Resident concern over the closing of the Long Beach Medical Center has so far focused on issues calling for help from the New York State Department of Health. Will hospital issues one day call on the Office of the District Attorney? As the final destiny of the Long Beach Medical Center concludes with the settlement of bankruptcy proceedings, the sale of hospital property and assets, and South Nassau Communities Hospital’s closing of title on the former LBMC, what can be sifted from the wreckage?
We see a hospital that was led by President and Chief Executive Officer Douglas Melzer. Melzer presided for years over the downfall of the hospital. In the most recent Quality Metrics evaluating Long Beach Medical Center, the facility rated 19th worst in the country. Since the LBMC’s closure, Melzer had little to say to the public about the crisis. Despite the facility’s being closed, he continued to draw an annual salary in excess of four hundred thousand dollars.
His Board of Trustees was an eclectic group of community members who seemingly accepted their roles of being "yes men", possibly to the point of liability or culpability for their knowing nonfeasance. They are a curious group of political and social voyeurs. One member of the Board of Trustees is the owner a fire security company. He was paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for fire security services rendered to the LBMC. Yet, in its last year of operation, the hospital incurred twenty-two citations for violations of the National Fire Protection Association Life Safety Code. By comparison, in the same time frame, twelve neighboring area hospitals combined incurred none. Such conflict of interest and community infrastructure incest has been a contributing cause to the ruin of LBMC.
The litany of questions continues:
--Why did the LBMC not have an emergency plan in place at the time of Superstorm Sandy’s arrival?
--Why did the Board not environmentally secure the hospital after the storm, failing to mitigate environmental impact and resulting in unnecessarily high acceleration of deterioration of the facility?
--Why did the Board make an unsustainable and unequivocal claim that the LMBC would reopen, especially when there were secret negotiations with South Nassau under a confidentiality agreement when the claims that LBMC would open were being made? This pretention of reopening went from the storm until August of 2013, when the New York State Department of Health realized the LBMC never had a credible plan to reopen. Their smokescreen lost valuable time towards the reopening of a medical facility for the barrier beach.
--Were some of the dozens of houses owned by the medical center for use by associated physicians, which were tax exempt under the Internal Revenue Code as hospital properties, allowed to be used by physicians for proprietary clientele? Why were many of these houses allowed to deteriorate in condition and value because of lack of upkeep, depleting the attractiveness of the hospital neighborhood while they were lying fallow?
--How was the pre-Sandy, June of 2012, New York State Health Care Efficiency and Affordability Law grant of $4.9 million used? Where have the tens of millions of post-Sandy FEMA money winding up?
--Who is accountable for the questionable practices of the LBMC’s purchasing department over the years? Is the Board of Trustees liable for knowingly permitting unsustainable hiring of personnel, which made the hospital a virtual patronage mill? Poor business practices, along with other areas of negligence, incompetency…or outright fraud and profiteering… helped back the Long Beach Medical Center into the financial chaos that let to its being refused to be reopened by the New York State Commissioner of Health.
--What is the interest of contributors to the medical community to local elected representatives? Why the inertia by the New York State Governor, our State Senator and our State Assemblyman to push the State Department of Health to have allowed LBMC to open? Why the late support from our City Council members? What dots need to be connected?
--Finally, who will be behind windfall profit of property developers if the LBMC is flipped for sale to private developers if is decided the hospital will not reopen or if it is closed after a short time? The hospital was purchased for about twelve million dollars. The deal will involve 1500 feet of bay-front property. Along with other properties scattered about the hospital neighborhood, the sale could include over $100 million in investment property for developers. Is a willing Zoning Board of Appeals already inclined to approve variances? Who will represent the developers in such a case? Who’s quid will be quo’d. Is the total value of the hospital property just too much of “an offer they can’t refuse?”
These are issues that deserve investigation beyond the Department of Health.
Why had the Long Beach Medical Center and its directorate been teflon for so long? For many years, Larry Elovich was active on the hospital board. Elovich was a powerful figure in local politics who spent a professional lifetime cultivating political ties with both Parties. Elovich seemed to have his hand in most everything in Long Beach until his death in September of 2012. The Elovich culture of impunity seemed to protect the LBMC, as evidenced how quickly the hospital unraveled after his passing. Now, the LBMC has been exposed for the negligent, unaccountable, unsustainable business it became.
The Long Beach Medical Center was a private corporation. Many thought it was a municipal facility. Private as it was, the LBMC could not escape the orbit of the political myopia that is Long Beach. It became a patronage mill for “famous families” and their committed constituents. The CEO and the Board of Trustees got a free pass for their poor administration. Private as LBMC was, the public had standing to demand better, given the generous government grants it was given to float as long as it did.
Even with the passage of the Long Beach Medical Center and its Board as we knew it, the questions of how its downfall happened must endure. It is my hope that South Nassau Communities Hospital will bring blessed relief to the barrier beach, a quality hospital that is transparent and upright in its administration, erasing the sour legacy of the Long Beach Medical Center.
In a sense, the Long Beach Medical Center deserved to be closed. The Board deserved to be removed. Notwithstanding, we deserve a hospital. Whether we are denied a new fully-operational hospital in Long Beach or not, proverbial heads should role for those responsible for the demise of the Long Beach Medical Center.
This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.
The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?
