Hospital Closure Planning Act Signed Into Law

After the closure of several area hospitals, including Parkway Hospital in Forest Hills, St. John's Hospital Queens and Mary Immaculate Hospital, State Sen. Shirley Huntley, D-Forest Hills, had seen enough.

With Queens losing hospital beds seemingly hand-over-fist, Huntley sat down and tried to hammer out a plan to ensure that those looking for emergency medical care in the borough never drove up to a set of padlocked doors.

In 2008, with the aid of colleagues in government, Huntley began putting together the Hospital Closure Planning Act.

"New Yorkers in need of health care should not have to go without service, suffer unnecessary pain, or worse, lose their life because they were caught off guard by a closed hospital," Huntley said in a statement. "The Hospital Closure Planning Act protects New Yorkers from the loss of health care services in their area by providing stakeholders notice to assess whether to seek new services at a nearby hospital, or participate in efforts to preserve, improve or establish new health care services for the community.

While the legislation can't prevent hospitals from closing, it is designed to help communities where the closings would be taking place. Communities like Forest Hills, Jamaica, Rego Park, Elmhurst and others have been forced to deal with the closure of hospitals that the state has deemed under-performing, or those that simply didn't have the financial justification to stay open. 

Many residents, Huntley legislative aid Brian Gaspard said, have discovered the hard way that hospitals in their area have been shut down.

"In many instances, the community wasn't officially alerted that a general hospital had closed," Gaspard said. "And their concerns weren't heard in a public forum."

Under the new legislation, which Gov. David Paterson signed into law on Oct. 1, the Department of Health is legally required to hold a community meeting within 30 days of a hospital closing in any community. Within 90 days of the closing, the DoH is required to publish a health care impact statement. The statement is designed to guide residents to available health care options — including preventive care — in their area. 

Gaspard also said the bill was a challenge to put together, because like many state agencies, the health department is strapped for cash. 

"We couldn't make this a bill where the DoH would have to make a significant expenditure overall." he said. "Like everyone else, they're struggling with budget gaps right now."