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BEDFORD VA MAY LOSE SOME PROGRAMS --
Realignment
of Boston-area VA facilities could see part of
Bedford
closed and the land leased to private
developers.
For more about the CARES Commission, use the VA Watchdog search
engine...click here...
http://www.yourvabenefits.org/
sessearch.php?q=cares
+commission&op=ph
For more about the consolidation of Boston-area
VA facilities, use the VA Watchdog search engine...click here...
http://www.yourvabenefits.org/ses
search.php?q=boston+area&op=ph
Story here...
http://www.boston.com/
news/local/articles/2007/09/23/va
_may_lose_some_programs/
Story below:
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VA may lose some programs
Campus land eyed for senior housing
By Emily Sweeney
Globe Staff
The US Department of Veterans Affairs is considering closing parts of
the Edith Nourse Rogers Memorial Veterans Hospital in Bedford, and
leasing portions of the campus to private developers of housing for
seniors.
The 180-acre campus on Springs Road has taken center stage in the VA's
latest efforts to reorganize the VA Boston Healthcare System and
streamline the region's four medical centers. VA officials have been
considering ceasing operations at the Bedford campus completely, and
relocating its services and programs to the Brockton VA.
The new proposal, recommended by outgoing VA Secretary Jim Nicholson and
unveiled last week, would keep part of the Edith Nourse Rogers Memorial
Veterans Hospital open, and relocate some of its programs to Brockton.
Both moves would allow the VA to lease out and redevelop portions of the
campus.
No final decisions have been made. The public has until Oct. 1 to weigh
in with opinions before a final report is given to the Veterans Affairs
secretary, who will decide the fate of the region's VA facilities.
"We hope to have a decision by the end of October," said Jay Halpern,
special assistant to Nicholson.
Under the latest proposal, Bedford would keep its Alzheimer's and
geriatric research centers, nursing home, and outpatient services and
get new state-of-the-art facilities, and its psychiatric and mental
health services would relocate to the 442-bed Brockton VA. Parts of the
Bedford campus would be leased to developers who would build retirement
homes and assisted-living communities.
"The secretary realizes the emotions that are tied into this, and
perhaps it would be best to rebuild a beautiful, new modern Alzheimer's
unit [on the Bedford campus], and also keep the current outpatient
services there as well," said Halpern.
Three options proposed by the consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers
involve closing Bedford and moving all services to Brockton. (Under
these plans, VA facilities in Jamaica Plain and West Roxbury may be
consolidated.) Then there is the baseline option: Keeping open all four
VA medical centers in Bedford, Brockton, Jamaica Plain, and West
Roxbury.
The future of the Bedford campus and the rest of the region's VA medical
centers have been in limbo since 2003, when the VA embarked on a
nationwide effort to update and streamline its facilities and lease out
any unused property. As part of this initiative, known as Capital Asset
Realignment for Enhanced Services, or CARES, the VA awarded a $10.5
million contract to PricewaterhouseCoopers to conduct studies of VA
facilities at 18 sites across the country. At one point during the
process, in 2005, there was talk of closing the VA medical centers in
Bedford, Brockton, Jamaica Plain, and West Roxbury, and building a new
VA medical megacomplex in Boston. That plan is no longer being
considered.
PricewaterhouseCoopers in July issued a report that describes the
potential uses of the Bedford VA campus. The report suggests that 100
clustered, single-story townhouses for seniors could be built on 13
acres there. Seniors moving into this new housing development would pay
a deposit of about $200,000 per unit, and then would be charged a
monthly fee, according to the report. ("Residents can generate the entry
fee through sale of their existing house, and can recoup the entry fee
when they leave the elderly community," the report states.)
Builder Hearthstone Associates has also proposed an 80-bed
assisted-living facility for people with Alzheimer's on the Bedford
campus, according to the report.
Hearings would be held and a competitive bid process would be held
before the VA enters any leases, Halpern said.
The US Department of Veterans Affairs is in a position to consider these
options because it is one of the only federal agencies authorized to
enter leases with private companies. In April 2005, the VA awarded a
$60.5 million contract to MicroTech LLC to provide assistance with
"enhanced-use lease" projects that benefit the VA.
The VA broke ground on one of the first public-private partnership
projects of this kind last November, when it leased the former Fort
Howard VA Medical Center in Maryland to a private developer who plans to
build a "veterans-focused" retirement community called the Bayside at
Fort Howard. Market-rate rents at this 1,300-unit development will range
from $1,100 to more than $4,500, depending on the unit: Two-bedroom
assisted-living apartments will start at $4,420; assisted-living studio
apartments at $2,491; cottages for people 55 and older at $3,078; and
studio apartments for people 55 and older at $1,045. Veterans will be
eligible for a 5 to 15 percent discount on a limited number of these
units; they would be eligible to get a 20 percent discount on skilled
nursing services at Bayside, which cost up to $175 per day.
Edith Nourse Rogers Memorial Veterans Hospital, a 437-bed facility,
specializes in geriatric, psychiatric, and long-term care. It has 789
full-time employees and serves veterans in Eastern Massachusetts,
southern New Hampshire, and southern Maine.
When the various restructuring proposals were discussed Monday at a
public hearing in Boston, many veterans and local officials said they
did not want to see any VA medical facilities closed; if anything,
they'd like to have more.
Richard J. Hand Jr., legislative officer for the American Legion Post
147 in Rockland, criticized the VA's overall restructuring initiative,
and questioned the focus on renovating or consolidating all four VA
facilities simultaneously, instead of one at a time.
"Why do all four at once?" he asked at the hearing. "Large amounts of
cash are being spent on these CARES studies. This process goes against
everything the United States of America stands for. . . . All the
praises and flag-waving aren't cutting it. We need more [services], not
less."
US Representative John F. Tierney's testimony on Monday also questioned
the CARES process. Tierney noted a recent Government Accountability
Office report that found that the VA does not centrally track or monitor
the results of its CARES decisions.
Tierney's prepared testimony, as it appears on his website states: "If
VA is not monitoring the implementation of the current CARES decisions,
what data do they have to support the claim that 'synergies' or 'more
enhancement' may result if Bedford's unique programs are transferred to
Brockton? Just saying 'synergies' or 'more enhancement' may happen
certainly doesn't make it so."
Emily Sweeney can be reached at
esweeney@globe.com.
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Larry Scott --
