Berger Commission recommendations

[mig26x]

The berger commission recommendations are out and 9 NY hospitals are been recommended to shut down in 2008. Two of those 9 hospitals are teaching hospitals, St. Vincent in Manhattan and Mount Sinai Cabrini in Manhattan. Thats pretty sad because the majority of time this teaching hospitals serve the less privilege economically.

For me its a bad desicion.

Someone told me that one of the members of the commission has connection with Beth Israel Hospital, a hospital near Cabrini that would benefit economically with all the new patients seeking help.

money, money, money!!!

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[mig26x]

from the new york times (internet edition)

"Industry officials noted that the plan created winners as well as losers; surviving institutions would gain business from the closing or shrinking of nearby competitors.

There are two prime examples in Manhattan, where Beth Israel Medical Center stands to benefit from the closing of Cabrini Medical Center a few blocks away, and Roosevelt Hospital could take in much of the business that has gone to St. Vincent's Midtown Hospital, which is also marked to close. Roosevelt and Beth Israel are part of the same corporation, Continuum Health Partners."

 

[lumanase]

funny that they would zoom in on Beth Israel, Cabrini is pretty much just as close to NYU-Bellevue. It's too bad for Cabrini though, most hospitals in nyc dont make money anyway, they might as well shut down all the hospitals in the city except for the orthopedics and the cathlabs if they want to make money.

 

[mig26x]

I think that they zoom on Beth Israel because Beth Israel is run by continuum health, the same company that runs a hospital very near St. Vincent, another one of the hospitals recommended for closing. So its clear to see a pattern here.

 

[fuzzyerin]

Also realize that the St Vincents they are planning on closing is the "Midtown" branch, not the main hospital downtown. The main hospital is the teaching hospital. Midtown might have some things available, but it's nothing compared to the main Vinnies...

 

[mig26x]

you can go here to send emails or fax to different politicians:

http://www.saveoursafetynet.org/

 

[f_w]

St Vincents Catholic Medical Centers, the corporation that owns St Claires (the 'new' St Vincents Midtown) is currently under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. A commission tasked with recommending financially nonviable hospitals for closure would have a hard time to ignore this fact. St Vincents midtown had a whopping 34% occupancy rate in 2004, only exceeded by Cabrini with 25%. How could you justify closing a place like BI (65%) or SLR (61%) instead? Also, instead of yelling at the commission, Continuum submitted their own plan on how they would reduce their inpatient capacity making it harder for the commission to recommend additional closures.
NYC still has an oversupply of hospital beds. Outside of the peoples republic of NY, most of these hospitals would have gone under years ago.