When the Berger Commission”™s recommendations became law Jan. 1, 62 hospitals across the state were charged with implementing its mandates. The report declared that Orange Regional Medical Center (ORMC) should close its campuses in Goshen and Middletown and consolidate services by building a single new hospital.
Fortunately for ORMC, it found itself in the position of being a step ahead of the mandate; months before Berger released its recommendations, plans were in the works for ORMC to merge its two campuses at one location.
Rosemary Frado, vice president of planning and marketing, anticipates the new hospital will break ground by the end of this year and open its doors by 2011. The 83,000-square-foot hospital will offer 354 beds and have plenty of room for future expansion,
Frado says the hospital will retain all ambulatory services currently on Crystal Run Road as it works toward getting the new hospital built on East Main Street in the town of Wallkill. Right now, the focus is on finding buyers for its two existing campuses to help fund the new building.
“Local officials have been very cooperative in helping us market these two properties,” says Frado. “We have had some interest expressed by Elant; many of their senior health facilities are right next to our Arden Hill campus in Goshen.” Obviously, she says, “we aren”™t going to be shutting down either Arden Hill or Horton Hospital until the new hospital is up and running ”¦ so whoever buys either property understands they will have to wait until we have the new campus ready to serve the public.”
Frado says request for proposals will be sent out in September, and that Elant, along with several others that have expressed interest, will be contacted.
ORMC already received $24.6 million in HEAL-NY (Health Care Efficiency and Affordability Law for New Yorkers) funds in November 2006. “For each dollar we spend, the HEAL-NY grant money will match it,” said Frado. Another round of funding is scheduled for the end of September.
According to a recent press release from the state Department of Health, the 62 hospitals and nursing homes affected by the Berger Commission statewide applied for $2.5 billion to implement the mandates. The Health Department has $550 million available through HEAL-NY and F-SHRP, the Federal-State Health Reform Partnership.
In a prepared statement, Dr. Richard F. Daines, the new health commissioner, stated he was “pleased by the overwhelming response” from hospitals seeking to comply with the Berger Commission. “Each application was required to include a compliance plan, and we are very pleased with the number of facilities that have indicated they will comply. We are moving forward toward full implementation in a manner that will improve health care for all New Yorkers.”
Daines continued, “The task before us now is to analyze the applications and award funding in keeping with the law. The best applications will fully comply with the commission”™s mandates, have the fewest barriers to implementation and be considered financially feasible and cost effective.” The Department of Health anticipates announcing all awards by the end of September 2007.
Frado said ORMC is not only following what Berger mandated but hopes the new combined campus will play an innovative role in delivery of health care to the region. “We will still be a community hospital, but we are developing the new hospital as a regional referral center that will provide both secondary- and tertiary-level care.” Redefining health care in the region and providing a referral center for other hospitals, like Catskill Regional Medical Center (CRMC) in Harris, is ORMC”™s goal, said Frado. “We don”™t want our patients to travel outside the region for care. If a local hospital doesn”™t have services to help the patient, they can transfer them to ORMC. Similarly, if we are hoping that scenario will work in reverse. We also want to attract additional specialists to our staff.”
ORMC has completed its design and development drawings and is moving forward in the approval process with the town of Wallkill. “We have made many improvements to the hospital”™s technical support infrastructure,” said Victoria Neville, one of the hospital”™s spokeswomen. “These are ”˜portable”™ and will come with us to our new facility. We also upgraded our maternity wing at Horton to accommodate the patients who would have ordinarily used Arden Hill,” which was closed in a cost-saving measure.
Eventually, Orange County residents will not only see a brand-new facility replacing the two aging hospitals but a new affiliation with CRMC that Frado predicts will benefit both tremendously. “We”™re very pleased with our new affiliation with CRMC,” said Frado, who sees both working cooperatively to bring quality care to residents in both Orange and Sullivan counties.
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