Lahey not sure what to do with BRMC property
Published on March 8th, 2000
STONEHAM, MA - Due to the dramatic changes in health care in Massachusetts over the past six months, Lahey Clinic's plans to reopen the Boston Regional Hospital as an acute care community hospital are no longer financially viable. Even the possibility of opening an ambulatory surgical center in partnership with local hospitals would be economically not viable. In the current health care environment, the more patients you treat, the more money you lose. Despite the desperate overloading of local health care facilities, which no one thinks is good patient care, no health care facility can afford to lose anymore money than they are currently losing.
In a meeting with the medical staff of the former Boston Regional Medical Center, Sanford Kurtz, M.D. and Merit Brown of the Lahey Clinic discussed Lahey's plans for the Boston Regional Medical Center campus. These plans have totally changed due to the dramatic changes in health care over the past six to nine months. Careful financial analysis both on the part of the Lahey Clinic and on the part of Tenant Health Care with whom they considered partnering indicated that neither could afford to invest in a hospital on this site in the current Massachusetts health care environment. Lahey began paying rent on Feb. 17, which is contributing to the red ink on their bottom line, but it would cost even more to do the wrong thing at this site. No timeline can be given until a decision is made on what is right for this campus, but Lahey will definitely have a health care presence in this community but will proceed cautiously hoping for a resolution of the health care crisis in Massachusetts.
In summary, Dr. Kurtz from the Lahey Clinic said Lahey cannot do what it had planned nine months ago, and no one else can do it either in this environment.
Lahey Clinic is an anchor tenant leasing 100,000 square feet from the Gutierrez Company. The Gutierrez Company is waiting for them to tell them what space or buildings they wish to occupy, but at this point Lahey's plans are up in the air, and, therefore, Gutierrez cannot make any definite plans either. They will be going next week to the Planning Board to discuss future uses and zoning changes in the property.
According to Stoneham Board of Health Vice Chairman Mike Rolli, a possible outcome would be the development of a high end, high tech office park with retention of the current professional buildings and some continued medical use of the campus and hospital.
Lahey Clinic is also an equity partner in the Fellsway Development Limited Liability Corporation, which manages the BRMC campus. This group has assured the doctors that none of the doctors will be asked to leave their offices in the medical office building. In closing, they state that they are desperately looking for a sustainable approach to work with the community and physicians.
Meanwhile, the medical records are being moved off campus to Advanced Record Management Storage Systems in Danvers. They must be maintained accessible for 30 years. X-rays and mammography must be maintained for 10 years, and pathology slides for five years from the last date of service in February of 1999.
At the meeting, Dr. Claire Simione spoke up concerning the dire need for more emergency services in the community, pointing out the long waiting periods in the emergency room and the frequent diversion of ambulances from the local emergency rooms
"One of my patients became desperately ill and presented to a local emergency room at 9:30 in the morning on a Saturday and was not seen until 4:30 that afternoon," said Dr. Will Horsley of Horsley Ophthalmology on the BRMC campus. "During this time, she was in great discomfort and suffering and becoming progressively sicker. When she was seen at 4:30, it was felt that she needed to be admitted, but no beds were available. Reluctantly, she was given medications and discharged to home being told to return the following morning to the emergency room. She elected to stay home feeling that she could at least die in comfort at home rather than in misery at the emergency room. Fortunately, she made progress on the medications and sought treatment with her internist on Monday. Experiences such as these have become all too common, and exemplify the health care crisis in Massachusetts which is particularly acute locally."
Rolli said a recent trip to the emergency room lasted him over 12 hours.
"I told the Lahey people we want a health facility up there," Rolli said.
Dr. Will Horsley contributed most of the information in this article based on firsthand experience at the meeting.
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