For the first time, Suffolk County employees will contribute toward their health care plan under a new agreement reached with County Executive Steve Bellone last week.
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Tag: health care
The Southold Town Board voted unanimously Tuesday to adopt a 2018 budget of $45.4 million, which will mean a 1.64 percent tax increase for residents. READ
House Republicans on Friday withdrew legislation to repeal the Affordable Care Act.
Congressman Lee Zeldin (R-Shirley), who campaigned on the promise to help repeal the ACA — known as Obamacare — was one of five House Republicans from New York who supported or leaned yes toward voting for the American Health Care Act, according to the New York Times. READ
Governor Andrew Cuomo is hosting a roundtable discussion today to discuss the repeal of the Affordable Care Act. READ
While the repeal and replacement of the Affordable Care Act dominates health care headlines, two bills introduced in the New York State Senate and Assembly aim to provide insurance to all residents in the state. READ
Obamacare kind of stinks.
Now, now, hear me out. I’m your everyday Prius-driving, backyard-composting, bleeding-heart member of the liberal media — but I think I’ve found one issue where I can agree with the GOP.
Think you’ll need to see a doctor while you’re on Fishers Island? Get ready for a long trip.
The island off the Connecticut coast — which is part of New York State and Southold Town — can’t actually be accessed from Long Island. Instead, residents must take a ferry from Fishers Island to New London, Conn., and then catch the Cross Sound Ferry to Orient Point. READ
The scene at Pindar Vineyards Friday was a little out of the ordinary. Instead of out-of-towners sampling chardonnay and pinot grigio, a health care organization was offering a free clinic in the Peconic tasting room, where bilingual employees took health histories, tested blood pressure, gave nutritional consultations, handed out specialty referrals and scheduled follow-up appointments for about 40 local agricultural workers and their family members.
Despite news that Southampton Hospital is one step closer to merging with Stony Brook University Medical Center, officials of the East End Health Alliance say their association with the South Fork hospital is intact — at least for now.
Formation of the Alliance — established in part to offer community hospitals better leverage in dealing with large insurance companies and to minimize competition among facilities — was recommended in a 2006 report by the Berger Commission, a state panel that examines health care capacity and resources in New York State.
Last Tuesday, the State University of New York Board of Trustees voted unanimously to move forward with an affiliation that, once finalized, will allow Southampton Hospital to provide care under Stony Brook’s state operating license.
Any agreement would require the approval of multiple state regulatory authorities, including the state Department of Health, Attorney General’s office and state comptroller, according to a Stony Brook press release about the decision.
Peconic Bay Medical Center and Eastern Long Island Hospital — the other members of the East End Health Alliance — are also pursuing affiliations with a larger health system and are currently in talks with both Stony Brook and North Shore-LIJ.
If all three East End hospitals do not choose to align with the same larger system, “the Alliance would disestablish,” said ELIH president and CEO Paul Connor, an Alliance spokesman.
Alliance members met most recently Dec. 14, when they finalized a new contract with Empire Blue Cross that took effect Jan. 1, Mr. Connor said.
“No determination has been made to end the Alliance,” he added.
Disbanding it would require coordinated meetings and conversations by the organization’s board, said Demetrios Kadenas, chief development officer for PBMC Health.
The potential mergers are a response to new insurance reimbursement methods brought about by the Affordable Care Act, which now place a value on the quality and outcomes of care provided instead of the extent of care, Mr. Connor said in a release.
“ELIH has much to gain in terms of financial stability by partnering with one of these [larger systems],” he said.
Stony Brook officials are now working to file a Certificate of Need with the state health department that will be evaluated to ensure services align with community needs, according to the health department website.
Andrew Mitchell, president and CEO of PBMC Health, said that “as an integral member of the East End Health Alliance, we look forward to reviewing the Southampton Hospital-Stony Brook transaction when it is brought forward to the Alliance.”
Mr. Kadenas said Southampton Hospital’s affiliation “currently has no impact on PBMC Health and does not affect any current collaboration between PBMC Health and [Stony Brook].”
Mr. Connor added, “Until Stony Brook and Southampton gain all the requisite approvals, ELIH will not be impacted.”
RENDERING COURTESY OF PECONIC LANDING | In the site plan for Peconic Landing’s proposed $40 million expansion, the dark sections on the left show the proposed additions.
Peconic Landing’s long-awaited expansion could begin by the end of the year, if the Greenport life care community can get all the approvals and financing in place.
The $45 million expansion would add 46 apartments, 16 new private skilled nursing accommodations and a 16-suite “memory care facility” for seniors with cognitive impairment. The facility said that could bring 40 new health care jobs to town.
Peconic Landing received ZBA approval late last year for the three-story apartment wing. The Town Code limits buildings to two-and-a-half stories. Town planning director Heather Lanza says she’s expecting to see Peconic Landing before the Planning Board for site plan review in upcoming weeks.
“This is something we started studying five years ago, and now it looks like a reality,” Peconic Landing president Robert Syron said in an interview this week. “We have a significant wait list, 134 people, for the independent side of it.”
Peconic Landing sales manager Laurelle Cassone said 28 people, some of them couples, have committed to move into the new apartments.”
“We had to show New York State that we had demand for our apartments,” she said. “We’re already 58 percent committed for our priority program. We’re considerably ahead of schedule for our goal.”
Peconic Landing residents have had a great deal of input in the design of the expansion, said Mr. Syron.
“We’ve been asking how residents see the utilization of space,” he said. “We’re just following our incredible population’s lead.”
The apartments range in size from 750 to 1,100 square feet. Peconic Landing is also planning to expand its fitness facilities and pool area and add new administrative support spaces and a technologically enhanced “smart classroom” where residents can take advantage of college-style classes.
The memory care facility was proposed after Peconic Landing conducted a survey of local health care market needs.
“It will be person-centered dementia care, the only one of its kind on eastern Long Island,” said vice president for administrative health services Greg Garrett. “It will focus on a person’s strengths and provide them with a sense of purpose and peace. We do have people living at Peconic Landing who would be eligible. We also would be looking to provide these services to the greater community. There is a need for this type of care.”
The 16-room private skilled nursing facility, also recommended by the market study, will be a “neighborhood model,” with a common area, country kitchen, dining area, great room and activity area, used for short-term rehabilitation for residents recovering from surgery or illness.
“This will be for our own residents who require care, and it will also serve the greater community on occasion,” said Mr. Garrett. “The focus is really on offering our residents two higher levels of care.”
Ms. Cassone said the jobs created by the project will be “mostly frontline,” health care positions. “We’re not adding more management,” she said.
Mr. Syron said the facility hopes the construction jobs will be kept local.
“We’ve instructed our construction manager to try to find as many subcontractors as possible from the East End and Suffolk County,” he said. He added that when construction is complete, the 40 new jobs will include resident care staff such as nurses and nurses aides, and there will be opportunities for current employees to advance.
“We have 215 employees now. We will have 255 to 260,” he said. “The majority of our employees are folks on the North Fork.”