ECMC Leader Picked to Head Atlanta Hospital
ECMC President and CEO Mike Young, who was responsible for reversing the fortunes of the once financially struggling hospital on Grider Street, has been chosen to head Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta.
Atlanta’s gain is Erie County’s loss.
Young has a long track record of expanding the quality of care while increasing profitability at the hospitals he’s led. Recently, he’s been a strong advocate for ECMC—a public benefit corporation that provides acute care for the region’s uninsured and underinsured. He also favored building a new, state of the art cardiac facility at ECMC, with the cash the hospital made during the few years he ran the place.
Instead, recent closed-door negotiations led by Judge John Curran at UB’s Farber Hall involving ECMC, Kaleida Health, UB, Erie County, and the entity known as “Newco,” determined (among other things) that the heart facility would go to the Buffalo General medical corridor, where UB has already purchased real estate. Additionally, Delaware North chairman Jeremy Jacobs recently donated $10 million dollars to UB to build the facility—provided it was located near Buffalo General. The agreement, which was forged in a meeting at UB on a Sunday afternoon, was closed to the public and the press and described as a “confidential settlement of a court case.” It had been described as a “miracle cure” less than one month ago in The Buffalo News.
With Young out of the picture, it will be interesting to see how much longer ECMC will retain the more profitable services it sought to keep, and how long they’ll be able to provide their current high level of service to the poorest and most vulnerable members of our community.
Young will start his new job in Atlanta on September 1.
May 23, 2008
More Top Secret Public Documents
In our ongoing effort to supply public information to the people, we are pleased to offer this PDF version of the meeting minutes of the Western New York Health System, a.k.a. Newco.
I began this pursuit with a FOIL request sent on April 25, 2008, asking for both the meeting minutes dating back to January 1, 2007, as well as a complete and detailed list of financial receipts and expenditures of the Western New York Health System, a.k.a. Newco, going back to the same date.
The initial response was this, received on April 29:
Dear Mr. Quigley:
As counsel to Western New York Health System (sometimes referred to as Newco), I have been asked to respond to your request of April 25, 2008 for certain information and documents under the Freedom of Information Law (Article 6-A of the Public Officers Law of New York State).
We regret that we cannot comply with your request as the Freedom of Information Law does not apply to Western New York which is a New York not-for-profit corporation and is neither a state, municipal nor public entity as defined by General Construction Law Section 66. Further, Western New York does not perform a governmental or proprietary function for New York State or for any municipality (see also General Construction Law Section 66).
We can also advise for the same reasons that Western New York is not subject to the Federal Freedom of Information Law. (more…)
April 2, 2008
SURVEY: Re-mapping Buffalo’s urban space
Buffalo, for all of its intellectual wealth in the form of colleges and universities, has routinely suffered as the result of poor planning and politically self-interested decisions. And its various grassroots community organizations have often been tasked with the job of cleaning up whatever messes remain.
That’s partially the focus of an upcoming, wide-ranging public symposium, set to take place this Friday and Saturday (April 4 and 5). Survey: Re-mapping Buffalo’s Urban Space is intended, as its name implies, as a survey of what community activists and university scholars from many disciplines are working on, and how they might better collaborate to improve the city. (more…)
