I know that they attempted to convince people that its going to be OK. But in my opinion, at this point in time, nobody’s convinced it’s OK.”

Assemblywoman Aileen Gunther

Related

Critical care

MIDDLETOWN, NY — The Garnet Health medical system, like many other rural hospitals, faces a number of financial difficulties.

Garnet Health is a network of healthcare providers, taking care of Orange and Sullivan counties. Low patient volumes, high expenses and supply chain issues have affected hospitals nationwide, said Garnet Health spokeswoman Marcy Manheim. Those issues led to Garnet Health facing a nearly $33 million budget deficit throughout the system in the first four months of 2022.

Financial pressure has led Garnet Health to multiple rounds of service adjustments.

On August 12, the system announced changes that affected several areas of service:

• The Garnet Health Doctors location currently in Bethel will relocate to the location in Monticello. Garrnet Health Doctors is a primary-care facility; its Bethel location offered care to all ages from pediatric to geriatric.
• The Garnet Health Doctors rheumatology practice (specializing in rheumatic diseases, including arthritis) will close effective November 9, due to provider attrition.
• A number of outpatient practices will close. Outpatient pediatric practices in Middletown and Monticello will close effective November 9; outpatient OB/GYN practices will begin taking measures to close in the next few months. Inpatient pediatric, labor and delivery services will continue in Garnet Health’s facilities.

These changes come as part of Garnet Health’s financial improvement plan and a months-long process of evaluating the system’s financial future.

“Our financial improvement plan is one for the present and the future, and reinforces our commitment to delivering exceptional care every day,” says Al Pilong, president and CEO of Garnet Health. “It will allow us to navigate a challenging era plaguing the healthcare industry, and will lessen the impact of current influences on the Garnet Health system, our medical staff and employees and our patients and their families.'

Some residents of Sullivan County aren’t convinced that the impact of the changes is in any way lessened.

“I know that there’s a lot of opposition in our community,” says Assemblywoman Aileen Gunther, Sullivan County’s representative and herself a former nurse. “I know that they attempted to convince people that its going to be OK. But in my opinion, at this point in time, nobody’s convinced it’s OK.”

Gunther has had numerous conversations with nurses, seniors and other county residents, hearing their concerns about the proposed changes. She’s concerned especially for OB/GYN; as someone who has had an OB/GYN and has delivered three babies, continuity of care is crucial, she says. With Garnet Health’s outpatient OB/GYN closing, county residents will have to switch to other providers.

Transportation, too, is an issue with the closures, she said. “We have families that, if you deliver a baby in another county, Daddy can’t get there, Grandma can’t get there: you just can’t do it.”

Garnet Health has its eye on the problems of transportation within Sullivan County. The system announced on August 18 that it had received a $100,000 grant to establish the Sullivan Transportation Health Access and Reliability Task Force (STHART).

“In partnership with Garnet Health Doctors, Rolling V Corporation and the Sullivan County Division of Community Resources, the STHART network will focus on expanding healthcare access; specifically, access designed to help rural residents with no personal transportation options to receive the care that they need via a coordinated and accessible transportation system,” read the release.

STHART isn’t the only investment Garnet Health is making in Sullivan County. Manheim pointed to nearly a dozen clinical services Garnet Health has added or integrated in the past five years for county residents, including a new outpatient urgent care and primary care facility in Monticello, the addition of pediatrics to Monticello and the addition of OB/GYN outpatient services. (This conversation occurred in June, before Garnet Health’s announcement of cutbacks to its outpatient services.)

“Despite [financial] challenges, Garnet Health’s dedication to growing sustainable clinical services that provide quality healthcare throughout our service area is unwavering,” said Manheim.

The clash between Garnet Health’s dedication and its financial situation will likely continue to evolve. Earlier in the year, Garnet Health requested a temporary closure of its Harris campus critical care unit as a response to its financial difficulties, and to the under-utilization of that unit. That application was denied by the New York State Department of Health.