Taken from Crainsnewyork.com (original article)
Evidence is mounting that bankrupt Peninsula Hospital may not reopen. The Queens hospital laid off another round of workers last Friday, including 100 from 1199 SEIU. Its physician-residency programs are being terminated, another sign the hospital will stay dark.
Peninsula is sending a letter to its residents, who were supposed to be trained through June 30, with notification that the program is ending because of the closure of the hospital’s laboratory on Feb. 23 in the wake of safety problems found by inspectors from the state Department of Health. The effort of the new Chapter 11 trustee in the Peninsula bankruptcy court case has been focused on correcting the lab’s deficiencies, obtaining recertification for the lab, and reopening the hospital. “Whether and when the same can be achieved is uncertain,” according to the letter. Recertification will take time, if it can be obtained, added the letter, and that lapse in training could compromise academic credit for the residency.
A new report by the patient ombudsman, filed yesterday with the bankruptcy court, raises serious doubts about Peninsula’s reopening. “It is yet to be determined,” the ombudsman wrote, “whether the hospital can address and correct the issues identified in the NYS DOH survey to the satisfaction of [DOH] and whether this can be accomplished in a time frame and at a cost that will enable the facility to reopen, given current financial and other regulatory issues.”
The ombudsman also questioned the survival of Peninsula’s nursing home. The two sites share many services; if the hospital is closed permanently, the impact on the nursing home isn’t clear. “However, given the reduced [nursing home] census and resulting decline in revenue, the potential for the nursing home to remain an independent operation is questionable,” he wrote.
The ombudsman gave a bittersweet summary of his overall findings. “There are many aspects of the care at the hospital that meet or exceed required standards,” he wrote. “For example, the central line infection rate is among the best in New York state and has been independently verified. There are many committed individuals at the hospital for whom quality of care to patients is primary.” But he then noted significant failures in the process of ensuring quality care at the hospital: “Had senior management met its obligations, the hospital may well have been able, notwithstanding its various financial and organizational issues, to address and correct the deficiencies.”