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New Brooklyn hospital floatedBY BARBARA BENSON AND IRINA IVANOVA
OCTOBER 24, 2013 1:15 P.M.A proposed facility resulting from the consolidation of University, Brookdale and Kingsbrook Jewish hospitals could save money for more primary care. But political and fiscal hurdles are daunting.Updated: October 24, 2013 2:00 p.m.A proposal to build a new hospital in East Flatbush, Brooklyn, that would replace the crumbling campuses of three existing hospitals has been quietly discussed by the Cuomo administration and key players in the Brooklyn health care industry for the past few months, Crain's Health Pulse has learned.
The hospital, which observers peg at $1 billion to build, would replace University, Brookdale and Kingsbrook Jewish hospitals.
The proposal to build this hospital would take tremendous collaboration among the institutions, as well as both carrots and sticks from the state Department of Health, according to people familiar with the plan.
Dr. Linda Brady, president of Kingsbrook, said she has heard of the proposal in passing but no one has officially reached out to her. She is willing to listen, she said.
"Our mission is about providing health care to a community. If there is an exploration of a solution, we would be at the table and not flat out say no," she said.
Stephen Berger, who headed the Brooklyn Medicaid Redesign Task Force, said a new East Flatbush hospital could make sense as part of a 10-year plan for the borough—but only after a primary and urgent care infrastructure is in place in Brooklyn.
At a Crain's health care conference Thursday, Mr. Berger spoke bluntly about the need for executives and politicians, in particular leading Democratic mayoral candidate Bill de Blasio, to accept the fact that some hospitals must close.
"Hospitals are part of the health care system, not the health care system," said Mr. Berger, who gave the keynote address at the conference on the future of Brooklyn's troubled health system. "If every hospital that had closed in the past hadn't, that quality of medical care people have wouldn't be any better today."
But the idea of closing hospitals fell flat with the nurses' union, the New York State Nurses Association, which has been protesting the proposed closure of Long Island College Hospital in Cobble Hill. Executive Director Jill Furino said the union had a "zero tolerance" policy when it came to closures. She said a primary care network would have to be developed in advance of any changes in order to ensure access to health care.
"When you close hospitals, you close primary care network, and that's what's happening in Brooklyn," she said. "The state has abdicated its role."
Other executives sounded cautiously optimistic over the general outlines of a closure. John Williams, president of SUNY Downstate Medical Center, said that "one way to decrease beds is by bringing hospitals together under one roof."
He was candid about the problems plaguing the University Medical Center.
"What we are looking at are hospitals with infrastructures that are falling apart, and University Hospital is no different," he said.
But for Mr. Williams and other panelists, who spoke generally about the hospital crisis in Brooklyn, said the status quo would persist until enough money became available to plan for a borough-wide health care restructuring.
"We could use a new hospital in Brooklyn," said Richard Becker, chief executive of the Brooklyn Hospital Center. "But that's only a piece of it. The problem is so big one source of capital is not going to solve it."
Tell Gov. Andrew Cuomo to stop closing our hospitals : 1 (518) 474-8390
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