Partners still psyched by Union plan

LYNN – Partners Healthcare System took its toughest stance yet in its year-long bid to revamp Union Hospital, with a spokesman telling Lynn Area Chamber of Commerce members it will push for the plan even if a judge scraps its efforts to reconfigure health care south of Boston.”We seriously believe this is the most responsible plan for Lynn, including reconfiguring of services,” Partners Community Relations Director Lori Long told Chamber members Wednesday.Partners’ plan to reshape the way health care is delivered in Greater Boston includes a proposed acquisition of Hallmark Health Corporation and a plan, announced by Partners last November, to expand surgical care at Salem Hospital and shift psychiatric care services to Union Hospital.A Superior Court judge has reviewed the Hallmark plan, along with letters from plan supporters and opponents, and Long told chamber members Partners “does not expect to hear anything until the first of the year.”We have every expectation we are going to get approval but if the overall plan is not approved, we believe the North Shore piece should be segregated,” Long said.Under questioning by chamber executive board Chairman Taso Nikolakopoulos, Long discounted the prospect of maintaining a “full-service” hospital on Lynnfield Street.”It may have been possible some years ago,” she said.That statement was not acceptable to Union Hospital Advocates leader and Lynn resident Aikaterini Panagiotakis Koudanis, who said Partners “by digging in its heels” is ignoring community demands for Union Hospital to be a full-service hospital with a fully functioning emergency room.She hopes state Attorney General-elect Maura Healey will review Partners’ plans once she takes office in January and said Save Union advocates want state public health officials to convene a public hearing focused specifically on Partners’ plans for Union Hospital.Superior Court Judge Janet L. Sanders this year reviewed a settlement, drafted by outgoing Attorney General Martha Coakley’s office, dictating how Partners could expand and set its prices for up to 10 years along with additional controls.”It’s a wise decision to have the new Attorney General take a look at this. She will come in with a fresh start,” Koudanis said.Lynn’s top state legislators and a key player in the local health care industry offered differing views on Partners’ plans for Union in letters sent to Sanders.State Sen. Thomas M. McGee and state Rep. Robert Fennell put their criticisms of the plan bluntly.”Should Partners’ plan move forward, the City of Lynn with a population of over 90,000 people will lose its only full-service hospital. We are opposed to any proposal that eliminates or minimizes medical care in our city’s only hospital,” the legislators wrote.But Lynn Community Health Center Director Lori Berry wrote that “…significant investments proposed by Partners in community-based primary care, behavioral health and substance abuse services…will be positive steps toward meeting many of the unmet health needs of Lynn residents.”