Carthage Area Hospital transferring skilled-nursing unit residents before closure

CARTHAGE — Carthage Area Hospital is working to transfer the 23 residents in its skilled-nursing unit after the state approved its plan to close the unit.

The hospital on June 16 announced that the New York State Department of Health (DOH) had approved that plan.
In it, Carthage Area Hospital cited “long-term financial challenges brought by changing state and federal mandates,” according to its news release issued that day.

The plan includes transferring residents to other local skilled-nursing facilities in the region, the hospital said.

The timeline for final closure “depends on the hospital’s ability” to relocate each resident to a new facility, according to a question-and-answer sheet that the hospital also issued.

The hospital said it is “prepared” for a transfer process that could take “between several weeks or several months.”

The hospital’s staff is working with nearby facilities, including the 90-bed Country Manor Nursing & Rehabilitation Centre, located adjacent to the hospital, to facilitate relocations.

Lewis County General Hospital’s (LCGH) 160-bed residential health-care facility has also offered to help.

Michele Prince, interim CEO of LCGH, pledged support to Carthage Area Hospital.

“Our residential health-care facility is a family-oriented facility offering warm, state-of-the-art, comfortable care to individuals who need long-term or short-term 24-hour a day care,” Prince wrote in an April 3 letter to Rich Duvall, CEO of Carthage Area Hospital.

Carthage Hospital has also sought support from leadership at Watertown’s Samaritan Health, which has also offered help, “should space become available in one of the Samaritan facilities,” according to the release.

Jobs impact
The hospital’s skilled-nursing unit employs a full-time staff of 17, a part-time staff of four, and a per-diem staff of three.

With the exception of one manager, all employees are members of the Upstate/WNY Division of 1199 SEIU United Healthcare Workers East-New York.

Hospital and labor-union leadership are working to find opportunities for staff reassignments in other hospital departments.

“This move is not about eliminating jobs to save money,” Duvall contended in the news release. “In fact, it’s quite the opposite. We remain optimistic that we have the potential to preserve jobs. It is a process that all parties are committed to seeing through.”

The hospital has identified “several” open positions throughout the organization at various skill levels and plans to offer new positions and/or transfers to those affected by the unit closure.

The total number of job losses, “if any, won’t be calculated until reassignments are confirmed and all skilled-nursing unit patients are transferred,” according to the news release.

Closure plan
The hospital in late March submitted a plan to DOH to close the unit, citing “long-term financial challenges brought by changing state and federal mandates.”

The hospital’s board of directors unanimously approved the closure plan before it reached state officials.

Nursing homes must comply with “numerous” regulations that have “tightened” financial pressures on facilities “like the one at the hospital,” per the release.

“Escalating” costs have also driven smaller skilled-nursing homes that “lack economies of scale to evaluate efficiencies” and make “difficult” business decisions.

That factor, combined with declining cost-based reimbursement for services provided to nursing home residents, has made the hospital’s decision “essential,” it said.