Clinic To Announce Changes To Lakewood Hospital In 1st Quarter
Lakewood Hospital Closing, Kind Of
For the past 4 years Bill Call has been saying that the Cleveland Clinic is closing it doors and pulling out of Lakewood. At first I thought it was crazy talk, after all who wouldn’t want a hospital in the middle of 52,000 residents, right? Then over the past year I have seen scene after scene reminiscent of what we covered when the Cleveland Clinic pulled out of East Cleveland and closed Huron Road Hospital. The announcement was made that Huron Road Hospital was no longer financially viable and that the residents could easily make it to another clinic or hospital in the area. The fact seemed to be that the overhead of treating un-insured patients was dragging Huron Road down, leading to its eventual closing. This is where the waters always get muddy for those not in-the-know. “Aren't hospitals non-profits?” No, they are for-profits with non-profit designation. No business can afford to operate at a loss, and while one would think something as huge as the Cleveland Clinic could afford to be more generous than say Parma Hospital, the last community-owned hospital in the area, which was recently taken over by University Hospitals. Community hospitals, it would seem, are a dying breed.
Over the last two months, talk has picked up across the county as I go from city to city and mayors and council people in other cities ask, “What are you doing without the Clinic?” I would ask what they mean, and each and every one would put out a tale of how the Cleveland Clinic was pulling out. Again, all of this came from reputable sources, but no one willing to go on the record. I would call my contacts at the Clinic and they would say, “Never, why would we sink $6 million into the front door, on the side of the building?” “Why would we spend so much to light the bottom half of the trees in front of the hospital?” Then you start to notice odd little things like Clinic ads in the Lakewood Observer that seemed to favor Clinic services at Fairview, Westlake, Avon, or the Main Campus. And you start to get a sense that something is happening.
Over the last three weeks the rhetoric has reached a fever pitch and is now including phrases like, “Buy-Out,” “Rec Center,” Emergi-Care,” etc. Also the square footage of what will take its place has popped up into various discussions, which leads one to believe that at least one person or group is planning something. The rhetoric reached such a crazy pitch I wrote Council and the Mayor asking for some answers, and the Mayor was quick to respond. Quite frankly the response from the Mayor was less than satisfying, so I called. That conversation is off the record, but was summed up by his written response to me, which was public so I will publish it here.
My letter to Mayor Summers and Council:
All
It has come to my attention through various sources that the Cleveland Clinic will be announcing their vacating of the Lakewood Hospital Building as early as the 1st Quarter of 2015. Along with the rumors are the amount of the pay-off to the City of Lakewood, and that the City of Lakewood will be able to do what they wish with the property after that.
Also part of the rumors are detailed plans as to how large the "Emergency Center" will be, and the amount of money that Lakewood will receive to be "probably used for a Rec Center." Also tenants of other Clinic buildings have been asked to move out by July.
On the record, what is the "City of Lakewood's" response to these rumors?
Jim O'Bryan
Publisher
Lakewood Observer, Inc
and resident of Lakewood
Mayor Summers reply:
Jim,
Thanks for passing on these rumors. Lakewood Hospital is managed by the Lakewood Hospital Trustees. The City of Lakewood leases the physical facility to the Trustees.
The Trustees are working hard to make a major investment in healthcare for the future of Lakewood. Currently, they are looking at a wide variety of options. Nothing has been decided at this point.
There are tremendous changes occurring in healthcare today and in the future, including the expiration of the lease between the Lakewood Hospital Trustees and the Cleveland Clinic in December 2026. The Trustees want to have the best information and be prepared for these changes. The trustees want to be proactive, not reactive. They are working hard to do so.
Mike Summers
As you can plainly see and read, the rumors still fit with everything the Mayor has answered, so there is no SOLID DENIABILITY from City Hall. The rest of the recipients remained silent. Which would be the case normally as the Mayor answered for the City of Lakewood. At the same time, the Clinic is in the driver’s seat. While we have a contract with the Clinic through 2030, the exact responsibility of what they offer is not so clear cut. Some lay this at the feet of Madeline Cain, some at the feet of Ed FitzGerald, some at the feet of Mayor Summers, but at best, they are only half of the discussion, and we are at the mercy of the Clinic. In years past University Hospitals were interested, but those days are gone. Metro Health was interested, and as late as 11 months ago still showed a slight interest, but it is believed that has passed too. Have they looked at other options? Again according to the letter, “The Trustees are working hard to make a major investment in healthcare for the future of Lakewood.” It would seem they must have. But who knows?
With this much smoke there is fire, as the “RUMOR” sits today. The Clinic does not pull out of Lakewood, but drastically downsizes the Hospital. Current talk is something about 50% larger than the Clinic Building on Winchester and Detroit, a large emerge-care facility. That the City of Lakewood will not be getting a pay-off to drop the contract but that the Clinic will buy the land, thus ending Lakewood Hospital’s “city-owned” status. That there will not be a Rec-Center as wanted by Mayor Summers, but a “Wellness Center” similar to the one the Clinic runs in Fairview Park. No matter how you slice it, the days of Lakewood Hospital are quickly disappearing, and another new development will come in to hopefully address some of the emergencies, while most others will be taken to Fairview Hospital or the Trauma Unit at Metro General Hospital. Both about 20 minutes away.
What does Lakewood look like without a hospital? No one really knows, but the move would probably see seniors moving out, as they are the ones in most urgent need of urgent care. It has come to my attention that a majority of the “Senior Living” businesses in Lakewood will have tough going as well, as they depend heavily on Lakewood Hospital for referrals. Some at City Hall have laughed this off, as “it is families that make the choices…” The owners of two of the biggest senior centers have said, no, the largest percentage of residents come from Lakewood Hospital referrals. Then there is the tax base we will lose. While the Clinic is non-profit, the doctors, nurses, and other well-paid staff generate income tax, that will be gone. The $1 million a year in lease payments will also disappear, along with the illusion that we are a complete and whole city for those looking to come in. My prediction is that the move will devastate the community, but like other communities, we will survive.
Yes, no one knows where health care is headed in the future, but from the rumors, speculation and tiny bits of facts we have pulled together, we know that Lakewood will no longer be writing its own chapter in health care. And for me, that is a tragedy.
Stay tuned...
Jim O'Bryan
Publisher, Lakewood Observer, Inc.