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| LCGH CEO Updates Copenhagen Village Board on Status of Currently Closed Health Center July 21, 2019 10:30 a.m. By: Nick Altmire |
addressed the Copenhagen Village Board of Trustees on Thursday evening, providing a status update for the Copenhagen Health Center, which closed on May 15. Mr. Cayer took over as CEO of the hospital in the summer of 2017 and has been reorganizing, addressing capital issues, and working on recruitment issues. "Right now the health center here in Copenhagen is closed and I wanted to let you know why and how that happened," Mr. Cayer told the board. "If you can understand how we got here it helps to drive a solution. We must understand how we got here, but not dwell on what was or was not done in the past. We've got to get to what to we have to do to be the health care provider in Copenhagen, which the hospital board of managers is committed to." Mr. Cayer said that the hospital found out in May that it has not had the license to operate an Article 28 clinic in Copenhagen since July of 2006. Going through the files, Mr. Cayer learned that since 1993 the Copenhagen clinic has had a number of physicians, both private practice and some employed by the hospital. There have also been two periods over the last 26 years where there has not been a provider at all. "If the people in the community are confused about access to health care it's clear to understand why," Mr. Cayer said. It appears that the license renewal submitted by the hospital for the clinic to the New York State Department of Health (DOH) in 2006 was denied, due to the fact that the physician at the time was in private practice and not employed by the hospital. According to Mr. Cayer, the doctor remained in private practice until 2010, at which point he became employed by the hospital and the hospital started paying for his services, but at no point did the hospital have the license for the clinic during that time. The license remained in the doctor's name until his recent retirement. Mr. Cayer said the DOH has been cooperative to the situation and has instructed the hospital to file a certificate of need to establish the clinic as an extension clinic for the hospital. DOH officials said the clinic could continue to run in the meantime. A Nurse Practitioner was recruited last fall to run the clinic, but due to a family emergency had to return home to the western United States. "This is where it gets a little sticky," Mr Cayer said, explaining that the current location of the clinic is a modular building constructed in the 1960s, not built with the intention of being a health center. There have been many code changes for health care centers since the building was built or first offered health care services. If the hospital had a current license for the clinic, many of the issues would be 'grand-fathered in'. With a new license application needed, the building would need to be held to current code standards. The hospital brought in BCA Architects & Engineers to do an expedited review of the building to estimate the cost to meet the current standard of code. The review showed that the level of modification needed was a level 3, meaning over 50 percent of the building would need to be modified. That would come at an estimated cost of $712,000, which Mr. Cayer felt didn't make sense when the estimated cost to build a new building was between $800,000 and $1,000,000. "This is a huge investment, but the hospital's board of managers is committed to having a primary care clinic in Copenhagen," Mr. Cayer told the Copenhagen trustees. "The question that is not yet resolved is how to best go about doing it." Mr. Cayer said a decision must be made between modifying the old building or constructing a new building. It must also be determined if a new building was constructed, would the existing building be demolished and a new building put on the existing site or would the existing site be returned to the village and a new location would be used for a new building. A third option, in between a full modification of the existing building and new construction, may be available, but the hospital was just made aware of that option earlier this week and Mr. Cayer will be meeting with DOH officials next week to learn more about that option. The time frame for going through the certificate of need process and rehabilitating the current building would be just shy of two years, while constructing a new building would be just over two years. If the "middle of the road" option comes to fruition, the clinic could be up and running much quicker. Mr. Cayer said the hospital is actively looking to recruit a provider for the clinic. "We are the County's health care system and you are one of the larger population centers in the county," Mr. Cayer told the village trustees. "The hospital board is committed to being here." "I want to see the clinic here, it is important to the community," expressed trustee Kim Vogt. Mr. Cayer said he would be back to update the board as the plans for the clinic become clearer. He stated that he would share any meaningful announcements as they become available. Full video of Mr. Cayer's presentation to the Copenhagen board is included below. |
