The Service Employees International Union is criticizing Boston-based Partners HealthCare for allegedly targeting Lynn, Mass.-based Union Hospital for closure, according to the Boston Business Journal.
The SEIU has said in radio and newspaper ads that Partners deliberately diverted services and patients from UnionHospital. The ads claim the Lynn hospital was targeted because it treats the highest percentage of low-income patients in the Partners system, according to the report.
"The closure of NSMC-UnionHospital is not accidental and it is not merely a product of the changing market. The closure was engineered by Partners," Veronica Turner, executive vice president of 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, said in a release. "It is time for Partners to own the fact they have amassed $7 billion in reserves while shamelessly attempting to rid themselves of low-income seniors and patients who don't boost their bottom line."
UnionHospital officials disputed the findings. "SEIU has many of its facts wrong," said Union Hospital Spokesman Rich Copp in an emailed statement. "Partners has committed to work with elected officials and the residents of Lynn in a constructive conversation about the future of healthcare in that city. We have reached out to SEIU and we are hopeful that at some point they are willing to participate in a productive conversation."
Partners announced in June it would consolidate services within its NorthShoreMedicalCenter branch of hospitals, of which UnionHospital is a member. The restructuring will move all inpatient services at Union to Salem (Mass.) Hospital. UnionHospital's emergency services would remain intact.
The SEIU executives sent a letter dated July 30 to Partners CEO David Torchiana asking for an independent study of the health needs of Lynn residents and the impact the closure of the hospital would have. The letter also asked Partners to confirm it would maintain an emergency room in Lynn for the long-term, requested Partners hold union elections at SalemHospital to compensate for the transition of union jobs there and asked the health system to reinvest $18 million in savings from the transition to expand access to healthcare in Lynn, according to the report.
Partners officials said they wrote a letter to the union Sept 3 suggesting the groups meet for a discussion. They say a meeting has been scheduled.
However, union officials say the letter went unanswered, prompting them to launch their ad campaign to keep Union Hospital open, according to the report.