Future Forest Hills medical clinic is a hot mess

From DNA Info:

The site of a planned health care facility on Austin Street has become a graffiti-covered mess after a series of construction delays, including being shut down by the city for unsafe work conditions.

Work began last summer at 71-57 Austin St. and the facility was supposed to open earlier this year. But since then, there have been issues with obtaining permits, as well as city-imposed stop work orders.

In July, two stop work orders were issued for hazardous conditions, including for failure to provide an adequate fence and for improper excavation procedures.

The orders have since been partially rescinded, with only emergency work allowed.

The site was hit with eight violations, including for failure to protect people at the site and not notifying the DOB of excavation. All of the violations remained open as of Tuesday.

The planned building is slated to house a walk-in health care center run by ProHealth, a physician group practice with facilities throughout New York and Long Island.

A medical warning from Ron Kim

From the Daily News:

Asian immigrants who inject themselves with a toxic IV solution in Queens homes and makeshift clinics are ignoring serious health issues, Assemblyman Ron Kim charged.

Flanked by Asian-American doctors at his Flushing office Thursday, Kim promised to help launch a public education campaign with community groups, following news of one woman who underwent the procedure and lost parts of her limbs to septic shock.

Even though it was unclear whether using the IV therapy caused her illness, Kim said it was a call to action.

“This is something that resonated very deeply,” said Kim, the first Korean-American elected to the state Legislature. “They think that just putting a needle in your vein will fix anything. That’s the culture we want to address.”

Using IV solutions to cure exhaustion or illness is a common practice among some Chinese and Korean immigrants.

An old, familiar problem

From NBC:

The operator of a Queens medical practice specializing in radiological exams was arrested by FBI and Secret Service agents early Thursday on charges of filing more than $30 million in false Medicare and Medicaid billings, prosecutors tell NBC 4 New York.

Ting Huan Tai, 34, was taken into custody from his apartment on the 58th floor of a luxury high-rise building in Lower Manhattan. Agents executed a search warrant at Tai’s apartment and seized his 2008 Lamborghini and several bank accounts containing millions of dollars, law enforcement sources said.

According to court papers, Tai became the operator of United Medical Diagnosis (UMD), based in Flushing, in May 2010 after the departure of the former owner. Between May 2010 and May 2012, Tai and his employees submitted bills to Medicare and Medicaid for more than $30 million for radiological services never performed. The bills used the identity of the radiologist and former owner of UMD without his knowledge or consent, sources said.

Prosecutors say Tai used money from the scheme to pay personal expenses, including credit card bills and rent.

Member item pork is once again shady

From the NY Post:

The City Council dished out nearly $147 million for pet projects throughout members’ districts, including a grant to a dysfunctional medical center in Queens that even Mayor Bloomberg’s agencies doubt should get taxpayer money.

Included in the massive list of “member items” — funds individual council members dole out to non-profits — is a $5,000 allocation to Angeldocs, whose city funds are under examination by the city Health Department.

Last year’s taxpayer-funded council grants to Angeldocs were reviewed in April by the Department after The Post reported it was delinquent on property taxes and its only staffer, Dr. Dorothy Ogundu, refused to reveal details about her practice.

Despite that, Councilman Leroy Comrie (D-Queens) appropriated another $5,000 for the clinic, which Council Speaker Christine Quinn has yet to approve.

Comrie couldn’t be reached for comment last night.

Quinn’s spokeswoman, Maria Alvarado, pointed out that many member items have not been approved and allocated yet for Fiscal Year 2013, which begins Sunday.

The council also gave $573,589 to the Ridgewood Bushwick Senior Citizens Council, the massive charity run by Brooklyn’s Democratic Party chairman, Assemblyman Vito Lopez.

DOB shuts down Brooklyn clinic

From the Daily News:

A Coney Island medical building has been abruptly shuttered because of safety violations - leaving doctors and patients out in the cold.

The five doctors whose offices are at 2965 Ocean Parkway have not been able to treat sick patients city officials closed the building last Tuesday after inspectors discovered there was no emergency exit.

“It’s a terrible situation. My patients rely on my care and I have no access to them,” said Dr. Alexander Shekhter, an internist, who was worried about his mostly elderly Russian patients.

“These are patients in wheelchairs and patients on Medication,” said Shekhter. “They shut us down without any warning. If I violated something I understand, but the Dept. of Buildings has nothing to do with medical care.”

Buildings Dept. officials aren’t letting anyone into the four-story 3,300 square-foot building, which has only has one staircase and no emergency exit, according to documents posted on the agency’s website.

Trial doesn't stop the tweeding

From the NY Post:

Pedro Espada is still leeching off his Soundview Health Center even in its dying days.

The former state senator, about to face trial on charges of looting the clinics, continues to show up at the Bronx facilities — and collect his outsize salary — despite a judge’s stern suggestion to stay away, a source told The Post.

A Soundview spokeswoman insisted Espada has had “no association” with the clinics since December. But both Espada and his son Pedro Gautier Espada have been seen at the centers, sources said.

The elder Espada refused to answer questions about his salary. His pay package hit $611,901 in 2008, according to Soundview’s tax return for that year, which was filed July 2011, almost two years late.

While the Espadas continue to squeeze every dime out of the taxpayer-funded nonprofit they founded, the clinics are gasping their last breath.

On Friday, while some workers were allegedly getting pink slips, another of Espada’s sons, Alejandro — who was installed as Soundview’s executive vice president with a six-figure salary — pulled up to the headquarters in the family’s $62,000 Mercedes SUV.

Fate of St. John's Queens Hospital is sealed

SJQH Proposed Certificate of Occupancy
75 units plus a mall and diagnostic facility but parking for only 18 cars? Sounds about right...

Thank goodness. I was concerned they may put another hospital here! Our poor showing in the census proves that we need more people, not more health care.

Fewer hospitals, more clinics (and bike lanes!)

From the Daily News:

QUEENS MAY BE running a little low on hospitals these days, but there seems to be an abundance of medical clinics and centers popping up around the borough.

North Shore Long Island Jewish Health System just opened an urgent care clinic in Rego Park to help alleviate the pressure on local emergency rooms.

North Shore also opened up two ambulatory centers of medical specialists in Flushing and Whitestone within the last few weeks. That's in addition to the other clinics that have been created within the past year or two.

"The establishment of new urgent-care centers is not intended to replace hospital emergency departments," said state Health Department spokesman Jeffrey Hammond in a statement. "Rather, they provide an alternative to a closed physician office or inappropriate use of emergency departments."

There is no official count of how many medical centers are in the borough, agency officials said.

But the state has awarded almost $50 million to Queens hospitals and health care institutions since the closure of St. John's Queens Hospital, in Elmhurst, and Mary Immaculate Hospital, in Jamaica, in March 2009.

North Shore received a $5.3million grant from the state to open its urgent care center in the former St. John's primary clinic on Queens Blvd.

WAIT!!! We have good news to report. Right outside St. John's, we may see a shiny new bike lane along Queens Blvd. Isn't that what's most important to us all?

No more prisoners at Elmhurst Hospital

From the Queens Tribune:

The Astoria Child Heath Clinic, at 12-36 31st Ave. in Long Island City, served 1,167 patients in the last fiscal year. This is one of six clinics citywide to be shut down, including four in Brooklyn and one in the Bronx.

With all the changes happening citywide with HHC, perhaps the best news for Queens is that inmates from Rikers Island who need urgent medical care will no longer be transported to Elmhurst Hospital. Currently, inmates get split between Elmhurst Hospital and Bellevue Hospital. Under the new plan, all inmates would now travel to a separate facility. HHC will use the space freed up at Elmhurst and Bellevue to add to its revenue-generating capacity.