Northwell Health to spearhead effort to save struggling Brooklyn hospitals, scores $500,000 to fund study
Five hospitals in the borough are bleeding money and lagging in quality, and the state hopes Northwell's track record will come in handy.
Northwell Health has received a $500,000 grant from New York state to help find ways to save several struggling hospitals in Brooklyn. But according to the health system, that doesn't include Northwell buying or partnering with those troubled facilities.
Northwell will instead use the state money to fund a feasibility and sustainability study that will ultimately recommend several strategies that could improve access and quality of care at Brookdale Medical Center, Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center, Interfaith Medical Center, Wyckoff Heights Hospital and University Hospital Brooklyn.
Northwell, current leadership in the Brooklyn facilities and even community leaders will work on the study.
Northwell Health hesitated at first to agree to perform the study because they wanted to make sure all parties involved were clear this was not a prelude to an acquisition of any of the Brooklyn hospitals, said Senior Vice President and Chief Public Relations Officer Terry Lynam. In fact, he said Northwell itself has a relatively thin operating margin of 1 percent, or about $90 million, after taking in $8.6 billion in revenue in 2015.
Rather he said, Northwell will act strictly in an advisory role, leaning on their past experience of saving facilities like Lenox Hill Hospital and Southside Hospital in Bayshore, both of which lost millions a year before being overhauled and becoming part of Northwell's system.
"There's a top-to-bottom review of operations, of the types of services that are being delivered in those communities. What are some ways of achieving efficiencies? In what ways can we develop new programs or expand existing programs that could better serve the community and generate additional revenue for the hospitals. We've done it in a number of cases in the past," Lynam said.
The Brooklyn hospitals have struggled for decades, according to the New York State Department of Health and Human Resources. Most other hospitals in the borough have formed partnerships with or become part of larger systems, allowing them to evolve clinically and operationally. Without clear plans, the five focus hospitals have lagged behind, with scant resources to adapt industry trends or current technologies.
A payer mix largely reliant on Medicare and Medicaid is also hurting these facilities. For example, Brookdale Medical Center is 86 percent dependent upon Medicaid and Medicare as a payer. Brookdale President and CEO Mark E. Toney said they have no more than 15 days cash on hand, and their revenue barely covers wages and benefits.
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Those operating deficits, and little access to capital, have meant total reliance on the state. According to the state's Department of Health and Human Services, Brookdale, Interfaith, Kingsbrook and Wyckoff will require nearly $300 million in direct state operating assistance to keep their doors open in 2017. Without major restructuring, the need for state support will grow to an estimated $380 million by 2021.
That also means patient populations served at these hospitals are at risk.
According to the state, communities in central and northeastern Brooklyn have higher rates of obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, congestive heart failure, infant mortality and alcohol and drug dependence. The five hospitals also have poor or average measures for hospital-acquired infections, patient satisfaction and timeliness of care. Also, many residents depend on emergency departments for primary care.
Medicaid beneficiaries in central and northeastern Brooklyn also account for the highest number of potentially preventable emergency department visits, the state said, with between 65 percent and 85 percent of all emergency visits considered potentially preventable.
"Brookdale, as a major health care provider in East Brooklyn, supports the State's decision to have Northwell Health conduct a feasibility study," said Toney. "This is a necessary and important step towards solving our borough's difficult but fixable health care challenges."
Lynam said the goal is to finish the study within four months.
"I think the major questions the study will answer are: What does the future delivery system look like? What opportunities exist to improve efficiency? What are the governance and operating models that will help enable change? What level of operational investments and capital will be required to support this transformation? What is the level of investment and state support that will be required? The study is intended to outline a regional solution and recommend how those hospitals can come together and be better aligned," Lynam said.
Twitter: @BethJSanborn
