In what might seem to some like ancient history and to others as a clarion call, in June 2010, New York City’s approximately 400 bed, 160 year old St. Vincent hospital, the last Roman Catholic general hospital in the city, closed its doors for the last time.
In late 2017, a competing non-profit opened the modern variant of a replacement “hospital” right across the street: a 6 O.R. ambulatory surgery center located in a facility with an emergency department, an imaging facility, physician offices, and other healthcare services.
Other than in respect of the freestanding emergency room, which, depending on state law may or may not be possible to license (or even wanted), there’s nothing in the concept of the replacement facility that couldn’t be created by you as a physician-led, physician-owned, for profit venture. In fact, it’s exactly along the lines of what I’ve termed a Massive Outpatient Center™: A combination of an ASC, a medical office building, and one or more of a menu of complementary offerings.
For some, thinking becomes ossified along historic lines: “Hospitals build hospitals.” “Physicians just practice medicine.” “Physicians can’t own hospitals.” But none of these is necessarily true. But, even if they were, opportunity is more malleable. What’s functionally like a hospital need not be a hospital.
If I were wrong about this, St. Vincent’s would be celebrating its 168th anniversary. It’s not. A 200-unit condo complex stands in its place.
