Widespread support

This week we saw an example of union dues at work. 1199SEIU sent over-sized postcards to thousands of Central New York residents, objecting to the "ill-conceived takeover of Community General" by SUNY Upstate Medical University.

Residents are asked to call State Senator John DeFrancisco and Assembly Member Bill Magnarelli. Presumably, they are expected to affirm SEIU's position that Community General Hospital's combination with Upstate is "rushed" and "badly-flawed."

Actually, the combination has been very carefully planned. Upstate has gone to great lengths to assure that vital patient services remain at Community General's campus, and it is taking steps to broaden and deepen patient care here.

Upstate intends to employ most of Community's workforce, and it has made special efforts to transition Community General's employees. The State Legislature even passed a special law allowing Community's employees the option of remaining in Community's pension plan after they join Upstate.

Some people who got the post card told me they called the legislators' offices but with a message the opposite of what SEIU intended. "I support the Upstate plan," one of them told me this week in the cafeteria, "and that's what I told them."

SEIU's post cards do not state the real reason for its opposition. The real reason is that most Community General employees would become public employees. That means they would join the public unions, and SEIU would lose the membership.

SEIU stands pretty much alone in its opposition. The Upstate-Community plan has widespread support.

Elected officials have already endorsed the plan in letters to the Department of Health:

State Senator John DeFrancisco: "I write you in full support of Community General Hospital’s application. . . . (as) essential for continued available services, and assuring uninterrupted employment . . . and providing high levels of care to patients.” (February 22, 2011)

State Senator Dave Valesky: “I believe the merger of the two entities is critical for the continuation of quality health care in Central New York and will benefit the entire region.” (March 21, 2011)

Assembly Member Bill Magnarelli
It is my belief that Upstate Medical University’s acquisition of Community General Hospital is the most reasonable approach . . .and is in the best interest of the community-at-large.” (May 5, 2011)

A number of community health planning organizations have also endorsed the Community-Upstate plan. They are:

▪ Hospital Executive Council
▪ Crouse Hospital/ University Hospital Affiliation Council
▪ Community Health Information Planning Service,and
▪ Central New York Health Systems Agency.

Dr. Joe Smith, 1946-2010

Dr. Joe Smith died Saturday.

Joe suffered much these past two years, a consequence of the accident that left him paralyzed in 2008. He was in and out of the hospital frequently, and it was easy to get discouraged. He acknowledges being discouraged -- and also being extremely grateful -- in his last, inspiring message. It was posted yesterday on the website of Syracuse Orthopedic Surgeons (SOS).

Joe was supported by a great family, especially his wife Carol, and his children. Carol cared unselfishly for Joe though all the difficulties. Joe was also supported by his friends, a loyal and steady tribe, many of whom have known him from childhood. They stayed in touch, visiting him, offering words of encouragement, helping the family.

When he retired as an orthopedic surgeon in 2005, Dr. Smith was a larger-than-life figure, having succeeded Dr. Bob Lockwood as Chair of Orthopedics. He was honored with an award from the Community General Foundation, and he served on the Community General Board of Directors.

After retirement, Joe loved to work in his garden. It was an avocation he shared with his father-in-law, about whom Joe always spoke with much affection and respect. Joe often brought a box of fresh vegetables when we met for lunch at Luigi’s Restaurant on Valley Drive. Luigi's was one of his favorite haunts.

Last January at the dedication of Community’s new Center for Orthopedics, speaker after speaker paid tribute to Joe, whose leadership helped shape orthopedic excellence at the hospital. Later that day, I gave a DVD copy of the dedication ceremony to State Senator John DeFrancisco, Joe’s high school classmate and lifelong friend. He took the disc with him when he visited Joe the following day. It was great that Joe was able to hear the words spoken in his honor and to see the new Center, “but it was very bittersweet to sit and watch it with him,” the Senator later told me.

“If you are reading or listening to this,” Joe writes in his final message, “I am no longer present in this world but hopefully moved on to a better spiritual place. I’d like to thank you, I’d like to thank everyone for their help and consideration and especially their love.”

Our thoughts are with you, Joe, and with Carol, your family and your friends.

The senator and the budget

In December 2002 State Senator John DeFrancisco invited a couple of us to his Albany office to meet with officials of the State Department of Health. The subject was CGH’s application for the Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Unit (PM and R), which had been stalled in the state’s approval process for a year or longer. The Senator thumped the desk. He looked each official in the eye. He said it was time to call the question, to get moving, to make a decision.

That meeting broke a logjam, and several months later the state officially approved the PM and R unit for CGH. In December 2003 Senator DeFrancisco helped us cut the ribbon at the PM and R opening on 4 East. I have a picture of that event in my office. He arrived here a few minutes before ribbon-cutting and asked me about CGH plans. I told him about the cardiac catheterization laboratory being developed in partnership with St. Joseph’s Hospital Health Center. In his typical way, the Senator asked several blunt questions, then said simply, “I’ll support it.”

Fast forward to the opening of the cardiac cath lab on February 14, 2006. The Senator had not only endorsed the project to the state, he had obtained $500,000 in state funds for it. A plaque outside the cath lab commemorates his assistance in securing that funding.

Two weeks ago the Legislature passed the 2007 state budget after a particularly difficult budget season.[1] As proposed by the Governor, the budget would have cost CGH some $940,000 a year. In the end, some of the proposed cuts were reversed by the Legislature. The new state budget will cost CGH about $440,000 a year. That is a significant reduction in revenue, but it is about a $500,000 improvement over the budget’s starting point.[2]

Two days after budget passage, Senator DeFrancisco called me. He said he had been able to secure in the final budget $200,000 in capital funds for CGH. “I know you can use it,” he said. Needless to say, I expressed appreciation for his assistance.

This was a difficult budget year and, despite the relative improvement for CGH – that is, fewer budget cuts than first proposed – the budget is a problem. All hospitals should have a bottom line of two or three percent a year so they can fund the necessary upgrades in equipment and physical plant.

CGH has been fortunate to have had a positive bottom line in each of the last four years, but in every case it is less than one percent. Enough to get by. But not what we should be earning as we make the longer term investments in patient care. The new state budget does nothing to help. It merely hurts us less than it could have.

In this difficult environment, CGH has had a constant friend in Senator DeFrancisco. He is interested in what we do, he has expressed support when needed, and he has secured additional state funds when it helps.

Thank you, Senator DeFrancisco.


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[1] I wrote about the “The worrisome state and federal budgets” in my family letter of March 10, 2007. For a copy, go to www.cgh.org/cghfamily

[2] In the weeks since budget passage, there has been a lot of talk in government and health care circles about who won and who lost the budget battle. Health care spending was particularly contentious this year with statewide advertising by SEIU 1199 and Greater New York Hospital Association, as well as advertising by the Governor himself. According to Crain’s Health Pulse, April 12, 2007, the Governor’s campaign manager said the budget includes $1 billion in health care cuts of the $1.3 billion initially proposed, or 77%. The Governor’s office considers the budget battle “a success.”