St Vincent's Hospital (Manhanttan) Closing

[ny10570 745]

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St. Vincent's Hospital Manhattan inpatient services, including all acute, rehab, and behavioral health, is shutting down.

The Board of Directors of Saint Vincent Catholic Medical Centers voted to authorize the closure on Tuesday night.

The vote came after a six-month long effort to save the financially troubled institution, which has operated in the Village for over 160 years.

[minivac 0]

So the Emergency Room will still be open? What happens if the patient needs to be admitted?

[ny10570 745]

At this time the clinics are the only thongs that will remain open

The ER is slatted to close.

[JohnnyOV 2]

At this time the clinics are the only thongs that will remain open

The ER is slatted to close.

I thought they got rid of all the strip clubs under Giuliani?

[Guest]

The ER is shutting down on April 16th.

I have a lot of friends who are EMT's and Medics there and they are all losing their jobs. This is not a happy time right now.

Best Wishes to them

[mfc2257 464]

I'm surprised that they couldn't find a buyer for the hospital... Some of the for-profits would have it in shape in no time... HCA, Universal Healthcare, Tenet.... To simply close the doors is leaving major $'s on the table for the Church. They could sell the hospital business, keep the real estate and lease it back to whomever buys the biz.....

Edited April 7, 2010 by mfc2257

[ny10570 745]

Continuum health partners made a run at it, but it wasn't feasible without significant debt restructuring and a major change in hospital operations. No debt restructuring and bad press caused Continuum to bail. Mount Sinai gave a it a shot recently but bailed after they got a look at the books. If there was a way to make money out of it someone would be after it. There are enough nearby hospitals to cover all of the profitable services. The biggest loss will be felt in the transport times to west side ERs during week days, parades, holidays, almost every day.

[x635 4,066]

I just don't understand how hospitals in NY are failing and closing, and hospitals in Texas are prosperous and growing? My only guess is gross management and neglect for years. I mean, the demand for healthcare is there, and I know people without insurance tax hospitals budgets, but still.

[prucha25 76]

FDNY EMS is taking over the 13 ambulances tours in place of St Vincents. FDNY EMS also had money approved for a new west side station to be built within the next few years.

[x635 4,066]

Drawing on its Roman Catholic heritage, SVCMC's emphasis is on patient-focused healthcare, with a special mission to provide care for the poor and disenfranchised.

I guess that there are no more poor and disenfrachised people anymore.

How does this affect health care in Manhattan? Are other hospitals able to pick up the slack?

What if something else disasterous was to happen in Manhattan? What about "homeland security"?

This closing is seriously tragic, after 160 years of excellent care, the community is losing it. Hundreds of healthcare workers, including EMS employees, will have to look for new jobs.

Is NY State or City in no position to step in? Is there not a large corporation willing to make some large donations?

This needs to be scrutinized thoroughly to see how this came to be- and it's beyond the typical "reimbursment fee" excuse.

Gotta love the corporate emphasis and greed that rules healthcare in this country.

They really should have built the new facility while they could have....too late now....

[Guest]

I had a friend, here in Rockland, who needed major surgery and was un-employed and no medical benefits. He was referred to a specialist who happened to work out of SVMC. To make a long story short, the MD told my friend to go to the ER on the day of the scheduled surgery and make sure they call him. They took care of him like this on more than one occasion.

[ny10570 745]

Back in 2000 when the catholic medical centers merged in the hopes of getting them out from under the archdiocese and its financial troubles, they all merged under into the Saint Vincent's Catholic Medical Centers Network. Then 9/11 happens and they can't manage the mountain of debt they took on. A few years later SVCMCN has to file for bankruptcy. St Clairs (Vinny's North) and some other ancillary facilities went first in 2007 when they emerged from restructuring. The highlight of the return featured a major expansion of Vinnys that included a several hundred unit residential complex that was going to be built and managed by a 3rd party. In 2009 after several community driven revisions the plans were approved and expected to be completed by 2012. Shortly after approval the Greenwich Village Preservation something or other lead by Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins sued everyone involved and effectively killed the proposed tower. With the loss of this income there was no way to cover their growing debt. $300 million of new debt in 3 years is a big deal. NYS floated them several loans to cover payroll while they looked for a buyer, but Continuum had no intention of maintaining the ER and no one else wants the debt. They have 300 million thats due now. Plus however many millions more that still hasn't come due. So any bail out would have to have 300 million liquid right now and probably another few hundred million in the wings to give them time to find a new revenue stream. On the upside the Greenwich Village Preservation something or other is now protesting the closing of the hospital who's fate they sealed.

As far as why NYs hospitals are consolidating, one story I read blamed it on the New York Hospital and Presbyterian Hospital merger. To stay competitive a medical center or hospital group has to provide everything. The old days of stabilize and transfer to a city hospital for the uninsured are gone because of all of the partnerships and referrals linking hospitals. For example your pacemaker being implanted at NYU by your NYU doc may actually happen in Bellevue's Cath Lab. Your Residents working at Jacobi or North Central are also working at Monty and Einstein. So now everyone is sharing the load of the poorly insured or uninsured while the pool of insured is more scattered than ever. I'm sure some of it also has to do with changes in populations.

[Guest]

The ER is shutting down on April 16th.

I have a lot of friends who are EMT's and Medics there and they are all losing their jobs. This is not a happy time right now.

Best Wishes to them

I'm share your thoughts WILLDOGS. I went to paramedic school there back in '95. There was a great tradition and some fine medics at Vinnys. This is very sad.

[NWFDMedic 58]

It's hard to believe this historic hospital is closing. I can remember back in the day when we would take a ton of patients down there from the Hudson Valley. Parking was horrible but the awesome food across the street made up for it. They used to be on par or better than Columbia Presbyterian and not too long ago either. The role St. Vinny's played on 9/11 is very well documented as well.

Does anyone know what it will mean for the other St. Vinny's facilities? We bring a lot of behavioral admissions down to their facility in Harrison.

Best of luck to those affected.

[x635 4,066]

What are they going to do with all of the EMS equipment? I would guess a ambulance that served in Manhattan wouldn't fetch much, and FDNY certainly won't make use of them.

Also, I didn't realize St Clares shut down? What happened to that part of the EMS operation, and didn't they have other hospitals and Brooklyn and Queens they served?

That Paramedic program was alwats regarded as excellent. I worked with several medics from that program, and all were top notch. Do/did they still give a program, and can't the program be kept in tact somehow by being picked up by another college or hospital?

[ny10570 745]

As of the closure announcement the Harrison facility was to remain open. I have no idea what the future holds.

It all depends on who owns the EMS equipment and who is filling for bankruptcy. If its the hospital itself thats filing then the hospital and all of its assets will be sold off to pay off its debts. If its the company that operates the hospital and the related properties then everything gets liquidated.

Clairs was renamed Vinny's North and shortly thereafter closed. The EMS operations were pick up by FDNY and other area hospitals.

St. Johns and Mary Immaculate were the Queens facilities that closed last year.

JUst stumbled upon this JEMS article about the state of hospital finances. Its about Miami Fl and how they're on the brink of losing their only Trauma center. It also mentions some of the budget issues facing other systems.

http://www.jems.com:80/news_and_articles/news/2010/03/jackson_health_system_nears_insolvency.html

Edited April 13, 2010 by ny10570

[EHMCMedic 1]

That Paramedic program was alwats regarded as excellent. I worked with several medics from that program, and all were top notch. Do/did they still give a program, and can't the program be kept in tact somehow by being picked up by another college or hospital?

As per the class CIC John Bray this will be the last paramedic class at St. Vincent's. This present class has 14 more lectures and the classes are moving to Beekman Downtown Hospital. Mr. Bray petitioned the state to let the class finish and the state has tentatively okayed it. The classess will be done by John and over saw by the BMCC program. All the students should be able to test out in August with students testing at RCC,LaGuardia,Methodist and BMCC for their skills. I am a proud graduate of St. Vincent's Class XIV (14). The hospital and the paramedic program will be sorely missed.

Edited April 13, 2010 by EHMCMedic