St. Mary's Certificate of Need

Summary
1. St. Mary's Hospital filed a Certificate of Need (CON No. 062417) to the New York State (NYS) Department of Health (DOH) on December 27, 2006, for a five story, 168,538 sq. ft., $105,000,000 modernization and expansion of their Bayside facility.
2. Letters Requesting Postponement
  1. Senator Frank Padavan wrote a letter on Jan 28, 2008 to Commissioner Richard F. Daines of the NYSDOH requesting a postponement of the Feb. 7, 2008 scheduled review by the NYS Hospital Review and Planning Council (SHRPC) of St. Mary's Certificate of Need, for the sole purpose of allowing appropriate public discussion.
  2. Assemblywoman Ann-Margaret Carrozza wrote a letter on Jan 31, 2008 to Commissioner Richard F. Daines requesting a postponement.
3. Community Board 11 Meeting of Monday, February 4, 2008.
  1. Several residents were on the formal agenda and spoke for the children at St. Mary’s but against the management at St. Mary’s.
  2. Community Board 11 chairperson sent a letter to the NYS Hospital Review and Planning Council (SHRPC) in support of St. Mary's Certificate of Need. No vote of the Community Board was taken. As reported in the Bayside Times on Feb. 14 (see below), some CB 11 members felt that "To send that letter with a CB 11 seal is just unacceptable."
4. NYS Hospital Review and Planning Council (SHRPC) Meeting of Feb. 7, 2008.
  1. St. Mary's Certificate of Need (CON No. 062417) was approved with the following contingency:
    
    Submission of written documentation acceptable to the department confirming all necessary local zoning and land use approvals have been granted prior to the department’s issuance of approval to commence construction.
  2. The DOH Office of Health Systems Management (OHSM) reviewed the CON and presented their findings in the OHSM Review Report (click here to read). Information from the report:
    1. “The Department (DOH) is reducing the recommended equity contribution to 15% since the facility is in need of near-term physical replacement” (page 10).
    2. “The applicant (St. Mary’s) can’t provide equity higher than 15%.” (page 10)
    3. “The facility (St. Mary’s) must use available equity to pay off the liability for a third party audit settlement (attorney general) and a line of credit loan.” (page 10)
    4. Medicaid will contribute 85% (page 9) to the future revenue of $43,191,134 per year (page 8).
    5. St. Mary's net incomes for fiscal periods ended 2006, 2005, and 2004 are -$2,361,473, -$8,212,494, and -$2,948,965 (page 15).
5. Question: in light of our precarious economic future, shouldn’t the project be scaled back to a financially prudent level?
NYS Department of Health
1. Websites
  1. Department of Health - www.health.state.ny.us
  2. Certificate of Need - www.health.state.ny.us/nysdoh/cons
2. Webcast of SHRPC Feb. 7, 2008 meeting - St. Mary's starts at 59 minutes14 seconds, ends at 1:16:45.
  This is very interesting to listen to. Having this posted so quickly is good government.
  (Click on either link below, then move the slider to minute 59. You need not watch from the beginning.)
  1. http://64.82.40.223/live/nysdoh/20080207/archive1.asx - Windows Media Player format (as of 2008Feb28)
  2. http://smifiles.hvi.net/nysdoh/20080207/archive1.smi - RealPlayer format (as of 2008Feb28)
  3. From webpage http://www.health.state.ny.us/events/webcasts/archive/
  4. Webcast mentions Environmental Impact Study.
  5. 2008Apr18 - it appears that the webcast files of the SHRPC Feb. 7, 2008 meeting have been removed, and are no longer listed in the archive.
    1. At a minimum, webcasts should be kept for one year since the last request (click) to view.
    2. From an academic perspective, information technology (IT), in general, and webcasts, in particular, are having a profound positive impact on government. Five years from now, it will be informative to study that impact and apply it to local governments.
    3. The cost of storage is decreasing dramatically (See Moore's Law, Kryder's Law).
    4. Audio recording of the St. Mary's portion of SHRPC Feb. 7, 2008 meeting (click to hear).
3. Documents
  1. SHRPC By-laws.pdf
  2. SHRPC history-responsibilities.pdf
  3. OHSM Review Report of CON - 062417StMarysSHRPC.pdf - Office of Health Systems Management (OHSM) review of St. Mary's CON - 062417.
  4. CON no. 062417 in pdf - is this available ????
Community Board 11
1. Meeting of Monday, February 4, 2008. Several residents were on the formal agenda and spoke for the children at St. Mary’s but against the management at St. Mary’s.
  1. Bayside Times article, "Residents fume over St. Mary's plan," by M. Junaid Alam, 02/07/2008, page 1. Click below for online version.
    Bayside Times - www.timesledger.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=19273053&BRD=2676&PAG=461&dept_id=551067&rfi=6
    Bayside Times homepage - www.timesledger.com
  2. Queens Chronicle article, "Neighbors Still Fighting Expansion Of St. Mary’s," by Dan Tress, Reporter, 02/07/2008, page 4. Click below for online version.
    Queens Chronicle - www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=19272926&BRD=2731&PAG=461&dept_id=574902&rfi=6
    Queens Chronicle homepage - www.QueensChronicle.com
    
    This article reports that:
    
    There is not enough indoor space for rehabilitation, forcing children to do exercises like running and walking in the halls of the building, which are lined with strollers and medical equipment, because there is no storage space.
  3. NY Daily News article, "Baysiders Sick of Hospital's Plans," by Denis Hamill, 02/12/2008, page XQ 8. Click below for online version.
    NY Daily News - www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/queens/2008/02/12/2008-02-12_baysiders_sick_of_hospitals_plans.html
    NY Daily News homepage - www.nydailynews.com
  4. Bayside Times article, "Civics, hospital remain at odds after Health Dept. decision," by M. Junaid Alam, 02/14/2008, page ?. Click below for online version.
    www.timesledger.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=19296175&BRD=2676&PAG=461&dept_id=542415&rfi=6
    
    This article reports that:
    
    "To send that letter with a CB 11 seal is just unacceptable," Claro (a CB 11 Board member) said. The board had not taken a vote on the St. Mary's proposal.
    
    Mel Meer, another CB 11 member, circulated a response to other board members, offering a stinging critique of both Newman's letter and his handling of the Feb. 4 monthly meeting.
    
    "I thought he had no business submitting the letter," Meer said in a phone interview, adding that it was intended to convey the impression that the whole board supported St. Mary's application.
2. Community Board 11 Information
  1. CB11 homepage - www.nyc.gov/html/qnscb11
  2. CB11 Members - www.nyc.gov/html/qnscb11/html/cb/members.shtml
    1. Steven Newman, Chair
      Adjunct Assistant Professor of Public Administration at NYU’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service
      http://wagner.nyu.edu/faculty/facultyDetail.php?whereField=facultyID&whereValue=428 - bio
      Vice President for Finance & COO at Medical and Health Research Association of NYC - www.mhra.org
  3. CB11 Profile - www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/pdf/lucds/qn11profile.pdf - 38 pages of facts about CB 11 area
Civic Groups
1. John Golden Park Block Association (JGPBA)
  1. Blanche H. Felton, Ph.D.
  2. JGPBA letter from January 30, 2008 meeting - click this link to see the letter
2. East Bayside Homeowners Association (EBHA), Inc.
  1. Frank Skala - President
  2. EBHA letter from January 30, 2008 meeting - click this link to see the letter
Additional Media Articles about St. Mary's - click to view
Sample Letters and Contact Information - click to view
St. Mary's Certificate of Need Website
1. Purpose of this website - As a result of my (Pat Lyons) letter to Mr. Jeffrey A. Kraut, Chair, State Hospital Review and Planning Council, of February 5, 2008, and subsequent conversations, I have created this website to facilitate the communication between St. Mary's management, public officials, and concerned neighbors.
2. The website has three pages for questions:
  1. Questions for St. Mary's from Neighbors - neighbors have submitted questions. Dr. Simpser has been asked to supply answers.
  2. Questions for Neighbors from St. Mary's
  3. Questions for Public Officials.
3. Proposed communication process.
  1. All concerned parties submit questions to me (Pat Lyons) via email at pjlyons27@yahoo.com. I post the questions to the corresponding webpages.
  2. After a few days, the concerned parties submit their answers to me (Pat Lyons) via email. I post the answers to the corresponding questions.
  3. This may lead to more questions, but after a few iterations, we would then have a group meeting.

(This page was last edited on April 18, 2008 .)
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