Berger Commission, take 2

From the Times Ledger:

A state commission is looking to streamline health care in Brooklyn, but residents of southwestern Queens could be affected as well.

The commission will evaluate Wyckoff hospital, which lies just across the border from Ridgewood, and assess the quality of care, access, patient load and financial viability, according to David Hoffman, general counsel for the facility.

“What’s the plan for breaking even?” he said, summarizing the commission’s goals.

The commission is officially called the Medicaid Redesign Team Brooklyn Work Group, but also referred to as the Berger Commission II.

The first Berger Commission was responsible for evaluating health care across the state in 2006, and recommended the merging of several facilities in Queens as well as the closure of Parkway Hospital in Forest Hills.

If the commission were to recommend the closure of Wyckoff hospital, it would be detrimental to Queens residents, according to Vincent Arcuri chairman of Community Board 5, who said that roughly 50 percent of the hospital’s patients come from the borough.

“It’d be pretty tough on the people if it closed,” Arcuri said. “For everyday medical treatment it would be a disaster.”

Wyckoff will be especially scrutinized by the commission along with four other hospitals whose primary revenue comes from safety net programs and not from private sources, Hoffman said.

The commission will make its final recommendations to the state Health Commissioner on Nov. 1.