More than 1,700 patients transferred away from overwhelmed NY hospitals. See where and why

David Robinson, New York State Team
·3 min read

More than 1,700 patients got transferred away from overwhelmed hospitals in New York during a health care capacity crunch last year, including some ill New Yorkers transported hundreds of miles from their homes.

The newly reported hospital transfer details revealed the scope of systemic gaps plaguing New York’s health system, according to state data obtained via public-records request by USA TODAY Network.

Rome Memorial Hospital in the Mohawk Valley is among dozens of hospitals in New York that required state-run Surge Operations Center patient transfers last year during a health system capacity crunch.
Rome Memorial Hospital in the Mohawk Valley is among dozens of hospitals in New York that required state-run Surge Operations Center patient transfers last year during a health system capacity crunch.

Many of the patient transfers passed through the state-run Surge Operations Center, which stepped in to find inpatient hospital beds, nursing home placements or other care arrangements when hospitals could not.

How bad are New York hospital capacity crunches?

Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester was among dozens of hospitals in New York that required state-run Surge Operations Center patient transfers last year during a health system capacity crunch.
Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester was among dozens of hospitals in New York that required state-run Surge Operations Center patient transfers last year during a health system capacity crunch.

Some of the reasons for the patient transfers included rural specialty care deserts or urban and suburban nursing home backlogs, as well as service cutbacks due to health staffing shortages, health providers said last year.

Now, however, the severity of those crises has come into focus due to the transfer data release, which came almost a year after USA TODAY Network requested the information.

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In other words, New Yorkers impacted by local health systems’ inability to care for some patients lacked key information in real-time due to the state’s delays in releasing public records.

The striking statistics underscored USA TODAY Network investigations into the compromised care delivered to thousands of patients, some of whose treatments and recoveries unfolded far away from family and support networks closer to their home.

How many patient transfers in NY regions?

MidHudson Regional Hospital in Poughkeepsie was among dozens of hospitals in New York that required state-run Surge Operations Center patient transfers last year during a health system capacity crunch.
MidHudson Regional Hospital in Poughkeepsie was among dozens of hospitals in New York that required state-run Surge Operations Center patient transfers last year during a health system capacity crunch.

The patient transfers spanned from January through October 2022, including dozens of hospitals across the Finger Lakes, Hudson Valley, Mohawk Valley and Southern Tier regions, data show.

About 400 patient transfers involved hospitals in the Finger Lakes, including more than 100 nursing home placements for the region’s major hospital networks, UR Medicine and Rochester Regional Health.

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While most of the patient transfers in the Finger Lakes stayed within the region, several dozen patients were transported to facilities hours away, including as far as Westchester County.

Hudson Valley hospitals had nearly 440 transfers, sending patients as far afield as Buffalo and Syracuse.

Nearly half of those Hudson Valley transfers involved four hospitals – HealthAlliance Hospital (Broadway) in Kingston, MidHudson Regional Hospital in Poughkeepsie, St. John’s Riverside in Yonkers, and St. Luke’s Cornwall in Newburgh.

The Southern Tier had about 200 transfers, sending patients to Albany, Syracuse, and Hudson Valley hospitals, as well as across the border into Pennsylvania. The Mohawk Valley transfers totaled about 110, transporting patients as far as Westchester County and into the Southern Tier.

Will more patient transfers hit NY?

USA TODAY Network is pursuing records that would reveal the names of New York nursing homes that violated a state minimum-staffing law.
USA TODAY Network is pursuing records that would reveal the names of New York nursing homes that violated a state minimum-staffing law.

One of the key revelations in the patient transfer data involved the fact nearly 600 nursing home placements required the state intervention. In other words, nearly one third of the transfers involved nursing homes refusing to take patients from hospitals.

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Meanwhile, state health officials recently withheld the names of hundreds of nursing homes that violated a 2021 minimum-staffing law, which could address some of the issues connected to the hospital capacity crunch.

USA TODAY Network is pursing those records to improve public understanding of the impact of repeated delays in state enforcement of that 2021 law, as well as nursing home industry political lobbying and legal challenges seeking to block penalties for violations.

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Compromised care: NY hospital capacity crunch fueled patient transfers