Parkway Hospital on closing hit list

Following months of speculation over what hospital closing recommendations would be made by the Commission on Health Care Facilities in the 21st Century, the final report, a list of nine hospitals including the private Parkway Hospital in Queens, was released on Tuesday.
The commission, commonly referred to as the Berger Commission after chairperson Stephen Berger, was formed by Governor George Pataki. According to the commission's website, &#8220It was created to ensure that the regional and local supply of hospital and nursing home facilities is best configured to appropriately respond to community needs for high-quality, affordable and accessible care, with meaningful efficiencies in delivery and financing that promote infrastructure stability.”
Since the commission was formed, concerns were raised about how many hospitals would make it onto the list. Of the nine hospitals in the final report, five were in New York City, including Parkway Hospital, which is located in Forest Hills and has filed for bankruptcy.
Now that the list is out, it will be sent to Pataki, who will have to either approve it or reject it by December 5. If Pataki approves it, the list will be sent on to the Legislature. The Legislature will then have until the end of the month to make a decision.
Throughout the process, the Berger Commission was frequently criticized for not being transparent enough and for not taking local needs into consideration.
&#8220The commission's recommendations, if implemented, will change the landscape of healthcare delivery in New York City,” said Alan D. Aviles, the president of the Health and Hospitals Corporation. &#8220But closing facilities will only address part of the challenges.”
A study commissioned by The Opportunity Agenda and Harvard University that came out about a week prior to the announcement of the final report said that 77 percent of New Yorkers thought hospital closures would be bad for the state health care system.
Prior to the Berger Commission report, Queens Borough President Helen Marshall released her own plan for &#8220a comprehensive and sustainable healthcare delivery system” in the borough two weeks ago.
The report - which can be seen in full on www.queensbp.org - lists six steps that need to be taken, including making Queens its own health region, building a new comprehensive hospital in the Rockaways and a new ambulatory care center in western Queens, bringing more specialized doctors to the borough, creating a clinical campus for The Sophie B. Davis School of Biomedical Education of Queens Hospital Center and creating a health care task force.
The City Council also released &#8220A Prescription for New York City Health Care Crisis.” Among its focal points are improving access to health care, bankruptcies and poor fiscal situations of hospitals, HMO reform and improving quality health care.