Assemblymember Kevin Cahill (D - Ulster/Dutchess) announced today that The Commission on Health Care Facilities in the 21st Century has issued a set of sweeping recommendations to restructure the hospital and nursing home systems in New York State. The Commission has recommended that:

1. The Kingston and Benedictine Hospitals be joined under a single unified governance structure
2. The joined facility be licensed for approximately 250 to 300 inpatient beds
3. The Kingston Hospital continue to provide access to the reproductive services

The decision not to close either of the hospitals is contingent on the execution by the facilities of a binding agreement to join under a single unified governance structure by December 31, 2007.

"I believe that the Commission has recommended a workable solution that will protect and enhance the health care services available to our region," said Assemblymember Cahill. "I look forward to hearing comments and reactions from the community regarding these recommendations."

Please see below for the Commission’s recommendations regarding Kingston and Benedictine Hospitals.

A full copy of the report can be viewed here: http://www.nyhealthcarecommission.org/final_report.htm

The Assembly will be holding a series of public hearings on the Commission’s recommendations in the coming weeks.

FINAL REPORT OF THE COMMISSION ON HEALTH CARE FACILITIES IN THE 21ST CENTURY
(Pages 109-111)

Recommendation 1
Facility (ies)
Kingston Hospital (Ulster County)
Benedictine Hospital (Ulster County)

Recommended Action

It is recommended that Kingston and Benedictine Hospitals be joined under a single unified governance structure, provided that Kingston Hospital continues to provide access to the reproductive services currently offered at such hospital at a location proximate to Kingston Hospital. It is recommended that the joined facility be licensed for approximately 250 to 300 inpatient beds. It is further recommended that the Commissioner refrain from either approving any applications that have been or will be filed by either facility or providing any other consent requested by either facility, prior to the execution by the facilities of a binding agreement to join under a single unified governance structure, except where such approval or consent is necessary to protect the life, health, safety and welfare of facility patients, residents or staff. If Kingston and Benedictine Hospitals fail to execute such an agreement by December 31, 2007, it is recommended that the Commissioner of Health close one of the facilities and expand the other to accommodate the patient volume of the closed facility.

Facility Description(s)

Kingston Hospital and Benedictine Hospital are located in Kingston within blocks of one another. Benedictine, a community hospital sponsored by the Benedictine Sisters, is the larger facility of the two, and has 222 licensed beds. Kingston, a secular community hospital, has 145 licensed beds. Both hospitals provide medical/surgical, emergency, and obstetrics care, and run level I perinatal centers. The two hospitals had a similar number of inpatient discharges and emergency visits, but Kingston had significantly more outpatient visits than Benedictine.

Kingston is affiliated with Margaretville Hospital, a federally-designated critical access hospital in Delaware County. Each of the hospitals has approximately 750 full-time equivalent employees.

Assessment

There are too many hospital beds in Kingston. Neither hospital is fully occupied; however, neither hospital can readily absorb all of the other hospital’s patients. Sixty-nine percent of Benedictine’s 176 available beds were occupied in 2004. Kingston operated all of its 145 certified beds, and had a 73.7% occupancy rate in 2004.

There is unnecessary and wasteful duplication of services in Kingston and in Ulster County. Both Kingston and Benedictine hospitals are designated stroke centers and level I perinatal centers. Both facilities operate emergency departments and provide medical/surgical and maternity care. Although Kingston Hospital has only 9 licensed maternity beds, they had 491 obstetrics discharges; Benedictine Hospital has 16 maternity beds, which is almost twice the number as Kingston, but performed only 376 births. Neither maternity program is financially viable at this low volume, and neither can afford to offer access to the specialized services and amenities that a larger combined program might afford.

Both institutions are financially precarious. In 2003, Kingston Hospital had a -10.4% operating margin; Benedictine's operating margin was -2.1%. Each of the hospitals has (non DASNY) long-term debt of approximately $25 million.

The institutions have drafted an unsigned memorandum of agreement to establish a parent corporation with broad powers over the two hospitals. The new corporation will become the sole corporate member of both hospitals, which will continue as separate and distinct corporations.

Kingston Hospital will retain its identity as a non-sectarian institution, and Benedictine will continue to function as a Catholic hospital sponsored by the Benedictine Sisters, conforming to the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services.

The proposed structure will allow for continued access to a full range of reproductive health services in Kingston.

Reconfiguration will improve the financial standing of both facilities, reduce duplication of services, allow for efficient future investments, and improve the organization’s ability to meet the community’s health care needs. This arrangement also offers a new model for merging sectarian and non-sectarian intuitions, which potentially could be replicated in other areas of the State.