The CON has been filed

Upstate Medical University has filed the Certificate of Need (CON) application with the State Department of Health to acquire Community General Hospital. This is an important step as we work to complete the transaction on or about July 1, 2011.

The CON describes the acquisition and how it will benefit Central New York. It includes a discussion of the advantages for Upstate in meeting the existing need for services and in fulfilling its clinical, educational, and research mission in the future. The CON affirms that Upstate seeks to build upon Community's reputation and history and to provide employment opportunities for substantially all of Community employees.

Specifically, the CON states that Upstate’s business plan forecasts growth in the number of discharged patients at the Community campus to some 11,000 by the third year of operation. This is almost 30% more than our 2010 discharges.

In addition, Upstate expects the number of full-time equivalent (FTE) employees at the Community campus to increase to 1,025. That is about 18% above the hospital’s 2010 FTE count.

The CON also identifies efficiencies that are expected. For example, the Community campus will benefit from Upstate’s lower medical malpractice rates, from expanded service lines and from Upstate’s broader complement of specialty physicians.

As we embark on this next chapter of our hospital’s history, we can take pride in knowing that Community will become part of a regional health care system, that employment opportunities will continue, and that our physicians, work force, and our caring campus will continue to provide the quality care for which we are known.

MASH camp

This week 19 middle school students finished up MASH Camp at Community General Hospital. They learned CPR, got to put casts on one another’s arms, and saw what it’s like to operate operating room equipment (see the photo, at left).

MASH stands for the Medical Academy of Science and Health, and Community runs this special program for junior high school students each year during February break week. I got a chance to visit with the future nurses, doctors, pharmacists, technicians and therapists as they ate lunch.

I talked about how Community got started, and I showed them a brick from the old General Hospital of Greater Syracuse. (That’s where the “general” comes from in Community General Hospital). I talked about the role of government in health care, and I showed them a flag that flew over the nation’s capital, a gift from Congressman Jim Walsh.

Health careers offer youngsters a great future with many options – but they need a good education. That’s one of the messages of MASH Camp: stay in school and do well in math and science.

The other message? Ten or 15 years from now, knock on Community’s door when you’re looking for a great place to work!

To see the MASH campers, check out Mike Price’s spot from this week’s WSYR-TV newscast (click on “Good News: Hospital Mash Camp 2.20.08”).

The Medicare shortfall

I got a call this week from the office of Congressman Jim Walsh (NY-25). What, I was asked, does it cost for Community General Hospital to care for a Medicare patient? And how much do we get paid for that care? It’s an interesting question – and an interesting answer.

The average cost of care for each Medicare patient at CGH is $8,767. For that we are paid an average $6,612. That means our hospital loses $2,155 for each patient. And we take care of a lot of Medicare patients, some 4,600 a year.

How does a hospital make up such a loss? There are really only two sources : the payments we receive from commercial insurance companies and the funds donors give to the Community General Foundation. That’s a reason employers find their health insurance premiums so high each year. Part of their health insurance premium represents the extra amount it takes to help make up for shortfalls by government payers. It also explains why hospitals rely on charitable contributions.

Women's health symposium

My thanks to Lisa Bane and Michelle Berkey of the Wound Care Center at Community General Hospital for their coordination of (and participation in) the CNY Women’s Health Fair & Symposium, held last Saturday at Onondaga Community College.

The event was organized by Congressman Jim Walsh (NY-25) and featured an address by Dr. Julie Gerberding, Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Dr. Gerberding gave us a high level view of the CDC. She also shared with us a scary story of her recent trip to Africa when she donned protective gear and entered a cave with CDC scientists. The CDC was seeking the source of Marburg virus, after several cases were identified in the area's population. Wow! That story was right out of Hot Zone by Richard Preston!

That’s Lisa Bane in the photo with Congressman Walsh, above, from last Saturday.

And that's the Congressman and Mrs. Walsh in the photo at left, as they help to cut the ribbon in December 2004 to open the Jim and DeDe Walsh Family Birth Center at CGH.

The center was made possible, in part, because of a $1 million federal grant secured by the Congressman. In appreciation for the grant, CGH named the center in honor of the Walsh family.

Brahm's lullaby announces each birth

What a wonderful event! On December 14 Congressman Jim Walsh and his wife, DeDe, helped cut the ribbon to dedicate the new Family Birth Center that is named after them. The Walshes were joined by the Snyders. Wendy Snyder gave birth to each of her three children at CGH, and she is expecting her fourth in February.

At the ribbon-cutting were, from left, Dr. Howard Weinstein, Chair, Department of OB/GYN; Christine O’Connell More, Chair, Community General Foundation; Congressman Jim and DeDe Walsh; Rob Snyder with son Joshua and daughter Katherine; Wendy Snyder with daughter Anna; myself; and Steve Infanti, Chair, Community General Hospital.

The new center is filled with special touches, from wood trim to frosted glass side panels, each with a decorative rose. The bathrooms have tile floors and whirlpool baths. Linen shelves may be stocked from outside each room, and each laboring mom will have a soft bathrobe. There are three triage rooms, six LDR rooms (labor-delivery-recovery), and two rooms for C-Sections.

Another special feature of the new center is a recording that announces the birth of a baby to the entire hospital. At the dedication ceremonies Laura Smith, LPN, demonstrated the chime recording of Brahms' Lullaby. Mrs. Smith, who with Dr. Weinstein unceremoniously raised a hammer last spring to start the demolition of the old unit, has been a CGH employee in Labor & Delivery since December 26, 1962 – five days before the first baby was born at Community Hospital.

Our thanks to the US Government for the $1 million grant secured by Congressman Walsh, and to the donors of some $338,000 in additional funds that have been contributed to the birth center. The total cost is $1.9 million, and donations are being accepted by the Community General Foundation’s “Pay it Forward” capital campaign.

Thank you, all!

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This text was originally sent to the employees of Community General Hospital, Syracuse, NY, as one of a series of letters from the CEO. The text was subsequently posted on the CEO's blog, More than Medicine, started in June 2007.