State approves Carthage Area Hospital plan to close its skilled-nursing unit

CARTHAGE, N.Y. — The New York State Department of Health (DOH) on Friday approved Carthage Area Hospital’s plan to close its skilled-nursing unit.

The plan includes transferring residents to other local skilled-nursing facilities in the region, the hospital said in a news release issued Friday night.

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 Friday night.

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

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,” Rich Duvall, CEO of Carthage Area Hospital, 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 news 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.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com