NYU Langone proposes new, $204 million plans for emergency center

After operating an emergency center out of an interim location at 83 Amity Street following the sale of Long Island College Hospital (LICH) to Fortis Property Group last October, NYU Langone is proposing a $204 million, four-story, 160,000-square-foot outpatient facility and ambulatory care center at 70 Atlantic Avenue.

Scheduled to open in 2018, NYU Langone-Cobble Hill will include “a permanent, free-standing emergency department (ED); a surgical suite for outpatient procedures; a broad spectrum of primary and specialty care practices; a full-service satellite of NYU Langone’s Laura and Isaac Perlmutter Cancer Center, including an infusion center and a clinical pharmacy; an on-site clinical laboratory; and comprehensive imaging services,” according to NYU Langone.

“The new ambulatory facility will expand access to NYU Langone Medical Center’s high quality healthcare services and provides a continuity of care for our Brooklyn communities,” Andrew Brotman, MD, vice dean and senior vice president of clinical affairs and strategy at NYU Langone Medical Center told this paper.

Previously, the hospital’s plan for the facility was to expand the interim ED into a 125,000-square-foot emergency department for the price of $175 million. However, according to Crain’s Heath Plus, NYU Langone’s certificate of need submitted to the state indicated that the temporary site was “less than an ideal space” for the volume of patients in the area and “would not be able to accommodate the projected amenities that patients expect.”

Currently, the facility on Amity Street operates as a freestanding ED, providing urgent healthcare, advanced imaging services, a hospital satellite pharmacy and an on-site laboratory for rapid test results. It is also equipped with two on-site ambulances for transfer of patients to several receiving hospitals in Brooklyn.

The sale of the now-shuttered LICH was not without its hiccups. Community opposition to the sale was strong. In addition, there were problems with the deal itself.

Before signing the official deal with Fortis last year, NYU backed out of the partnership after lawsuits emerged claiming NYU and Fortis had not hired enough former LICH nurses, who also mounted a campaign in opposition to the hospital’s closure.

While LICH is gone, its impact remains. The rush closing of the hospital inspired a bill—currently in the works in the state legislature — that would protect communities from a hospital closing without community input.

The Local Input in Community Healthcare (LICH) Act – sponsored by State Senator Dan Squadron and Assemblymember Jo Anne Simon — would only allow the commissioner of the State Department of Health (DOH) to approve a hospital closure after it is proved that the community’s needs, and the needs of impacted stakeholders – including access to emergency medical care – can be sufficiently met. Current law requires that a community forum be held only after a hospital has already closed.