Tonight, Lakeside Health System will host a community forum at 7:00 PM in the Brockport High School auditorium to inform the public about the impact of Unity Health System's plan to bring unneeded medical services to the Brockport area.
Last month, Unity announced plans to lease space for physician offices, physical therapy, and other medical services in a new $3.1 million medical office building being constructed at Routes 31 and 19 in the town of Sweden.
Unity’s plan to open the new medical facility must be approved by the New York State Department of Health, in the form of a “Certificate of Need.”
According to papers filed with the DOH, Unity wants to move Brockport Family Medicine extension clinic to the new location on Fourth Section Road and to add certified physical therapy services.
However, Lakeside’s chief executive officer, James Wissler, says that there is no such need.
“We are concerned about Unity Health System's plans.”
"The medical office building will house services already provided by Lakeside Health System and other community providers. Such duplication of services has been shown to increase health care costs and jeopardize jobs.”
Lakeside is urging its supporters to sign an online petition to block Unity's move.
Here is the test of the petition.
I Support Lakeside
Unity Health System is proposing to bring a number of unneeded services to Brockport. These include Radiology, Physical Therapy, Nutrition / Diabetes Education, Laboratory, and Primary Care.
In order to do so, they must get a “Certificate of Need” from New York State. We, the undersigned, believe that there is no need for these services, and, thus, the Certificate should be denied.
Lakeside Memorial Hospital already provides all of these services in Brockport and has capacity to accept more patients. There are already three Laboratory drawing stations and three Physical Therapy providers in Brockport – more are not needed. There are already 13 Primary Care providers in the area currently accepting new patients – more are not needed.
Unity Health System is getting $1 million of taxpayer money for this project, claiming that it will bring 14 new jobs to Brockport. Adding unnecessary services is likely to result in a net loss of jobs and an increase in the cost of medical care.
I do NOT support Unity's Certificate of Need application. I am proud to add my name to this petition to protect Lakeside and the jobs of its employees.
According to the Hospital Association of New York State (HANYS) research and the Department of Health and Human Service there is currently NO NEED for additional primary care physicians in this area. In reality there is an abundance.
Creating excess capacity in the health care system is what the Certificate of Need (“CON”) process is intended to avoid.
Please deny Unity's Certificate of Need #112329-C.
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To sign the petition, just log onto the lakeside website and click on SIGN OUR PETITION. Or enter http://www.lakesidehealth.org/petition.asp in your browser.
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