By Joyce Kryszak
Buffalo, NY – Kaleida and the Erie County Medical Center are moving on separate tracks in the race for state hospital consolidation funds. And neither plan moves the the two sides closer to a state mandated merger.
ECMC was the first out of the gate, asking for millions to build a heart center on its campus. Now, Kaleida has a $121 million request to relocate Millard Fillmore Gates doctors and services to Buffalo General.
Neither plan seems to acknowledge or work toward a state ordered merger of the two entities that the hospital closure commission ordered last year.
The state is expected to appoint a board of directors to push a consolidated organization.
Despite all that, ECMC's Chief Executive Officer Michael Young sees no reason the state shouldn't fund projects for both hospital systems.
The federal portion of the consolidation funding must be approved in about ninety days. Young believes the strict timeframe could help speed up stalled merger talks.
Meanwhile, Young also has been embroiled in tense negotiations with the county.
A court order requires the county to pay a $15 million dollar settlement to the hospital by the end of the year. But another lawsuit is brewing.
The county wants to recover more than eight million dollars that the federal government transferred from the county to the hospital for services to the poor.
Both sides say a lawsuit is likely.
But county officials now are also hinting they might withhold the settlement. Young said they are separate matters, and he said he hopes the county doesn't hold one "hostage" for the other.
The court ordered settlement is to fund capital improvements at the hospital. But the county budget director said they do not have enough details yet on what projects the hospital has planned.
Click the "listen" icon above to hear Joyce Kryszak's story now or use your podcasting software to download it to your computer or iPod.