St. Vincent's Hospital ending inpatient service
By Barbara Benson
Published: April 7, 2010 - 8:55 am
Under a crushing debt of $700 million and a $10 million monthly operating loss, the board of St. Vincent's Catholic Medical Centers' board on Tuesday night voted to shut down the hospital's inpatient unit.
Supporters had hoped to keep the hospital open even when a bankruptcy filing seemed inevitable. But as potential partners backed off, the board had no choice but to close to stop the financial hemorrhaging, clearing the path to bankruptcy. The hospital's lenders, GE Capital and TD Bank, were loathe to take the politically sensitive step of forcing a Chapter 11 filing despite the hospital being in violation of its loan agreements.
St. Vincent's will become a shadow of its former self—an urgent care center—if all goes well and a partner is found. Now that the burden of trying to run St. Vincent's hospital profitably is lifted, and there is no reason to invest in upgrading it, Mount Sinai Medical Center or Continuum Health Partners may be interested in stepping in. The decision also calls into question the future of the hospital's properties, including the O'Toole Building.
One of the hospital's creditors, 1199 SEIU, issued a statement Tuesday night saying the union was “optimistic that St. Vincent's will continue to provide most vital services through the creation of an urgent care facility that can meet virtually all the medical needs of the community including emergency services, ambulatory surgery, diagnostics, imaging and both specialty and primary care clinical services.”
The union said “moving towards this new model while maintaining current services is the most realistic way of preserving quality care for the West Side and Lower Manhattan communities.”
1199 SEIU is holding a rally Wednesday morning in support of the hospital, which it said it hoped “will continue to operate without disruption” primary care, outpatient HIV, mental health, and clinic services.
But for now, elective procedures will end in two days, and other services will phase out over the next few weeks.
"While we are disappointed that we were unable to find a partner for the acute care inpatient services, we should use this as an opportunity to ensure that the health care needs of this community are met by creating an urgent care center combined with other vital health care services the community needs,” Gov. David Paterson said in a statement last night. He said the state Department of Health would solicit proposals “for this new model of care.”
Politicians are vowing to fight to preserve some services at St. Vincent's. Sen. Thomas Duane (D, Manhattan) said he would try to preserve a 24-hour emergency room, primary care and specialty services. |
