweaks in the law are guaranteed. In the meantime, New Yorkers can expect to see more health care organizations following Sebelius’s lead in working to clarify and implement what the legislation already provides.

Click here to view the recorded interviews: NY1 Reports on Symposium

Click here to view photos from the Symposium:  Photos

Coming soon:  video of each presentation!