Unity uses 18 year old data to justify move into Brockport

In two interviews Lakeside Health System’s CEO, James E. Wissler, pointed out that according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, there is no shortage of medical professionals in Brockport.

During a telephone conversation on Thursday, and then a gain during and email exchange yesterday, Wissler cited data readily available on the website of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA).

The data clearly shows that Unity Health Systems’ Chief Operating Officer, Stewart C. Putnam, chose to use old data rather than the latest data available in the letter he sent to Brockport residents last week.

In his letter, Putnam made this seemingly misleading statement, “Brockport is designated by the federal government as having a shortage of health professionals.”

The statement seems to be misleading because the current data from HRSA does not support Putnam’s claim.

HRSA has two categories of shortage areas:

Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSAs) are designated by HRSA as having shortages of primary medical care, dental or mental health providers and may be geographic (a county or service area), demographic (low income population) or institutional (comprehensive health center, federally qualified health center or other public facility).

Medically Underserved Areas/Populations (MUA/Ps) are areas or populations designated by HRSA as having: too few primary care providers, high infant mortality, high poverty, or high elderly population.

The current data available on HRSA’s website for Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSAs) in Monroe County is up to date and shows that there is no shortage of medical professionals in the entire Brockport area.

However, the data available on HRSA’s website for Medically Underserved Areas/Populations (MUA/Ps) is out of date. It has a Designation Date: of July 5, 1994.

“Conduct of this kind has too much the appearance of an intention to mislead the people by alarming their passions rather than to convince them by arguments addressed to their understandings.”
Alexander Hamilton
The Federalist Papers, No. 24

The data Putnam used in his January 17th latter was 17 years, 6 months, and 12 days out of date when he wrote it.

In other words, many of the seniors at Brockport High School weren’t even born yet when the data was published, and those that were, were infants.

Most of the seniors at SUNY Brockport were toddlers when the data was published. They were just entering Pre-K 4.

In fact, the data is even older than Unity Health System itself, which wasn’t founded until 1997 when St. Mary’s Hospital in Rochester merged with ark Ridge Hospital in Greece.

Here’s how to check the RSA data yourself.

To check if Brockport is really a Health Professional Shortage Area:

1. Log onto the HRSA website.
    
2. Click on Find a Shortage Area.
    
3. Click on HPSA by State & County.
    
4. In the State: field, select: New York.
    
5. In the County: field, select: Monroe.
    
6. In the Discipline: field, select: Primary Medical Care.
   (The other choices are Dental and Mental Health)
    
7. Click the Show me the HPSAs button.
   This displays a list of all the Health Care Centers in Monroe County, regardless of their status.
    
8. Please note the Headings on the table:
   (HPSA Name, ID, Type, FTE, #Short, and Score).
   The two right-hand columns contain the critical information.
    
9. Scroll down to the bottom of the table so until you can see the data for Brockport and Greece in the first column.
   (Unity Health Systems is in Greece.)
    
10. Notice that there is a “0” in the Shortage column for Brockport.
    This means that the federal government has determined that there is No Shortage of Medical professionals in Brockport.
     
11. Notice that there is a “5” in the Score column for Brockport.
    (This means Brockport has a score of “5” with the lowest score being “0”)
     
12. Also notice that Brockport and Greece have the same scores in the Shortage column and the Score column.
13. Then note the alpha-numeric listing in the first column. Those are the listings of the Census Tracts that make up each Geographical Area.

In other words, Brockport’s Lakeside Health System and Greece’s Unity Health System have the same rating.

NOTE: A full time equivalent (FTE) is defined as the number of hours per year for which one employee of that type must be compensated to meet the clinic's definition of a full-time employee, or a minimum of 1,600 hours per year.

To check if Brockport is really a Medically Underserved Area/Population:

1. Scroll back up to the top of the window.
    
2. Click on the MUA/P by State & County button.
3. In the State: field, select: New York.
    
4. In the County: field, select: Monroe.
    
5. Click the Find MUAs/MUPs button.
   This displays a list of the Census Tractsin Monroe County where there was a Medically Underserved Areas/Populations (MUA/Ps) as of the date in the 5th column.
    
6. Scroll down to the bottom of the table until you see CT 0153.01 in the first column.
    
7. Note the date in the 5th column: 1994/07/05 –
   July 5, 1994

According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s website, census tract 0153.01 is a small area of Sweden and Brockport that includes nothing but the SUNY Brockport campus and the 42 houses between 391 Holley Street and Redman Road.

Way back in 1994, that small area had “too few primary care providers, high infant mortality, high poverty, or high elderly population.”

Now there are many things that could have caused that situation, the primary one being that college students often make less money than the poverty level because they only work part-time.