He said there’s been a resurgence in inpatient numbers, but the steady losses in outpatient services is something he doesn’t see ever recovering.
Lundquist said the state has been “very receptive” in meetings he’s had to discuss the issues.
“They’ve told us to share our initial thoughts with them when we’re ready.”
But what are those thoughts? Lundquist said it’s just too soon to say.
“We’ve got 230 inpatients. Kingston Hospital has a bed capacity of 160 beds. That’s not an easy answer. Benedictine has 220, but no emergency department. And though the Benedictine Sisters are totally on board with us as we work on this, there are issues of ownership at Benedictine. That’s not easy, either. The Joint Center is growing. What other services will be stressed if we have to move it to the Broadway campus? We’ve got to weigh all the options, and consider the preferences of the State Department of Health, the Office of Mental Health, our physicians, the community, the staff and the regulatory assessments. It’s very intense right now. These are long days.”
About 1,800 people work at the two hospitals. What all this means for their jobs is a major concern.
Assemblyman Kevin Cahill has said he wants to hold public hearings to allow the community to air its thoughts on the future of Kingston’s hospitals. Lundquist said he’s open to that; the hospital has proposed public informational meetings for Tuesday, June 26 and Thursday, June 28 and according to Gallo, at least one of them will be held at Kingston City Hall. HealthAlliance officials are considering holding one of the meetings in Saugerties, and plans are still not yet confirmed according to HealthAlliance and the mayor’s office.
“Obviously, our hope would be that both campuses could continue, along with the employment they provide,” Gallo said. “But we’re also focused on making certain that the community continues to have access to the medical services they’ve had available at Kingston’s hospitals. New medical complexes for physicians’ groups, like one that’s opening across the city line in Ulster, are leaving behind vacant buildings in Kingston and may make it difficult for our residents to get access to care. It could be devastating to the city community. Physicians are definitely part of the discussion as we explore how to operate the hospital campuses.”
Lundquist said HealthAlliance is committed to transparency and to the people it serves.
“We will never intentionally mislead you or give you bogus information. But you have to give us a chance to breathe. We are asking the community to understand that we have a commitment to continue providing the best health care possible. We will come out of this better and stronger, but probably a bit smaller.”
The Mayor as quoted on this is absolutely totally completely 100% correct. And there is a detail or two that no one wants to talk about, which are these:1)Local physicians themselves have driven business from their offices into other communities including Albany and Valhalla. I can cite more than one example of this and they have done so by bad attitudes; 2)Physicians, as the adage goes, sent to Kingston, instead of being A or B students, are C and D students. Perhaps correct and perhaps not, the perception abounds that physicians who practice in Kingston tend to be subpar.
So, it is not all the fact that some outpatient procedures are performed in doctor’s offices that has resulted in the financial crisis, but evidently a confluence of many factors.
And yet, if Mr. Lundquist at this point indeed has no suggestion as to how to start to solve this problem, he doesn’t merit one red cent of his multi-thousands he still makes in his position. One would hope this is a political statement giving deference to the sensitivity of the community instead of representative of a fact that he has “no clue”, for if indeed he has “no clue”, he simply does not deserve that particular job. He may in fact be better suited to do valet parking instead–and if so, I say put him on tomorrow and let him see what the masses earn in this community especially within the organization that he himself may have mismanaged.