As expected, a state-level health planning council on Thursday denied applications by Catholic Health, Kaleida Health and their partners to develop cardiac catheterization labs in Niagara County.
The New York State Public Health and Health Planning Council rejected plans for Mercy Hospital to build a new lab at Mount St. Mary’s Hospital, as well as a plan to transfer a lab from Buffalo General Hospital up to Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center.
The council agreed with recommendations from its establishment committee and a needs analysis from the state Department of Health that there simply was no need for additional capacity in the region. But at the same time, the council signaled it would be willing to consider a future application on the issue if it was a collaborative effort of the competing health systems.
That was good news to Joe McDonald , CEO at Catholic Health.
“We’re not giving up on Niagara County,” he said.
Representatives from the hospitals participated in a conference call last week with DOH officials to talk more about how to address the issue of access for Niagara County residents. Presently, county residents must travel to Buffalo to receive the specialized cardiac care services. The DOH told council members the conference call centered around how to improve transport time by working with emergency medical service providers, as well as educational opportunities in the community.
“There seemed to be some fertile ground for discussing best practices with respect to emergency department cath lab prep for these individuals,” said Charles Abel , acting director of the DOH’s Division of Health Facility Planning. “We all recognize it is the first step in a process that all parties agree is worthwhile in proceeding with.”
See all your followed company news on yourpersonalized dashboard.
To access the full benefits of bizWatch and receive a weekly email with aggregated news on all the companies you are following, please provide your email address below.
You must have a bizjournals account to follow a company.
PleaseLog In or Register.
If you are commenting using a Facebook account, your profile information may be displayed with your comment depending on your privacy settings. By leaving the 'Post to Facebook' box selected, your comment will be published to your Facebook profile in addition to the space below.
Source:
