St. Vincent's may be DOA

Yesterday, reports were made that Saint Vincent's Hospital Manhattan, the hospital that has serviced the NYU community and West Side residents for 160 years, is close to being taken over by Continuum Health Partners.

The Continuum hospital network — owners of Beth Israel, St. Luke's and Roosevelt hospitals — have submitted plans to the board of St. Vincent's to acquire the building. Two holders of the hospital's debt, GE Capital and TD Bank, have already expressed their support for the plan.

This news comes in the midst of major financial problems for St. Vincent's, which is facing roughly $700 million in debt.

"Continuum Health Partners has had discussions with St. Vincent Catholic Medical Centers on how our two organizations could work together in the future to address many of the difficult issues facing health care providers in New York City," Continuum wrote in a statement. "Our proposal to the St. Vincent Board, submitted at its request, was intended as an alternative to financial liquidation."

If the plan is accepted, the partnership would transform the building into a community health center, spelling the end of New York City's last Catholic hospital and only full-service hospital in the Lower West Side. The closest hospitals are Beth Israel, NYU Langone and Bellevue — all on the East Side.

Jake Eisdorfer, a surgical resident at St. Vincent's, said this would be problematic, especially considering the volume of patients the hospital receives.

"I think that this community needs this hospital," he said. "Maybe not in its current form as far as number of patients accepted, but they certainly need an emergency room and an acute care hospital, because the next closest place is too far away and we've taken care of too many major disasters that needed to come here and did better because they came here for them to change that."

Langone has previously expressed interest in expanding its facilities in the city. After withdrawing from a merger with Lenox Hill Hospital earlier this month, Langone may be exploring St. Vincent's as an option in its expansion, a source familiar with the medical center said.

However, Lisa Greiner, director of public relations at Langone, denied that the university was in negotiations to purchase the facility. She said that at this time NYU has no plans to pursue St. Vincent's.

Jaywon Choe is city/state editor.