However, officials at Saint Vincent Catholic Medical Centers, the bankrupt owner of the two hospitals, would not say if negotiations were taking place and spokespeople at Jamaica said they had no developments to report.
Officials at Wyckoff Heights Medical Center in Brooklyn, which has the only official bid on the table, said they did not know of any changes. “We’re going forward according to the rules set by the bankruptcy court,” Wyckoff Heights spokesman David Hoffman said.
Meanwhile, officials at North Shore Long Island Jewish Health Care System, the owners of Forest Hills Hospital on 66th Road, say they are considering their own bid for St. John’s.
All of these potential contenders must submit their offers by Friday afternoon under the auction rules set in federal bankruptcy court last month. The formal auction will take place July 21. Those same rules also say Mary Immaculate and St. John’s hospitals are to be sold as a unit.
Unless some kind of change to the rules is made, any new bidder would have to better the bid Wyckoff has on the table: $13 million to $18 million in cash, and the assumption of $28.5 million to $33.5 million in Saint Vincents’ debts and financial liabilities.
However, Maltese said he understands that negotiations are under way between the boards of directors of the hospitals involved to allow them to be sold separately.
This would permit Wyckoff Heights to buy St. John’s and Jamaica to purchase Mary Immaculate. The senator believes this arrangement is the best way to keep all four hospitals in business.
Officials at Wyckoff Heights, which is not part of any larger group, have said the hospital needs to acquire additional facilities to improve its financial position. Officials at Jamaica Hospital have expressed concern that competition from nearby Mary Immaculate is hurting its bottom line.
This in turn has raised fears that Jamaica, which operates a trauma center, would close Mary Immaculate’s trauma center if that facility is acquired.
Hoffman said that if Wyckoff Heights acquires Mary Immaculate, it would be willing to talk to Jamaica about eliminating duplicate services, but that they also hope to expand needed services there, like mental health and drug treatment programs.
Maltese has also introduced a bill he said should ease the process for both Wyckoff Heights and Jamaica. Introduced in the Senate last Friday, it would allow nonprofit hospitals to refinance their debts for the purpose of state approved mergers and consolidation.
Whether or not the bill passes the legislature before the end of the June 22 session, just knowing the bill has been proposed and has support will allow the hospitals to proceed with the purchase secure in the knowledge of state financial backing, he said.
A similar bill, sponsored by Assemblywoman Barbara Clark, of Queens Village, has been introduced in the Assembly, but Hoffman said Wyckoff Heights is concerned because the bill appears set up to apply only to Jamaica. “We think this should apply to all hospitals,” he said.
Maltese noted that his bill is meant to be impartial. “Both hospitals serve my district,” he said.
In the meantime, North Shore, which runs Forest Hills Hospital, plus 14 hospitals on Long Island, is considering its own bid for St. John’s, said spokesman Terrance Lynam.
North Shore’s concern is whether it could afford the millions of dollars in renovations the facility needs, he said, adding however, it would continue to operate St. John’s if purchased.
Any merger would still require the approval of state regulators.
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