Area Hospitals Defend Their Reputations

After recent report that several Queens hopsitals are on a list of health care facilities targeted for closure, they are fighting back.
“Eight New York City hospitals are emerging as likely targets for closing, as the consensus grows that the state has too many hospitals… facilities ripe for shuttering include… Mary Immaculate Hospital, Penisula Hospital and Parkway Hospital in Queens,” the February 21 issue of Crain’s proclaimed in an article by Gale Scott.
“I have no idea who came up with this list,” said Parkway spokesperson Gerald McKelvey. “[Crain’s] said ‘hospital executives and consultants.’ Well, who are they? Are they our competitors? We have no idea why Parkway wound up on this list.”
Dr. Robert J. Aquino, Chairman of the Board of Directors and President/CEO of The New Parkway Hospital recently issued a scathing letter in response to the article. In it he condemned “Ms. Scott’s fabrication of news and Crain’s publication of this article as irresponsible and reprehensible.
“The article, which is grossly inaccurate and not based on any factual evidence, has been attacked by the Greater New York Hospital Association (GNYHA) and 1199 SEIU.”
Kenneth E. Raske, president of GNYHA, in a letter to Aquino obtained by The Queens Courier, called publication of the list “the height of journalistic irresponsibility.”
McKelvey pointed to statistics indicating that, in fact, Parkway Hospital’s condition had been greatly upgraded, since the arrival of Dr. Aquino in July 2004.
“Before he took over, the number of patients was anywhere between 90 and 100 for a facility with 210 beds,” McKelvey said. “That number has dramatically spiked, in some instances to the maximum. Also the average hospital stay was at 6.7 days and now it’s at five. So more patients are coming in and they are staying less time. That demonstrates a great need for Parkway in this community.”
At Mary Immaculate, officials said that they also could not understand how they ended up on a list.
“I think if anything we are in the midst of a turnaround here,” said St. Vincent’s Catholic Medical Centers spokesperson Michael Fagen (Mary Immaculate is one of eight hospitals in the SVCMC). “For the past year we’ve invested significant resources into the hospital,” including, he added, state-of-the-art hyperbaric wound care technology and new MRI services.
Fagen said that close to 40 percent of Mary Immaculate’s patients are uninsured, giving the hospital a “very significant role in the community as a safety-net provider.”
Fagen also cited statistics from a market share study last year that indicated Mary Immaculate was the hospital of choice for Jamaica residents.
The hospitals addressed the issue with doctors, hospital staff and community leaders to assure them that the health care facilities were not in crisis.
editrich@queenscourier.com