Two weeks later, as revealed in the press release, Gallo has been enrolled as a working partner with HealthAlliance to achieve common objectives in a tough situation.
Who says that there’s no politics in health care? CEO Lundquist of HealthAlliance has to deal with painful hospital rightsizing at the same time as he has had to keep Gallo, County Executive Mike Hein, Kingston schools Superintendent Paul Padalino and other notable rightsizers (plus Assemblyman Kevin Cahill and a wide variety of other major players in the local and state health care industries) fully informed.
Not the plan, just the market?
Mistakes were made. In retrospect, the attempt to preserve a two-campus model for Kingston’s hospitals involved greater risk than had been anticipated. Given what happened, was it a wise decision to concentrate the emergency room and critical-care facilities in the more physically unwieldy hospital and place the more rapidly expanding market of chronic outpatient care on the other hospital campus? Given the other projected turbulence in its marketplace, was it prudent for HealthAlliance to be willing to absorb the startup costs for the immense Woodland Pond project in New Paltz at the same time?
In a letter forwarded last week by the administration, the HealthAlliance board did not directly address these questions. The consolidation plan, the board said, was formulated by the two separate hospitals boards before a unified board of directors was formed. The plan was executed successfully the first year. Then outside forces beyond HealthAlliance’s control caused the plan to go awry. Since that time, the situation has gone from bad to worse, and no relief short of a significant reorganization will suffice.
The board contended that it was not the plan but the market environment that had been at fault. “Our executive team continues to have our support and collaboration as we develop a plan shaped by feedback from our physicians, community and elected and state officials,” said the letter, which was signed by 18 members of the HealthAlliance board. “The process of completing a plan, receiving state approval and consolidating is expected to take a minimum of 18 months. As plans regarding a single-campus solution are finalized, every effort will be made to optimize services, minimize job losses and repurpose the remaining facility.”
Never fear, the letter concluded. HealthAlliance will continue to hold community and employee forums. It will add a new section to its website called Transformation Updates to answer frequently asked questions and share information throughout this process.
And a final request: stay local for your health care needs.
