2020 Commission Supports Modernization Plans at Three Monroe County Hospitals, With 140 Addit...( More than 750 current beds would be...),Health

More than 750 current beds would be in new or renovated rooms; Unity and

Lakeside urged to combine in serving West-side patients

ROCHESTER, N.Y., June 30 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The state should support plans for three Monroe County hospitals to modernize and approve an additional 140 beds -- more than 50 of which could be available this year to address "Code Red" overcrowding -- according to a commission convened by Finger Lakes Health Systems Agency.

The Community Health System 2020 Commission recommendations would mean that more than 750 other hospital beds would be in new or renovated hospital rooms, as part of a comprehensive plan to ensure a high-performance health system for the six-county Greater Rochester community.

The University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester General Hospital, and Unity Hospital, each submitted Certificate of Need requests to the state health department within the past nine months. The CON applications requested approval to expand facilities and add a total of 278 additional beds.

FLHSA created the 2020 Commission -- a group of 18 community leaders with expertise in health care -- to help assess the proposals from a community perspective and develop its recommendations to the state.

The state department of health, which must give approval before any hospital expansion can proceed, has scheduled a review meeting for Oct. 2 to review recommendations on all three proposals. In a letter informing the three Rochester CON applicants that their proposals would be reviewed together, Neil Benjamin -- director of health facility planning for DOH -- said, "Our review and assessment of bed need and community health needs will be informed by the Finger Lakes Health System Agency's 2020 Commission."

After five months of reviewing the proposals with hospital system leaders and meeting with other stakeholders, the Commission today voted to recommend:

-- The addition of 140 newly
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