2006 Press Releases
Hospital and Chamber testify before rightsizing committee to protect hospital and its 1,000 jobs ROME – Rome Memorial Hospital President and Chief Executive Officer Darlene A. Burns, M.S.,  R.N., and Rome Area Chamber of Commerce President William Guglielmo presented testimony at the Central Regional Advisory Committee’s public hearing Monday, Mar. 27, in Rochester to protect the hospital and its nearly 1,000 jobs from the state Rightsizing Commission’s scalpel. Formally known as the Commission on Health Care Facilities in the 21st Century, the Rightsizing Commission was created by Governor George Pataki and the New York State Legislature in the 2005-06 budget to review the state’s health care resources. The commission is charged with making recommendations to reconfigure and consolidate the state’s hospitals and nursing homes to control escalating healthcare costs and improve the quality of care.  Regional hearings are being conducted throughout the state to enable communities to provide local input before the Commission makes its final recommendations to the governor and state legislature. The Commission is scheduled to complete its analysis and provide its list of hospitals and nursing homes slated for consolidation, closure, conversion, or restructuring by Dec. 1, 2006. “Although we believe the Commission will focus its on attention on cities with multiple hospitals operating at low occupancies, we felt it was essential for the Regional Advisory Committee to have a more complete picture of Rome Memorial Hospital and the community that we serve,” said Mrs. Burns. “As a community, we are very familiar with the workings of closure commissions having endured the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) decisions that changed the face of our community – negatively in the 1990s and positively in 2005,” said Guglielmo. “To defend our community resources, we have to provide the Commission with facts to help them make the right decisions.” The Commission estimates that the state has an excess capacity of 20,000 hospital beds statewide, a figure that is challenged by the Healthcare Association of New York State, which more conservatively estimates the excess capacity at 7,000 beds. The Commission also indicates that there is excess capacity of nursing home beds statewide because 14% of beds are occupied by low-acuity residents, about half of which the Commission believes could be cared for in alternate settings if they were available. The Rightsizing Commission is comparing facilities utilizing 25 metrics across six core areas to identify facilities that are a high, medium, or low priority for rightsizing. These areas include service to vulnerable populations, availability of services, quality of care, utilization, viability, and economic impact. “Overall, we feel our greatest vulnerability is with regard to occupancy calculations and population projections that indicated continued population declines in Oneida County,” said Mrs. Burns. “The Commission is using licensed beds to evaluate hospital occupancy, but many of these beds only exist on paper.” At the hearing, Mrs. Burns explained that although the hospital has 84 medical/surgical beds on its license, only 62 are currently ready to accommodate patients. The same discrepancy exists in the Intensive Care Unit (11 beds vs. 8) and the Maternity Unit (13 beds vs. 10). “Rome Memorial Hospital’s medical/surgical and ICU occupancy rates are near 80% when calculated using staffed beds, approximately 20% higher than licensed bed calculations,” Mrs. Burns explained. “In addition, the 80% occupancy rate doesn’t reflect the peaks in our census when available resources are stretched thin. Based upon our daily census, we have 96 to 100% occupancy in our medical/surgical units 60% of the time and we have 95 to 100% occupancy in our ICU 50% of the time.” “Hospitals are reluctant to decertify beds because of the lengthy Certificate of Need (CON) process that hampers our ability to be responsive during times of community growth,” Mrs. Burns said. “The CON process took about two years to convert an underutilized medical/surgical unit into a senior behavioral health unit despite clear evidence of need.” Painting a picture of a community making a rapid economic recovery, Guglielmo challenged the population projections that were made before Rome scored a victory with the latest BRAC decision. With the promise of 600 new jobs at the Defense Finance and Accounting Center, combined with 400 new jobs at Family Dollar and job growth at many other businesses, Rome’s economic future is poised for growth, he told the Regional Advisory Committee. “Our hospital is the largest employer in our city of 35,000 people. Its loss would be catastrophic,” Guglielmo testified, citing the hospital’s economic impact. “It pumps $101.5 million into the Rome economy. Of its 997 employees, 658 live in the immediate Rome area. Annual payroll with benefits is almost $38 million. Each paycheck pulses through the economy, supporting businesses as dollars are spent on housing, groceries, and other goods and services. Their jobs preserve jobs at other Rome businesses, and create new jobs.” Guglielmo also reminded the committee members that the North East Air Defense Sector is located in Rome and because of its mission could easily be a target on a terrorist’s map, since it was NEADS personnel that were the first to report the Sept. 11 hijackings and gave the commands to launch the NORAD alert fighters. In her testimony, Mrs. Burns highlighted other areas to demonstrate that Rome Memorial Hospital and its 80-bed Residential Health Care Facility are clearly adapting its resources to meet the community’s needs. Some of these points included: Viability – For the last 11 years, the hospital has sustained a positive operating margin that has enabled it to make significant investments in new services, technology and physical plant improvements, such as the new Emergency Department under construction. Voluntary Rightsizing – The hospital has already closed four underutilized medical/surgical units in the last 20 years and converted them to other uses, including an 11-bed Senior Behavioral Health Unit and a 14-bed Acute Physical Rehabilitation Unit. Availability of Services – The hospital’s Senior Behavioral Health Unit is one of the few geropsych facilities in the area. The SBHU serves an 11-county region with 55 percent of its admissions coming to Rome from outside Oneida County. Occupancy rates hover around 96%. Vulnerable Populations – The hospital serves an aging and poor population as demonstrated by its higher percentage of Medicaid and Medicare patients. In addition, its service area includes a disproportionate share of the developmentally disabled, who require more intensive services than the general population. Linkages – The hospital has built relationships with Oneida Healthcare Center and Mohawk Valley Network to help reduce healthcare costs and formed a partnership with Mohawk Valley Community College to help address the nursing shortage. Long-term Care – The hospital-based facility cares for some of the neediest seniors because it tends to accept harder to place residents who require more intensive services. The Regional Advisory Committee for the Central Region will conduct another public hearing Tuesday, April 4, in Watertown. The hearing will be held 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Dulles State Office Building, 1st floor conference room, 317 Washington Street, Watertown, NY 13601. Oral testimony is limited to 10 minutes. Participants must make reservations to speak by contacting Carla Cocca at (518) 474-4674 a week in advance. Comments can also be e-mailed, faxed or mailed. E-mail address: cjc08@health.state.ny.us Fax Number: 518-474-4669 (Attention Carla Cocca) Mailing Address: Carla Cocca Commission on Health Care Facilities in the 21st Century Corning Tower, Room 2580 Albany, NY 12237 | 
