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River Hospital plans $14m expansion to expand mental health services

Watertown Daily Times (NY) - 3/3/2015

March 03--ALEXANDRIA BAY -- Positioning itself to become a leading provider of mental health services for the region's military and civilian populations, River Hospital has planned a $14 million project to build a three-story addition to its Fuller Street building.

A $14 million state grant, including a $2 million match to be raised by the hospital, would pay for the 30,000-square-foot addition, according to Ben Moore III, the hospital's CEO.

Mr. Moore said the hospital, which is the only civilian institution that offers an outpatient treatment program for soldiers with post-traumatic stress disorder, has already reached out to community donors to help meet that $2 million goal. The hospital plans to formally launch a community fundraiser this summer. It hired a consultant last year to lead the effort.

The hospital's grant application is part of a Performing Provider System (PPS) application submitted by Samaritan Medical Center of Watertown for the state's new Delivery System Reform Incentive Payment (DSRIP) Program that will be launched this year. Funding will be awarded this month for the five-year program, which is designed to spur hospital networks to reduce avoidable hospital visits by consolidating services.

Each 10,000-square-foot floor of the proposed expanded wing -- which would branch west from the hospital's entrance -- would specialize in providing different services, Mr. Moore said. The first floor would be dedicated to primary care physicians, who now use modular units at the hospital site. The behavioral health department of the hospital would be based on the second floor, dedicated to providing outpatient mental health services for Fort Drum soldiers and community members; the third floor would be dedicated to physical therapy services.

A portion of the first floor would be dedicated to mental health services, Mr. Moore said, while some space on the second floor would be dedicated to primary care.

"One of the objectives of the DSRIP programs is to integrate primary care and behavioral health, so we would have that shared space and practices on site at both locations," Mr. Moore said.

The plan also calls for the reconfiguration of services on the hospital's first floor, where radiology, laboratory and cardiopulmonary services would be provided in the same area. The emergency department, now located on the far end of the floor, would be moved closer to those departments and expanded.

"We want our primary care patients to have tests done at the same place," Mr. Moore said.

MENTAL HEALTH NICHE

By bolstering its outpatient mental health services, Mr. Moore said the project would position the hospital to become a key player in Samaritan's PPS, which includes six hospitals. He said each of the hospitals in Samaritan's PPS will have unique roles to play, and he envisions mental health services as being River Hospital's main niche.

"Our thrust is to be the partner that can help out as much as we can in the area of mental health," Mr. Moore said. "We would welcome whatever we can do for as many people as we can in this region with our capacity. And if we see an opportunity to increase that capacity even more, we would do that."

Along with providing outpatient services for the community, the second floor would house the hospital's mental health program for active-duty soldiers diagnosed with PTSD, Mr. Moore said. The outpatient rehabilitation program was established in 2013 to serve the needs of military personnel through a collaboration with Fort Drum, and it is also offered to community members. The program, now located at the hospital's former administrative offices, serves about 30 active-duty soldiers per day who suffer from anxiety, hyper-vigilance, a feeling of isolation, or substance abuse due to PTSD.

More than 100 soldiers have graduated since the launch of the program, which offers group, individual, peer-to-peer, and arts and movement therapy, among other mental health services. The hospital has collaborated with soldiers' health insurer TriCare to provide the service.

The program is authorized to serve up to 40 active-duty soldiers per day, Mr. Moore said. He said it could serve up to 50 in the hospital's proposed location.

"Additional space would give us the ability to expand conference rooms for group therapy," he said, adding that five such rooms are proposed under the plan, along with areas for various therapies and Pilates.

Mr. Moore added the Syracuse Veterans Affairs Medical Center has expressed interest in referring veterans to the hospital for the outpatient PTSD treatment program, which he believes will continue to grow. The program originally began in February 2013 at the request of Fort Drum, he said, and it started out treating about 10 soldiers per day. But that number quickly climbed.

In the summer of 2013, "the Army requested to go to 20 soldiers, and then we went to 30 in the fall," he said. "And last year we were requested to go to 40 and to have a cohort with women soldiers who had various diagnoses related to PTSD."

The Army will often refer soldiers who require inpatient care to Samaritan, Mr. Moore said. But the Watertown hospital does not offer outpatient care, and the Army will often refer patients who need additional treatment to enroll in River Hospital's program.

Mr. Moore said the hospital's relationship with Samaritan is an example of how the state wants hospitals to collaborate under its DSRIP program.

"The new health-care arena is not a market-based system anymore," he said. "If we can do things cooperatively, we're not worried about stealing (patient) volume from each other."

Krista A. Kittle, spokeswoman for Samaritan, could not be reached for comment.

RAISING FUNDS

The hospital would need to raise at least $2 million to be eligible for the state grant for the expansion, Mr. Moore said, but it hopes to surpass that goal.

"The goal we set in our application was $5 million, but we're confident we can raise at least $2 million. If we do better than that, then we'll throw in more toward the project," he said, adding that he and his wife have donated $20,000 toward the campaign.

Last year, the hospital hired Michael Stein, an independent fundraising consultant for nonprofits based in Cooperstown, to lead the capital campaign.

Eric Mower, owner of Eric Mower & Associates, who has been a friend of Mr. Moore since the 1980s, has volunteered to help the cause by sending letters to prospective community donors to seek their support.

Mr. Mower, whose public relations firm has seven locations nationwide, including several in New York, said he decided to back River Hospital's cause after speaking with Mr. Moore at the Syracuse airport about a year ago. He said he is passionate, in particular, about the hospital's program to treat soldiers with PTSD.

"I got tired of saying 'thank you for your service' every time I went to an airport -- I felt it wasn't enough," said Mr. Mower, who was chairman of the Health Science Center Foundation in Syracuse in the late 1980s when he met Mr. Moore, then chief operating officer of University Hospital in Syracuse.

In his letter to prospective donors, Mr. Mower underscores the fact that about 22 veterans commit suicide in the U.S. each day.

"It's an astounding number, and the issue of PTSD is a horrendous problem both collectively and individually," said Mr. Mower, whose firm has completed past projects in the north country for River Hospital and Samaritan.

He said the firm, which has so far done work on a volunteer basis, could be hired at a reduced pro-bono rate to help organize River Hospital's capital campaign.

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