Hospital Turf War Erupts In Queens

by HOWARD GIRSKY The chief executive officer of the 340-physician New York Primary Care Network of Great Neck said on June 8 that his organization has joined forces with New York Hospital Medical Center of Queens "to repel hospital invaders from Manhattan and Nassau County who are buying off primary care physicians in Queens at high fees."
Dr. Andre Berger’s comments came after The Queens Courier learned that an estimated 30,000 Queens Medicare patients are being carved up by Oxford Health Plan, a large HMO (health maintenance organization), to receive medical services from New York Hospital Queens and New York Primary Care.
The two entities have joined forces in a joint venture, known as The Millennium Health Alliance, to provide treatment under an Oxford contract. Oxford has been charged with responsibility for administering the Medicare program in Queens by the Health Care Financing Administration, a division of the U.S. Health and Human Services Dept.
Berger said the purpose of the new health care joint venture was to protect the Queens community from such institutions as North Shore Long Island Jewish Health System and Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan.
He said the Lenox Hill-North Shore LIJH participation was an effort by these institutions to gain referrals for highly-paid medical specialists.
Berger’s remarks reflected the opinion of many hospital leaders in Queens who have been greatly concerned with the inroads Manhattan and Nassau County hospitals have been making in the Queens market.
He expressed concern that Oxford has brought in a Manhattan hospital and North Shore LIJH, but said his new entity will "provide a defense against outside invaders."
He denied that New York Primary Care was "an outside invader" because it is headquartered in Great Neck.
"We’re here because we have a good deal on space but our operations have traditionally been in Queens."
Carol Hauptman, vice president for Community Affairs at North Shore LIJH, reacted sharply to Berger’s charges that her hospital was "an outside invader."
She told The Queens Courier that Berger’s comments were absurd and the System has been providing care for Queens patients for more than 50 years and will still carry through that responsibility.
According to Kevin Ward, senior vice president for finance at NYHQ, the arrangement will be finalized in the next two months.
"The Medicare premium will be divided among the participating hospitals, with Oxford retaining a small portion of that fee," Ward said. "There is no exclusivity agreement in Queens and, as a result, multiple medical units will be involved."
The contractual arrangement is believed to the first of its kind in the eastern U.S. It has been implemented in the west.
Ward, whose hospital has 457 beds, said that Oxford’s contract with North Shore University-Long Island Jewish Health System to treat Medicare patients in Nassau and Suffolk Counties and Staten Island had been locked up some time ago.
By presstime, neither Oxford or HCFA had responded to calls from The Courier for comment on the new system for the treatment of Medicare patients.