OPINION: BHA says LICH proposals small on square footage, big on unsubstantiated claims
SUNY’s last minute RFP amendment brought out some known brides with new grooms, or perhaps the brides just changed gowns. Pending weddings aside, the Brooklyn Heights Association (BHA) is concerned that the proposals, four of which only provide for emergency and outpatient care at Long Island College Hospital (LICH), are skimping on the amount of space needed for the services being promised.
Except for the Chinese Community Accountable Care Organization which plans for a 100 bed hospital and using all of the existing core buildings, none of the other four entries included hospital beds. One team has a Long Term Acute Care facility. We understand that the NYS Department of Health has been reluctant to grant approval for these beds, so this plan may be dead in the water.
Fortis and NYU-Langone purport to devote 75,000 square feet for medical services, including an emergency department, urgent care, ambulatory surgery, primary and preventive care, ob-gyn, a broad range of specialty care, diagnostic imaging and a cancer center. To put this in perspective, the Mt. Sinai outpatient facility in Brooklyn Heights occupies 75,000 square feet and does not include an emergency department, ambulatory surgery or chemotherapy/radiation – entities whose size is regulated by NYS.