February 17, 2011
By Staff Reporter
Bidding closed last Friday on SVCMC affiliates St John’s Hospital Queens and Mary Immaculate Hospital, which went up for auctions shortly after the network filed for bankruptcy in July of last year.
Wyckoff Heights Hospital, which first expressed an interest in taking over the SVCMC affiliates in March, bid $41.5 million dollars to buy the hospitals and pay off outstanding sixth liabilities on the properties.
Jamaica Medical Center and the North Shore Long Island Jewish Health system had also expressed interest in the hospitals, but decided against placing bids as the deadline approached.
The Wyckoff Heights Hospital bid will be submitted to the Bankruptcy Court on Monday, June 26. If approved, the sale is expected to go through without any difficulties, marking an end to the financial problems that have plagued the SVCMC network in recent years.
The system, which was established in 2000, consists of Mary Immaculate Hospital, Queens; St. John’s Queens Hospital; St. Vincent’s Hospital Manhattan; St. Vincent’s Hospital Staten Island; Bayley Seton Hospital, Staten Island; and St. Vincent’s Hospital Westchester. St. Vincent’s hospitals were once run by Irish nuns.
Once it emerges from bankruptcy, however, the system will undergo “core reorganization,” according to SVCMC spokesperson Michael Fagan.
“In the new system, there’s St. Vincent’s in Manhattan, St. Vincent’s in Westchester and three nursing homes, one in Staten Island, two in Brooklyn,” Fagan told the Echo.
Last months, the SVCMC issued a statement assuring people that Wyckoff Heights Hospital had “indicated its intent for these two hospitals to retain their names and Catholic identity.” As part of that commitment, The Brooklyn-based hospital agreed to name representatives from St. Vincent’s sponsors to the Governing Board for the two hospitals.
“Clearly they put in a very solid bid. Clearly, they have a solid commitment to both Mary Immaculate and St. John’s hospitals,” Fagan said.