CEOs at Westchester Medical Center and St. Francis Hospital and Health Centers said they are committed to keeping St. Francis open as a full-service community hospital after a U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge  approved Monday the Valhalla medical center”™s purchase of the bankrupt 100-year-old hospital in Poughkeepsie.
Westchester County Health Care Corp., the public benefit corporation that operates Westchester Medical Center, agreed in an asset purchase deal filed in court two weeks ago to assume an unstated amount of St. Francis’s liabilities and make a $3.5 million cash payment when the purchase closes on or about May 9.
A bankruptcy attorney for St. Francis reportedly said the Westchester purchase offer was $18 million to $19 million better than the $24.5 million stalking horse bid submitted by Health Quest Systems Inc. last December when St. Francis sought Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection from creditors.
Health Quest, which operates Vassar Brothers Medical Center in Poughkeepsie, withdrew from bidding this month after state and federal regulators raised antitrust concerns and threatened to hold up and legally contest a sale of St. Francis to Health Quest, which also operates two other hospitals in Dutchess and Putnam counties.
Hospital officials in Valhalla and Poughkeepsie in their announcement of the court-approved purchase said the sale ushers in “an era of unique cooperation, collaboration and momentum for the Poughkeepsie hospital and its programs.”
“Saint Francis has been a critical link to quality care for those living and working in the community,” said Westchester Medical Center president and CEO Michael D. Israel, “and we believe that the organization”™s future as a full-service community hospital is very bright indeed.”
Dr. Samuel Simon, board chairman of Saint Francis Hospital and Health Centers, in the joint statement said, “The only real way to save locally provided services and the core mission of Saint Francis Hospital is to keep them managed in the community on the existing campus.”
Physicians at St. Francis critical of a Health Quest takeover in court documents claimed more than 1,000 jobs would be lost and emergency services would be hampered and overcrowded in consolidated facilities at Vassar Brothers.
In a letter to the community, Israel and Arthur Nizza, Saint Francis president and CEO, said their commitment “is to keep a full-service community hospital open, enhancing and strengthening all of the fine services that exist including such critical services as behavioral health programs, addiction recovery services, a special needs preschool, and Level Two Trauma Center, as well as well-known core medical services like joint replacement and physical rehabilitation, the latest robotic surgery procedures and a comprehensive cancer program.”
The CEOs said they plan to introduce additional advanced-care services and technologies, including telemedicine, to patients in Poughkeepsie. The added services will create more jobs for the community, they said.
“First and foremost, this partnership is a sign of our commitment to the mid-Hudson Valley and will allow us to ensure that everyone has access to the highest level of care, as close to home as possible,” Israel said.
Nizza said the partnership with Westchester Medical Center “ensures that resources are available for us to grow. We will be able to leverage economies of scale and share clinical best practices, providing more efficient delivery of services to patients in the mid-Hudson Valley.”
Under a management services agreement, Westchester Medical Center will work with St. Francis Hospital to help stabilize and improve its finances and operations. The St. Francis board and management team will remain in charge of the organization during the transition period leading up to the sale closing in early May.
