2 more Manhattan hospitals try to get out of trouble

From Crains:



In a bid for financial security, North General Hospital is transferring its health center, mental health services and cancer center to the Institute for Family Health. The Harlem hospital has been in talks for weeks with various potential partners to find ways to restructure and stop a heavy flow of operating losses.

The financial viability of North General is a sensitive topic in Albany. The politically-connected hospital has been faltering financially for months, and the Paterson administration does not want to see another hospital fail so soon after the closing of St. Vincent's Hospital. North General's bonds are backed by the state, and the hospital has an interest-only bond payment of nearly $3 million that's due on Aug. 15.

To address its financial difficulties, North General has struck a deal with a growing empire run by Dr. Neil Calman, president and chief executive of the Institute for Family Health, which runs a network of federally qualified health centers.

From the NY Times:

It has long been the boutique hospital of choice for the rich, the famous and New Yorkers who seek pampering during childbirth and orthopedic surgery.

But on Wednesday, Lenox Hill announced that after 153 years as a standalone hospital on the Upper East Side, it was entering a partnership with North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System, a powerhouse of 15 hospitals and other health care centers in more humble parts of Long Island, Queens and Staten Island.

The partnership, with North Shore the corporate parent, is something of a marriage of convenience for the small, genteel but money-losing hospital in Manhattan and its newly rich, upstart neighbor.

For Lenox Hill, which is projected to lose $15 million this year despite its prime location, hospital officials said, joining a bigger health care system provides a way out of financial trouble. For North Shore-Long Island Jewish, it offers a toehold in Manhattan and access to wealthy, well-connected patients.